Name	Oliver Pelham (child) 1584
Date	1584 - 1584
Gender	Male

On the north wall of the nave is a memorial surmounted by the Pelham arms to Sir John Pelham, who died in 1580, and his son Oliver, who died just a few years later in 1584. Sir John's wife, Lady Judith St John of Bletsoe, kneels opposite him. This memorial was removed from Holy Trinity Church, Minories, London in 1899 thus preserving it from bombing raids in 1940 when the church was destroyed. Many coats of white paint hide the reddish marble of which the monument is made (Salzman, 1940, 238-40; IofE, accessed 9 August 2007; Mosse, 1933, 161-163).

Sir John was a member of the garrison at the Tower of London when a Spanish invasion was expected and it is recorded that he was buried "by torchlight between the hours of five and six in the morning" (from notes in the church).

Lady Judith wears ruff, gown, overmantle with "her hair forced back from her forehead" [sic] with a close bonnet with rear lappet. Oliver, their son, is dressed in a long loose garment (Mosse, 1933, 161-163).

Inscription:

Deathe first did strike Sr John heare tom'd in claye

And then enforst his sonne to follow faste

Of Pelham's line this knyghte was chiefe and Staye

By this behold all fleshe must dye at last

But Bletsowes lord thy sister most may moane

Both mate and sonn hathe left her heare alone.

Sir John Pelham died the 13 of October 1580.

Oliver Pelham his sonne dyed ye 19 of January 1584.

Anon (undated), church leaflet

Good, M (2004) The Buildings of England Database, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Mosse, H (1933) The monumental Effigies of Sussex (1250-1650), 

Hove: Combridges, 161-3

National Monuments Record (English Heritage), Images of England, (www.imagesofengland.org.uk)

Pevsner, N & Nairn, I (1965) The buildings of England: Sussex, London: Yale University Press

Salzman, L - ed  (1940) A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7: The rape of Lewes(1940), 238-40

URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=56958&strquery=Stanmer%20Sussex. Date accessed: 09 August 2007