History
The building was completed in 1875 having taken less than 2 years to build. The church and the original vicarage were paid for by one man, William Matthew Coulthurst, who was the senior partner of Coutts Bank. On the outside of the East end of the church there is a stone plaque indicating who built the church and the fact that it was partly built in memory of Hannah Mabella Coulthurst, the dead sister of William Matthew Coulthurst.
Built into the wall behind the plaque are a photograph of Hannah, a copy of the Times and a letter from William Coulthurst stipulating that the church should remain evangelical.
The Church and Vicarage cost £26,500. The old vicarage was pulled down in 1939 and the present one was built on the same site alongside the church.
When the Church was first built, St Matthew's and Kingsdowne Avenue were only country tracks and the church stood in a hay meadow. (see picture of St Matthew's circa 1900) The only existing house was the large one opposite, which is now 24/26 Kingsdowne Road.
When the church was built it was in the diocese of Winchester which stretched from the Channel Islands to the Thames. It was briefly in the newly created diocese of Rochester before Southwark dioscese was created in 1905. The parish was carved out of the ancient parishes of St Mary's Long Ditton and St John's Old Malden. St Georges church was built to serve the southern half of the Parish in 1934.
___________________________________________________________
[THE CHURCH] [THE PARISH]