Relhan Collection : 19 Barnwell Church (St Andrew the Less). Monument of Jacob Butler, Esq, Barrister at Law

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Jacob Butler<b></b>1671-1765<b>, </b>last of the Butler family, designed this massive monument for himself and Rose his wife (d. 1778) and included a genealogy with 51 names. It was removed from the chancel of St Andrew the Less in 1854 and leans on the W boundary of the churchyard, indecipherable and in poor condition. The churchyard is now (2019) in a ruinous state but repairs are in progress. Neville Alexander Butler, attorney at law, had swapped the manor of Orwell for Barnwell with Thomas Chicheley of Wimpole in1659. He was succeeded by his son Jacob who was highly eccentric, entertaining ‘dwarves and giants’ from Stourbridge Fair (he himself was 6 ft 4inches tall), ensuring the Fair site was cleared on time by, on one occasion, driving his carriage through stalls and breaking much pottery, and was prosecuted for abuses relating to the Cambridge to London turnpike, of which he was a trustee. He designed the monument on 5 panels, and wrote his own epitaph, with ‘<i>an account of all his losses, quarrels, law suits etc</i>’ (Lysons). He organised his own funeral in a vault under the church. After 1765 Barnwell passed to the Panton family. Relhan’s father, the Rev Richard Relhan, was curate at Barnwell Church (and also Holy Trinity and St Michael’s).</p><p>Cooper 1852; Hone 1825; Lysons 1808; RCHME 1959 </p></p>