“I have attached three photos relating to Superintendent Henry Rowthorn, Chief of Police in Southampton Docks. The photos were kindly passed on to me by Mr. B. Moody and David Mead of the Southern Counties Railway History Society in Southampton.
The first Photo shows Mr Rowthorn in his Masonic Attire. The medallion reads ” Lodge of Peace and Harmony.”
I have also attached the wording to the Memorial to Mr Rowthorn, which appeared in the Hampshire Advertiser on 9th June 1900 and was displayed in St James Church, Southampton.
The Hampshire Advertiser. June 9th 1900
Memorial Brass Plaque to Superintendent Henry Rowthorn
Mr G.T. Young of the Strand has engraved a fine example of a Memorial Brass in memory of the late Henry Rowthorn, Chief of Dock Police. It has an ornamental border and is in colours. It is erected in St James Church, of which Mr Rowthorn was a Parish Warden.
The inscription reads as follows:
In affectionate remembrance
Of
Henry Rowthorn
Church Warden of this Parish and for 22 years Chief of Police of the Southampton Docks, who departed this life on September 8th 1899. Aged 54.
Erected by those associated with him in daily life and who honoured and esteemed his personal worth and public character.
St James Church is located in Bernard Street, Southampton, close to the Docks.
The Church was established in 1858 and in 1964 became St Nicholas, a Greek Orthodox Church.”
David Caplehorn.
Tuesday 21st January 2014
Newspaper clipping: The Hampshire Advertiser 09/06/1900 ©The British Library Board - All Rights Reserved.
See also: Southampton Docks Police, 1890
UPDATE: March 2015
David Hutchings as emailed us with this additional information:
I believe St. James Church in Bernard Street was a parish created from St. Marys in 1853…a few years later a fine Victorian Church was built. This I believe was bombed and destroyed in WW2. The present church is a 1950’s rebuild and though it was used by the Greek Orthodox from 1964 I believe was transferred to them in 1970 by the Anglican Diocese. Sadly I suppose the Superintendent’s plaque was lost in the war. There is a photo of the Victorian church in an article by the Southampton Local History Forum.
UPDATE: July 2017
Thanks to Ian Oliver, we now have two photographs of Henry Rowthorn’s gravestone: