In 1689, the early German congregation rested on the relatively uncertain favor of the King. But, in that year, the Toleration Act of 1689, under William III of Orange, constituted a considerable factor of stability for the development of German congregations. The Toleration Act guaranteed the right to free exercise of religion, not only to English Free Churches, but also to the foreign congregations. They received the same legal status and were no longer dependent on Royal favors. Three years after the Act was passed, the Scandinavian members left the Hamburg Lutheran Church and built their own church near the Tower in 1696.
St. Mary’s was the second German congregation in London. It originated by splitting off from the Hamburg mother Church. The reasons for this split can no longer be reconstructed. The Lutheran hierarchy opposed the move. Without a definite record in the Church books, it appears that St. Mary’s was started in 1694 (that is the first year that a split in mentioned in the Hamburg records). Other splits occurred in the later Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
The "secessionists" from Westminister initially held their meetings in some rooms of the Savoy Palace, which had been allocated to them by William III. The Savoy Palace had had a very checkered history, and, at the time the Lutherans moved in, the whole district was mainly used as barracks and a military prison. Therefore, the congregation was a neighbor to a very mixed lot of people, namely soldiers, seamen, prisoners of war, deserters, aristocrats, businessmen, respectable citizens, crooks, thieves, and prostitutes. These were the inhabitants of the Savoy Palace in the Seventeen and Eighteenth Centuries. The owner of the Savoy district, the Duchy of Lancaster, probably welcomed the Lutherans for the improvement in the respectability of the place.
The Savoy district had some advantages. Since it belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster, and was directly under the Crown, it counted as extraparochial, and did not come under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. The "Savoy" had been home to French Protestants from 1660, to the Jesuits for a short time up to 1688, and, three years after the Lutherans, the German Reformed group also settled there.
On the 19th Sunday after Trinity (14 October 1694), the members consecrated the former Jesuit chapel in the Savoy Palace as their Church, St. Mary’s. Because of the history of the place the Church is sometimes known as
St. Mary’s le Savoy
. The first pastor was Master Irenaeus Crusius who remained with them for eleven years. According to the first pew rental accounts, there were about 40 heads of households as members. They dropped almost 8 pounds Sterling in the collection plate on Consecration Sunday. Considering that the majority of the members were craftsmen, whose typical wage was 13 to 15 shillings a week, this was a good offering.
(07 Mar 05)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.