Many thousands of people have seen the striking altar frontal in the St Nicholas Chapel of what was Croydon Parish Church, and what today we know as Croydon Minster.
Dedication: Kate Munns is remembered with an ornate frontal at Croydon Minster
An altar frontal, or antependium, from the Latin meaning “to hang before”, is a decorative covering placed on the front of the altar.
This one features an ornately embroidered sailing ship and two croziers with anchors either side. Unbeknown to most visitors and worshippers, under the flap of cloth of this frontal there is a dedication, in smart, mid-century script, giving the name to whom the frontal is dedicated.
“In memory of Kate Emma Munns died 4th May 1942”
But who was Kate Munns, and what did she do to persuade those who knew her to make such a tribute?
Kate Munns was at the Shrublands Nursing Home when she died. She was 64.
She had lived on Sydenham Road before that.
In the early part of World War II, Kate Munns’ husband, Henry Foster Munns, was an air raid warden. Their son, Reginald, was a special constable in Croydon.
Kate was born in 1878 and in the 1881 census was living with her parents, John and Mary Fewell, in Coombe Lane. John, who was 40 in 1881, was a gardener, and was eight years older than his wife. The Fewell family consisted of five children: Thomas, eight, Robert, seven, Henry, five, Kate, three, and Emily, 7 months. A niece, Emma Hick, aged 12, was also staying with them on the night of the census.
Fine work: the altar frontal dedicated to Kate Munns in the St Nicholas Chapel in Croydon Minster. By mystery surrounds its origins
Ten years later the family was still together, with the addition of Frederick. By this time, they had moved to Sydenham Road. The children had grown up but hadn’t flown the nest. Thomas was a butcher, Robert was a clerk at a flour mill and Henry was a scholar. The occupation column was left blank for the younger four children; at 13, Kate was possibly still at school.
John Fewell frequently appeared in advertisements in the local newspaper at this time. In 1887 he appeared as the person to apply to if anyone wanted to rent a five-roomed cottage, “with every convenience”. His address was given as The Nursery, Sydenham Road. The rental fee was five shillings a week.
High Street business: Kate Fewell married into the family that ran a successful men’s clothing shop
The Fewell family did not appear in the 1901 census in Croydon. We know, however, that Kate, at 22, was taking a shorthand course at Croydon Polytechnic and gained a 3rd class certificate in 1900.
In 1911, the next time she appeared in the census, it was as a visitor in a house in Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath, owned by Emily Baker, a 69-year-old widow. Mrs Baker had her 31-year-old daughter Lydia living with her. Kate, by now 33 and single, was working as a clerk for the Tramway Company run by Croydon Corporation, a predecessor of the council.
On Monday September 9 1912, Kate was married to Henry Munns, a commercial clerk.
The ceremony took place at Trinity Congregational Church and was conducted by Rev TJ Stockley.
Kate’s groom was the son of the late William Henry Munns. William Munns, originally from Gravesend, had been a significant figure in late Victorian Croydon. He had run a men’s outfitters on the High Street for many years, retiring from the business in 1901. He was one of the founders of the West Croydon Congregational Church and was a deacon at the George Street Congregational Church for more than 40 years.
Wedding bells: the notice in the local newspaper of Henry and Kate’s wedding in 1912
When he died, aged 74, he was living in Benson Road. The list of mourners at his funeral was extensive. They were headed by his wife, Miriam and four children, sons Herbert and Thomas, together with daughters Miriam (named after her mother), and Dorothy. Mother Miriam had married William on Valentine’s Day 1874 at the Princes Street Chapel in Gravesend.
All the other deacons from the George Street church were at the service, too. Outside the church, there was a large crowd of people to pay their respects when the interment was carried out at Mitcham Road Cemetery.
Despite being listed as being part of the family in the census of 1891, when he was 14 and working as a clerk in an office, there was no mention of Henry at the funeral. He may have been working abroad, and so unable to attend.
Henry had been a good scholar. In the 1899 prize giving at the Croydon Polytechnic, he achieved a second-class pass in book-keeping and a first-class pass in shorthand. Rather than go into the clothiers’ business, Henry had perhaps set his eye on a different career.
It has proved difficult to uncover many details, but a Henry Foster Munns was a passenger on board the SS Cuzco, sailing from the Chilean port of Iquique to San Francisco, where it arrived on June 11 1911. A Henry Munns also arrived at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo in what was then Ceylon early in 1912.
We do know, of course, that he was very much in Croydon by September 1912 for his wedding to Kate Fewell.
Kate and Henry set up home at 74 Limes Road and were listed there in the 1915 Croydon Directory.
In the 1921 census, Kate was living at the Limes Road address together with their only child Reginald, who was born in 1913. There was no mention of Henry.
Makers’ mark: the Warham Guild was known for their fine work
Kate must have brought up Reginald on her own, with her husband working away for long periods, something not uncommon in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, when Britain had a large and active merchant fleet.
A document from the freemasons shows that Henry Foster Munns joined the Northern Lodge of China in 1916. Based in Shanghai, he was “initiated” in the masons in December of that year. His profession was given as “merchant assistant”.
Kate had some family support. She probably saw her sister Emily from time to time. Emily, unmarried, was living on Sydenham Road, though at a different number than the earlier home, and she was still there in 1937.
The September 1939 census saw the Munns family reunited, by now living in Dean Road, South Croydon. Unusually, Kate’s name was listed first, with unpaid domestic duties filling the occupation column. Husband Henry was listed as a retired mercantile clerk who was also carrying out duties as an ARP warden. Reginald, still single, was an accountant and company secretary. He was a Metropolitan Special Constable.
Reginald’s war-time record revealed that he was living at Dean Roaad, with his wife Helen Elizabeth.
After Kate’s death, her effects, totalled £1,366 19d 7d, – more than £80,000 today. Probate was granted to “Reginald Munns, accountant”.
Henry Munns died in 1963, aged 87. But as he wasn’t named as the recipient of his wife’s probate. Reginald died in 2006, aged 93.
The research has uncovered some answers, but many more questions remain.
Who commissioned the altar frontal? And why?
Whoever made the decision, they went to the Warham Guild in London, the top maker of such goods at the time. The Guild was named after the last Archbishop of Canterbury before the Reformation. It is Archbishop Warham’s brother, Hugh, who has a memorial in the St Nicholas’ Chapel, just a few feet away from the altar frontal.
Why was the Parish Church the recipient of such a fine altar frontal?
Was it because of the freemasons, as there were many links between the lodges and Croydon Parish Church at that time?
Was it that someone from the Parish Church visited Kate when she was in her final illness because she worshipped at the church?
If anybody knows the answers to these questions, I would be very grateful to hear them.
And so would the Minster.
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- How Mary Care and Operation Crocus changed lives in Croydon
- 18th Century property pages that show growth of Croydon
- How Houdini made Croydon churn with his staged escape act
- Nightwatch’s volunteers remember Jamie Keating every night
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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