All Saints’ Church Renhold Bedfordshire, England

There are four memorial Tablets to the Polhill Family on the South wall of the Chancel – see also Polhill Family History.

To the left of the Priest’s Door this memorial reads

IN MEMORY OF

ROBERT GRAHAM POLHILL

LIEUTENANT IN HER MAJETY’S 95th REGIMENT

WHO FELL

IN FRONT OF HIS REGIMENT DEFENDING THE COLOURS

AT THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA

SEPTEMBER 20th 1854, AGED 26

IN THIS MEMORABLE ACTION

THE 95th WAS MOST CONSPICUOUS

AND ITS LOSS ENORMOUS

LIEUTENANT POLHILL WAS THE SECOND SON

OF EDWARD POLHILL ESQ OF BRIGHTON

AND OF ANNE MARGARET, YOUNGEST DAUGHTER

OF THE LATE THOMAS GRAHAM ESQ

OF EDMOND CASTLE, CUMBERLAND

AND GREAT GRANDSON OF

NATHANIEL POLHILL OF HOWBURY ESQ, M.P.


“THEY ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS WILL GOD

BRING WITH US” 1 THESS. IV_ 14


ALSO IN MEMORY OF EDWARD POLHILL ESQ THE FATHER OF THE ABOVE

WHO WAS TAKEN SUDDENLY FROM HIS SORROWING FAMILY, OCTOBER 2nd 1859, AGED 70


ALSO OF CHARLES DAVENPORT POLHILL ESQ HIS YOUNGEST SON

WHO DIED FOUR MONTHS AFTER HIS FATHER, FEBRUARY 7th 1860, AGED 20


To the right of the Priest's door is a large memorial to John, Thomas and Mary Polhill

NEAR THIS PLACE ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF

JOHN POLHILL ESQ, OF HOWBURY HALL

(LAY RECTOR OF THE PARISH OF RENHOLD

AND LORD OF THE MANOR)

WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 3rd 1828

AGED 71 YEARS

ALSO OF

THOMAS POLHILL ESQ, ELDER SON OF THE ABOVE

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE OCTOBER 16th 1828

AGED 33 YEARS

SURVIVING HIS FATHER ONLY SIX WEEKS

When young and old are snatch’d away

By death’s resistless hand

Our hearts the mournful tribute pay

Which sorrow must demand


Affection prompts the rising sigh:

And may this truth imprest

With awful power, “I too must die”

Sink deep in every breast

MARY

THE WIDOW OF THE ABOVE NAMED

JOHN POLHILL ESQ

DEPARTED THIS LIFE 17th MARCH 1833

AGED 74 YEARS

 

Beneath the above memorial are two recent tablets

The upper one reads:


1893 – 1957

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

MILES HAY MARTINDALE

DEARLY LOVED HUSBAND OF ELEANOR

FROM 1919 TO 1942 DISTRICT OFFICER & HIGH COURT JUDGE NIGERIA

FROM 1942 TO 1947 PUISNE JUDGE GHANA

RENDERED OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO CAUSE OF JUSTICE

IN WEST AFRICA

LOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM

EUROPEANS AND AFRICANS ALIKE

 

The lower tablet reads:

1899 – 1976

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

ELEANOR MARY

BELOVED WIFE OF THE ABOVE

MILES HAY MARTINDALE

AND DAUGHTER OF CECIL HENRY POLHIL

OF

HOWBURY HALL


Above the Vestry door on the North Wall of the Chancel is a Memorial to Frances and William, children of Frederick Polhill

IN

MEMORY OF

FRANCES SARAH, AETAT 7 YEARS & 9 MONTHS

OB, 19th AUGUST 1832

AND

WILLIAM HENRY, AETAT 5 YEARS

OB, 23rd AUGUST 1832

TWO OF THE CHILDREN OF FREDERICK POLHILL ESQ

AND FRANCES MARGARETTA HIS WIFE


“LOVELY AND PLEASANT IN THEIR LIVES

AND IN THEIR DEATH THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED”


FAIR BUDS OF HOPE, ALAS MY EARLY DOOM

THEIR HEAVENLY FATHER CALLED THEM TO THE TOMB

THE STRICKEN HEART MAY GRIEVE, BUT NOT REPINE

THOU, GOD IN LOVE HAST CALLED THEM TO BE THINE

 

Between the two Becher Memorials on the North Wall of the Chancel and to the left of the Vestry door, is another Memorial to two more of Frederick Polhill’s children

IN

MEMORY OF

ADELAIDE EMILY SOPHIA

DIED DECEMBER 23rd 1838, AGED 7 YEARS 3 MONTHS

ALSO

EDWARD BROOKE

DIED FEBRUARY 1st 1844, AGED 9 YEARS 8 MONTHS

THE BELOVED CHILDERN OF FREDERICK POLHILL ESQ, M.P.

AND FRANCES MARGARETTA HIS WIFE


“THE LORD GIVETH THE LORD TAKETH AWAY

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD”


OH: CALL NOT THESE CUT OFF IN HAPLESS TIME

WHOM GOD HAS WELCOMED TO HIS HEAVENLY REST

WHO CULLS THE SWEETEST BUDS BEFORE THEIR PRIME ?

THE MASTER TAKES TO WEAR THEM ON HIS BREAST

 

Beneath the above Memorial is a brass Memorial Tablet in memory of Capt. Frederick Polhill


IN LOVING MEMORY OF

CAPT. FREDERICK CHARLES POLHILL – TURNER M.P., J.P.

LATE OF THE 6th DRAGOON GUARDS, OF HOWBURY HALL

SON OF FREDk POLHILL, M.P., AND FANNY MARGARET, HIS WIFE

LAY RECTOR OF THIS PARISH AND LORD OF THE MANOR

BORN 1826, DIED 1881, RESPECTED AND ESTEEMED BY

A WIDE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, HONORED AND LOVED BY

HIS FAMILY, BY WHOM THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED

ALSO OF EMILY FRANCES WIDOW OF THE ABOVE

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 2nd APRIL 1913, AGED 86

“Until he come”

 

A number of members of the Polhill Family were buried in the Mausoleum on the north side of the Church but removed in 1960 and buried in the Churchyard

 Polhill Memorials