Record

Repository	Archives of the Archbishop of Westminster
Ref No	AAW/DOW/PAR/28
Title	Chelsea 2, Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More
Level	Series
Description	In 1892, Canon Cornelius Keens, known as "the church builder", obtained permission from the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Herbert Vaughan, to found a new parish in the central, older part of Chelsea, in territory taken from St. Mary's Cadogan Street, the "Mother Church". The church, dedicated to Our Most Holy Redeemer, was built between June 1894, when Cardinal Vaughan laid the foundation stone, and October 1895, when he opened it. It was consecrated 10 years later, on 21st June 1905, by Archbishop, later Cardinal Bourne. During the War, the crypt of the church was used as an air raid shelter. On the evening of Saturday 14th September 1940, between 80 and 100 people were sheltering in the crypt when the building sustained a direct hit. A high explosive bomb crashed through both the west window and the floor, before exploding in the crypt, killing 19 people.

Album amicorum of George Strachan

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