Category: Old Church Street, London

Old Church Street, Chelsea, London

A photograph of the monument to Sir Hans Soane, which is situated in the south-east corner of the Old Church in Chelsea. Soane died in January 1753, and was buried here a week later. The memorial is inscribed as follows:
To the memory of SIR HANS SLOANE BART President of the Royal Society, and of the College of Physicians; who in the year of our Lord 1753, the 92d of his age, without the least pain of body and with a conscious serenity of mind, ended a virtuous and beneficent life. This monument was erected by his two daughters ELIZA CADOGAN and SARAH STANLEY
Soane’s wife, Elisabeth, died in 1724 is also buried here. It is believed that this photograph was taken in the 1860s.
Image: Photographer unknown
By December 2021, the monument remains largely unchanged. However, the church behind it was almost completely destroyed by a German parachute mine in 1941. After the war, the church was rebuilt and re-opened in 1958.
Image: © Steven Miell (TimeViews)
A merged version of the two photographs. Use the slider in the centre.