St. Georg, the oldest German church in Britain

[Fritz]

Dating from 1762, St. Georg is the oldest German church and parish in Britain. It had it's origins in the Hannoversche Landeskirche, after Georg I. acceeded to the Throne of Großbritannien und Hannover in 1714.
Amongst its treasures are the bible signed and presented by Kaiser Wilhelm II., the altar silver no longer remains, this was stolen during the late 1970s, and also the great coat of arms over the altar was said to have been presented to the church by Queen Victoria, other sources state this as originating from the reign of George III.  All furnishings and the church organ are original to the 18th Century. Until 1853, the last burials were held in the vault below the isle of the church, the coffins still remain. Accompanying the church is the St. Georg German and English School next door, a red brick victorian gothic building, in which the caretaker of church and school also had an appartment, during the early 1970s, these were Frau Naraidoo and Gudrun Felling.  The church was closed in 1915, the parish members expelled or interned. It then  reopened after WW1. In 1939 Pastor Julius Rieger set up a relief fund for Jewish refugees.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer also had associations with this church during his years in England, he was executed in KZ Flossenburg in 1945

A long term pastor during the 1970s was Pastor Dietrich Altmann from Berlin, his successor was  Pastor Proescher from Hessen.

The church finally closed in 1998, being taken over by a historic trust, concerts and other events are still held. Most of the historical documents are now in possession of the British Library. Closely associated with the church was also the Deutsches Seemannsheim in Poplar, London E., which was built up after the war by Diakon Wolfgang W., + 1991, who administered the home jointly with Herrn F. from Annaberg/Sachsen. The church organist during the 1970s was Paul Whittaker, a Welshman, who had studied in Munich.

Details of the collections of the historical documents and valuable books from the church can be obtained under

Dorothea Miehe
German Collections
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
United Kingdom