ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
Two or three persons
in Twickenham were reputed to be papists in the
later 17th century, (fn. 54) and in 1706 the vicar returned
the names of two, one a fruiterer and the other Lord
Dunbar (d. 1714), who had a house at Whitton. (fn. 55)
Later Roman Catholic residents included Alexander
Pope, but he is not known to have been in any contact
with a church in the neighbourhood, (fn. 56) though there
was a chapel at Isleworth during his lifetime and a
secular priest died at Twickenham in 1738. (fn. 57) Horace
Walpole remarked in 1765 that the Bishop of London
had suffered a mass-house under his nose when he
was vicar of Twickenham in 1749-64. (fn. 58) Walpole
was possibly alluding to the Isleworth chapel,
though this was of course outside the parish of
Twickenham. There is also known to have been a
Jesuit in Twickenham between 1767 and 1772, who
may possibly have been there some years before. (fn. 59)
In 1778 the parish was said to contain two Roman
Catholic families; (fn. 60) apart from two names occurring
about the middle of the century, the Isleworth
mission registers contain references to only two
Twickenham families. (fn. 61)
The first regular provision for Roman Catholics
seems to have been made when a mission was established in 1883, (fn. 62) apparently with a resident priest
from the start. The first church was in Grosvenor
Road, (fn. 63) perhaps on the same site as the school attached to the mission, which was opened in 1893. (fn. 64)
It was replaced in 1885 by the present church of
St. James in Pope's Grove. This was designed in the
Early English style by J. S. Hanson (fn. 65) and is a rather
small yellow-brick building with a narrow nave,
shallow transepts, and a chancel.
In 1914 a community of Sisters of Mercy settled in
Twickenham and opened a convent school. Their
first house was in Vicarage Road, whence they moved
in 1916 to Orford Lodge, Pope's Grove, and in
1919 to the house called Pope's Villa in Cross Deep,
which they still occupied in 1958. (fn. 66)
In 1927 Strawberry Hill House was formally
opened as St. Mary's Training College, for which
purpose it had been purchased in 1925. (fn. 67) The college
had hitherto been at Brook Green, Hammersmith,
and had been conducted since 1899 by the Vincentians, who continue to manage it at Strawberry
Hill. (fn. 68) The college has added a chapel and other
buildings to the south of Walpole's house, while
keeping the old part largely unaltered. (fn. 69) The Brothers
of the Christian Schools already had a house in
Waldegrave Road when the training college moved
there, but this was closed about 1934. (fn. 70) About 1943
they opened a hostel for the college at no. 17 Waldegrave Park which was taken over some years later
by the De La Salle brothers, who still maintain it. (fn. 71)
The Brothers of Charity seem to have owned no. 9
Waldegrave Gardens in 1935 and 1940. (fn. 72) Hostels
have been managed by the Presentation Brothers
at 7 Waldegrave Gardens since about 1943, by the
Christian Brothers of Ireland at 38 Strawberry Hill
Road since about 1952, and by the Brothers of
Christian Instruction at 26 Strawberry Hill Road
since about 1953. (fn. 73)
In the north of the parish the temporary church
of St. Margaret of Scotland, in St. Margaret's Road,
was opened in 1938. The mission had been established in an adjoining house in 1930. (fn. 74)
The Fathers of St. Edmund started the mission at
Whitton in 1934 and opened the brick-built temporary church of St. Edmund of Canterbury behind
their house in Nelson Road in 1935. (fn. 75) They have
also had an infant school since 1938. (fn. 76)