The Episcopal Congregation of Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh

Step back 200 years...

The Church of St John's opened for worship in March 1818, but the congregation had already been in existence for almost 25 years. They met first in a room fitted up as a chapel in West Register Street, and subsequently built themselves Charlotte Chapel, a neat Georgian building at the west end of Rose Street. When this became too small, the congregation built St John's and sold Charlotte Chapel to a recently-formed Baptist congregation. They worshipped in the chapel for a hundred years, then replaced it with a larger building on the same site, where the congregation still thrives. (You can visit the Baptist congregation at charlottechapel.org).

The man who founded the congregation, oversaw the building of Charlotte Chapel and St John's, and remained with them until his death in 1830 was Daniel Sandford. He helped unify the divided Scottish Episcopal Church, and became Bishop of Edinburgh in 1805.

While Charlotte Chapel no longer stands, the names of those who went there for baptisms, weddings and funerals are recorded, and Bishop Sandford left many published sermons and other writings. These are the subject of ongoing doctoral research, one aim of which is to identify all the people in the registers.

The historian undertaking this research is Eleanor Harris, a member of St John's and postgraduate student at the University of Stirling. You can contact her at eleanor@eleanormharris.co.uk or on twitter @eleanormharris. You are welcome to cite this material: please acknowledge the source.

These working notes contain many gaps and possible lines of future research. If you are connected with any of the people listed here, have additions or corrections, or would like to be kept informed of talks and publications connected with this research I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Entries marked * contain fuller biographies of more general interest. Places cited in the biographies link to the project's maps: Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain and the World.

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