Bank Of England Governor, Sir William Scawen Has An Ornate Memorial At All Saints Carshalton

Thomas Scawen was the man who created The Grotto in Carshalton Park (see my previous post about The Grotto), and he had inherited the land from his uncle, who had no heirs.

🗝 His uncle Sir William Scawen is pictured here. He once had the prestigious and lucrative role of the Governor of the Bank of England from 1697–1699. He was the second of a total of 121 Governors (so far).

🗝 He died on 18 October 1722. This rather fine reclining statue of him is situated in All Saints Church, Carshalton.

🗝 Some more details I’ve found about the effigy: “Sir William is wearing the fashion of a noble Roman, and wrapped in a great cloak-like coat, but dressed in the clothes of his own time, with full wig, ruffs at the wrists, and rather high-heeled, square toed shoes (sorry, not pictured). A skull rests on his outstretched leg, and he rests his hand upon it, in the fashion of a philosopher.”

🗝 One more fact: the brother of Sir William and the father of his nephew mentioned, Sir Thomas Scawen, also held the post of the Governor of the Bank of England, from 1721 to 1723. As far as I know this is the only time the Bank of England has had governors from the same family.

If this was today, I wonder where they’d have chosen to live?

Thanks to Andrew Grantham for allowing me to share his photographs showing the skilled workmanship.