In early 1923, Dr Leslie St. Aubyn Wright took up his post as the new rector of All Saint’s Church in Cranham, a residential area just east of Upminster and today within the London Borough of Havering.
Soon after the appointment, the rector received an unusual request. It came from Dr Thornewell Jacobs, the president of the University of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The petition sought to have the remains of a General James Oglethorpe believed to be buried in All Saints Church. exhumed, then transferred and the reinterred in Atlanta, Georgia.
James Edward Oglethorpe was born in London in 1696. He lived to the grand old age of 88 and on his death he was buried in All Saints Church. Two years later he was reunited with his wife Elizabeth following her death. Ogelthorpe came from a well to do family. He was educated at Eton and Corpus Christie College, Oxford. After graduating he joined the army but resigned his commission and moved to France where he took part in the so called Anglo-Turkish wars under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Back in England Oglethorpe at the age of 26 inherited the family estate at Godalming in Surrey from his brother. In 1722 he was elected to parliament representing Haslemere in Surrey. Once elected he showed a special interest in social reform especially matters concerned with prisons. Appointed to chair the House of Commons Gaols Committee, Oglethorpe was appalled by the harsh conditions in debtors’ prisons.
Oglethorpe held his seat for over 30 years and in 1744 he married Elizabeth Wright the only daughter of Sir Nathan Wright of Cranham Hall. Although still a member of parliament Olgethorpe rejoined the British Army and served during the Jacobite rising in 1745 where an attempt was made by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart by overthrowing King George II.
Although the Jacobite rebellion failed, Oglethrorpe was court martialled for allegedly disobeying orders and allowing many of the Jacobite rebels to escape. Although he was acquitted Oglethorpe was blacklisted and barred from holding command ever again by the Duke of Cumberland, the Captain-General of the British land forces.
Oglethorpe then turned his attention back to social reform although his lost his Haslemere seat in Parliament in 1754. After marrying he moved from Surrey to Cranham in Essex which may have contributed to the loss although vote rigging was also alleged.
Thereafter, there are many gaps in his life. It is known after his retirement he took to writing and became friends with various literary figures in London including Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. Oglethorpe died on 1st July 1785, in Cranham and laid to rest at All Saints Church. There were no children. The cause of death was suspected as pneumonia following influenza.
None of the above explains the request from Dr Thornewell Jacobs, the president of the University of Atlanta, however General James Oglethorpe was described as pioneer of American History which all relates to the 11 years between 1732 and 1743.
After much lobbying, fund raising and securing a Royal Charter from King George II, James Oglethorpe set sail from Gravesend in November 1732 to cross the Atlantic for Georgia on the merchant ship Anne accompanied by 114 others, described as the unemployed, the unemployable, paupers and those released from debtor’s prison.
The aim of the trip was to establish by Royal Charter the colony of Geogia named in honour of the king (George II) and where newcomers would serve as both soldiers and farmers.
The Anne reached Charlston in Virginia in January 1733. The new colonists then headed south and landed at Yamacraw Bluff along the Savannah River. There Oglethorpe pronounced the area Georgia in honour of the king. He produced plans for 24 public squares for the new city of Savannah and with his military background, he founded a local militia. One of the objectives of the new colony was for it to act as a buffer between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida.
Oglethorpe spent most of the next decade in Georgia. He established a deep friendship with the native Americans and refused to allow slavery despite strong opposition. He also directed the economic and political development and continued to recruit settlers from England and other parts of Europe.
He was called the “Father of Savannah,” and although he was never elected to the office many consider him the founder and first governor of Georgia. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, all the while retaining his parliamentary seat at Haslemere.
In 1742, he successfully defended the colony against the Spaniards in the Battle of Bloody Marsh but made a failed attempt to capture the Spanish fort at St. Augustine (in Florida).
In 1743 Olglethorpe returned to England. A year later after marrying Elizabeth Wright he settled in Cranham, Essex. He never returned to Geogia but left a lasting legacy. In Georgia today there the Oglethorpe University and Oglethorpe Park in Atlanta, the state capital. Elsewhere there is both an Oglethorpe County and the town of Oglethorpe. A public monument of James Oglethorpe stands Chippewa Square, Savannah.
Hence the great interest of Dr Thornewell Jacobs in asking for the exhumation. The Rector of All Saints Dr Leslie St. Aubyn Wright passed the request on to the church council and church authorities in Chelmsford. However, the Chancellor of the Diocese refused the application adding ‘there is no certainly the remains are there’. They had in mind the recent fiasco in Gravesend with Princess Pocohontas. Earlier in 1923 there was uproar when a Chicago archaeologist Edward Page Gaston was given permission to search for the remains of Princess Pocohontas who died enroute to America in 1617. She was buried in St George’s Church there. The original church burnt down in 1727 and many of the bodies buried there were thrown in a common grave which presumably included the princess. Gaston unearthed hundreds of graves in his search but it turned out to be fruitless and the location of the grave or the remains were never identified.
Despite the fiasco in Gravesend Dr Thornewell Jacobs was not a man easily to be put off. He travelled to England, visited Cranham and gave lengthy interviews to the national press extolling the virtues James Olglethorpe and how he founded Georgia. He emphasised how the general had implanted there the best characteristics of the English way of life and the return of the remains would enhance ties between the USA and Britain.
This charm offensive led to a change of heart by both the Rector and the Church Authorities in Chelmsford. A search for General Olgethorpe’s remains was to be allowed.
A citation was posted on the door of the church calling upon for anyone who either has or pretends to have any interest in the matter, to appear before the Chancellors Court (in Chelmsford), if and when convened, and to state any objections they may have’.
Yet, there was growing disquiet in Cranham once the prospect of the proposed exhumation became known. The parish council convened under Chairman Councillor James Anderson Hollowbread. He commented ‘there is doubt as to location of the grave’ and referencing the events in Gravesend, said ‘people will object to have the church (All Saint in Cranham) turned inside out and their friends and relatives’ graves disturbed’. He also said ‘Even if remains are returned to America they will never know whether it is the general they get’.
Councillor Wood, a member of the parish council said ‘the body should be left alone in peace’ and added ‘that General Olglethorpe’s wife Elizabeth was buried alongside her husband. It is an insult for Dr Thornewell to request just the body of the general and leave out the wife’. Furthermore he said pointedly, ‘They join you for life for seven shillings and sixpence pence and sell you after you are dead for a hundred quid’.
The clerk of the council Mr A J Biebach said ‘the Home Secretary was the only person who could approve such a removal’. He explained objecting to the exhumation and removal was no simple matter. For the objectors to voice their concerns they had to follow precisely the procedure laid out on the church door citation. They were required to file an affidavit, travel to Chelmsford and employ a legal representative to argue their case.
The Chairman Councillor Anderson summed up. ‘It is a question of who is the strongest, Cranham parish has a population of 400, whilst America had 60 million’. He concluded ‘We are up against a big thing but I don’t think that should stop us’. The council agreed to send a letter of objection to Home Secretary.
The parish council was supported by the Cranham Trades and Labour Council who had written separately to the Home Secretary. However, the Parish Council had no funds to support the filing an affidavit or hiring any legal representative to present it.
Despite the adverse local feeling, the Rector Dr Wright, nevertheless organised a local investigation to identify for the site of the burial and concluded it lay within a narrow space within the chancel. Accordingly, another request was sent to the church authorities in Chelmsford, this time, to open the grave to determine if the General’s remains were there, and if so a further application would made to enable the lifting of the remains and subsequent removal to America. The Parochial Church Council (a separate body to the Parish Council) met on July 14th 1923 and unanimously supported this course of action.
In the interim Dr Thornewell Jacobs who was in England had agreed to both remains, the husband and wife being taken to America. A further citation was posted on the church door inviting objectors to attend the Chancellors Court where the court would have the final say.
The proposed exhumation was receiving widespread coverage in the British Press together with a fair amount of criticism. All the while Dr Thornewell Jacobs continued to advocate his case to whomever would listen.
Approval to look for the remains under the chancel floor was subsequently granted by the church diocese in Chelmsford on Monday 8th October 1923. Work was commenced the following day and by Wednesday coffins containing the general and his wife had been unearthed. Both the Rector and Dr Jacobs were in attendance. To their surprise and satisfaction the two coffins had name plates and found to be in ‘perfect’ condition. One read General Oglethorpe and the other Lady Elizabeth Oglethorpe. The coffins were not opened. The coffins were then lowered back into the vault and it was resealed on the instructions of the Church Court.
The rector, Dr Aubyn Wright then announced a further application would be made to remove the remains and transport them to Georgia. Although the coffins had been discovered in an orderly way and subsequently lowered back into the vault, opposition to the proposed removal was building both in England and also surprisingly in Georgia.
National press coverage had sparked a steady stream of letters from people claiming to be descendants of the general. Angry letters were sent to newspapers both locally and nationally and the Rector said he had been ‘inundated’ with correspondence opposing the scheme. The Clerk of Cranham Parish Council said he had received a petition that had over 200 signatures. He added that some of those signing even suggested ‘the employment of physical force’ to prevent the removal.
Following a long letter in The Times, a Mrs J.C. Locke of Devon was interviewed. She said she was a niece three generations removed and she along with her surviving family had no wish to see the remains removed.
Another protest came from Mr Montagne Benton of the Essex Archaeological Society who wrote to The Times and described the proposed exhumation as a ‘violation of the shrine and an act of sacrilege’. He also pointed out that General Oglethorpe had spent only 11 of his nearly 90 years of life in Georgia’.
The Church Times in a leading article also strongly protested at the proposed removal and described it as ‘disgusting’ and went on to describe the whole process discreditable because of the ‘secrecy and swiftness the business had been carried out’.
However, Dr Jacobs hopes for General Olgethorpes remains removal were finally thwarted when the General Society of Colonial Wars (New York) said the remains should stay in Essex. This was followed by another letter sent from the Bishop of Georgia, Frederick F Reese to the Archbishop of Canterbury who said that not only he opposed the move, but the Mayor and Alderman of Savannah also protested too. As a result on Tuesday 16th October 1923, Dr Thornewell Jacobs conceded to the opposition voiced on both sides of the Atlantic.
Before returning to the USA, Dr Jacobs gave a lengthy interview to the Grays and Tilbury Gazette and was quoted ‘there had been some misunderstandings. It was not a case of indiscriminate disinterment of remains, but a dignified request from one great people to another. It was not private enterprise for profit and he was not a body snatcher as had been implied by an unnamed writer in a British newspaper’.
Thus after what was described as much excitement for five months in Cranham in 1923, James and Elizabeth Oglethorpe now rest in peace below the chancel in All Saints Church in Essex. Whether Dr Jacobs efforts to the exhume the remains of General Oglethorpe and carry them to Georgia did much at the time enhance Anglo-American relations is an open question.
Within All Saints Church today there is a brass plaque recording the burial together with an inscribed stone tablet describing the general time in Georgia.
© Essex Hundred Publications
Extracted from ONCE IN ESSEX, NOW IN LONDON
a new book due in February 2026.
Sources
Grays & Tilbury Gazette 1923 various entries
Pall Mall Gazette 1923
Thurrock Historical Journal No 6 (1961)
James Edward Oglethorpe by Charles Stanley Dedman (1972)
