Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 173, Wednesday 28 October 2026, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles

The window depicting the apostles Saint Simon and Saint Jude in the Lady Chapel in Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church, Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Last Sunday after Trinity (25 October 2026). In the Church Calendar, today is the Feast of Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles. In the days before this celebration, I visited the Church of Saint Simon and Saint Jude in the small north Buckinghamshire village of Castlethorpe, near Stony Stratford, last week and about the same time Saint Simon and Saint Jude in the small north Buckinghamshire village of last year too. There is Patronal Festival Mass in the church this evening (7:30 pm).

Today is Oxi Day, a national day in both Greece and Cyprus, celebrating the day 86 year ago, when Greece said No to Fascist demands on 28 October 1940 in the face of the threat of invasion. In Rethymnon in Crete, today also marks the Feast of the Four Martyrs of Rethymnon, commemorating four local men – Angelis, Manuel, George and Nicholas – who were martyred 202 years ago on 28 October 1824 for refusing to renounce their Christian faith under Ottoman rule.

Later this morning, I hope to be at the rehearsals of the choir at Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. Before the day begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The Church of Saint Simon and Saint Jude in Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, celebrates its patronal festival at 7:30 this evening, 28 October (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

John 15: 17-27 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 17 ‘I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

18 ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 It was to fulfil the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.”

26 ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.’

Saint Simon depicted in a statue on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

As we celebrate Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles, many people on our city streets may associate Saint Simon with homeless people and with the housing crisis, and think of Saint Simon as someone who cares for the homeless and the misfits. However, the Simon Community takes its name from Simon of Cyrene who helps Christ carry his cross on the way to Calvary and his Crucifixion.

If you asked who Jude is, you might be told he is ‘Obscure’ – or the Patron of Lost Causes.

These two saints celebrated today are little known as apostles, without fame, and their obscurity is almost affirmed by the fact that they have to share one feast day and do not have their own separate, stand-alone celebrations in the Calendar of the Church, unlike many other apostles.

In an age obsessed with reality television, the X-Factor, the Apprentice, The Traitors and Celebrity Traitors, or with celebrities who are celebrities – just because they are – Simon and Jude appear like a pair of misfits: we know little about their lives or how they lived them, they are hardly famous among the disciples, and they certainly are not celebrity apostles.

Simon and Jude are way down the list of the Twelve Apostles, and their names are often confused or forgotten. In the New Testament lists of the Twelve (Matthew 10: 2-4; Mark 3: 16-19; Luke 6: 14-16; Acts 1: 13), they come in near the end, in tenth and eleventh places. Well, with Judas in twelfth place, they just about make it onto the ‘first eleven.’ The ninth name on the lists is James, the James who is sometimes remembered (and often forgotten) on 23 October.

Judas or Jude is often referred to as ‘the brother of James,’ and this in turn leads to him being identified with the ‘brothers of the Lord.’ So, on this day, we celebrate Simon the Zealot, one of the original Twelve; and Jude or Judas the brother of James, also one of the Twelve and the author of the Epistle of Jude.

But poor Simon is not mentioned by name in the New Testament except on these lists – after all, there is a better-known Simon than this Simon: there is Simon Peter. As for Jude, his name is so close to Judas – in fact, their names are the same (Ιούδας) – is it any wonder that he became known as the patron saint of lost causes? Trying to remember him might have been a lost cause.

After the Last Supper, Jude asked Christ why he chose to reveal himself only to the disciples, and received the reply: ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to them and make our home with them’ (John 14: 22-23).

In his brief Epistle, Jude says he planned to write a different letter, but then heard of the misleading views of some false teachers. He makes a passionate plea to his readers to preserve the purity of the Christian faith and their good reputation.

His Epistle includes a memorable exhortation to ‘contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 3), and ends with that wonderful closing: ‘Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen’ (Jude 24-25).

But after that, surprisingly, we never know whether he penned the letter he first intended to write, and we know very little about the later apostolic missions of Simon and Jude, where they were missionaries or whether they were martyred.

In truth, we know very little about these two saints, bundled together at the end of a list, like two hopeless causes. There was no danger of them being servants who might want to be greater than their master (John 15: 20). All we can presume is that they laboured on, perhaps anonymously, in building up the Church.

But then the Church does not celebrate celebrities who are famous and public; we honour the saints who labour and whose labours are often hidden.

In the Gospel reading (John 15: 17-27), the Apostles are warned about suffering the hatred of ‘the world.’ Later as the Gospel was spread around the Mediterranean, isolated Christians may not have realised how quickly the Church was growing; in their persecutions and martyrdom, they may have felt forlorn and that Christianity was in danger of being a lost cause.

But in the Gospel reading, Christ encourages a beleaguered Church to see its afflictions and wounds as his own.

No matter how much we suffer, no matter how others may forget us, no matter how obscure we become, no matter how many people forget our names, no matter how often our faith and discipleship may appear to others to be lost causes, we can be assured that we are no longer strangers and aliens, that we are citizens with the saints, that we are building up the household of God upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ himself as the cornerstone, and that we are being built together spiritually into the dwelling place of God (Ephesians 2: 19-22).

Saint Jude depicted in a statue on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 28 October 2026, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles):

The theme this week (25 to 31 October) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Update from Myanmar’ (pp 50-51). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 28 October 2026, Saint Simon and Saint Jude) invites us to pray:

Almighty God, as we remember Saint Simon and Saint Jude, inspire your Church in Myanmar and worldwide to proclaim the gospel with courage. May we stand firm in faith in times of trial.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who built your Church upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets,
with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone:
so join us together in unity of spirit by their doctrine,
that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Simon (left) and Saint Jude (Thaddeus), side-by-side in a window in Saint Peter’s Church, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon recalls four local men martyred for their faith on 28 October 1824 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Finding another Comerford family in London and links with Aylesbury and other places in Buckinghamshire

Thomas Comerford and Ann Underwood were married in Saint Botolph’s Church, Aldgate on 28 October 1770 … I have been trying to trace their family in recent weeks (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I have been researching two branches of the Comerford family in London in recent weeks and have visited some of the areas where they lived and the London churches where they were baptised, married and were buried from.

These two branches of the family (see here and here) share a common ancestor, Thomas Comerford, who came to London from Ireland and was a tobacconist in London from the mid-18th century. Although they went on to have contrasting social experiences and lives, they continued to share the same naming patterns when it came to naming patterns.

Now I have come across a third branch of the Comerford family in London that I believe may be closely related to these two. As I was putting together a family tree for this third London branch of the Comerford family, I found an unexpected connection with Old Wolverton, which is less than half an hour’s walk from Stony Stratford, and Castlethorpe and Hanslope, villages about three or four miles north of Stony Stratford, and in nearby Newport Pagnell.

I told the story of the Castlethorpe and Old Wolverton connections with this other Comerford earlier this week, and promised to outline the family tree of this third Comerford family too.

Naming patterns, inter-marriages with the Cox family and the places where this third London branch of the family lived seem to indicate they were descended from Charles Comerford (1784-1849), a London solicitor and half-brother of both James Comerford (1764-1833), ancestor of the Comerford family of Holborn and Belgravia, and Thomas Comerford (1769-1810), draper, of Bond Street, who has a large number of living descendants in London, Northampton, Leicester and other places.

These families are descended from Thomas Comerford, who came to London from Ireland and was a tobacconist in London from the mid-18th century. He was twice married and married his first wife Alice Davenport (1735-1769) on 26 October 1759 in Saint Mary’s Church, Whitechapel. They lived in Leman Street, Whitechapel (1759-1768), and they were the parents of three sons, including James Comerford (1764-1833), and Thomas Comerford (1769-1810).

Alice died in childbirth in 1769, and the widowed Thomas Comerford married his second wife, Ann Underwood (1734-1807), in Saint Botolph’s Church, Aldgate, on 28 October 1770. Thomas and Anne Comerford were the parents of two more children, a daughter and a son:

Charles Comerford (1784-1849), solicitor. He married Elizabeth Edings Morgan (1797-1867) in Saint Luke’s Church, Chelsea, on 1 May 1813. He lived at East Street, Lamb’s Conduit Street, off Great Ormond Street in Bloomsbury (1807), 16 Clement’s Inn, off the Strand in Saint Clement Danes parish (1838-1840), 72 Old Broad Street (1848), and 21 Oxford Square, Paddington, at the time of his death (1849).

I suggest – although more research is needed – that this Charles Comerford was probably the father of:

Charles James Comerford (1817-1887), born ca 1817. He married Emma Haddow (born 1834) of Stepney, daughter of Joseph Haddow (1801-1875) of Shoreditch. They lived in Hammersmith, and their only known son was:

1, Charles James Comerford (1862-1930)

Charles James Comerford died in Kensington on 21 April 1887. His only known son that I can find to date was:

Charles James Comerford (1862-1930), a shipping accountant, was born in Bermondsey in 1862. He married Charlotte Cox (1857-1930) in London on 30 September 1882. They lived in Shepherd’s Bush, 41 Wardo Avenue, Fulham, Hammersmith and Islington. They were the parents of six sons and a daughter:

1, Charles James Comerford (1884-1887), died in childhood.
2, Charlotte Emma Comerford (born 1884), born in Shepherd’s Bush.
3, Herbert J Comerford (born 1886), born in Shepherd’s Bush.
4, Cecil Percy Comerford (1890-1928), born in Hammersmith, died in Henley, Oxfordshire, October 1928.
5, George Cyril Comerford (1892-1971), of whom next.
6, Harold William Comerford (1894-1963), born Marylebone in 1894, living in Fulham in 1901 and 1911. He married Lily Elizabeth Beale (1903-1990) of Fulham, daughter of Charles Frederick Beale (1867-1931) and Louisa Matilda Ebbitt (1869-1948). They lived at 116 Mornington Road, Ealing. He died in Worthing 19 October 1963. His widow Lily married her second husband, Charles Robert Howes (1892-1986) in Worthing in 1969, and she died in Worthing 16 September1990.
7, Roland Frederick Comerford (1900-1974), born in Fulham in 1901, living in Fulham in 1911, died in Brent 30 August 1974.

Charlotte (Cox) Comerford (1857-1930) died in Bristol in January 1930 and Charles Comerford died in Hammersmith six months later in July 1930. Their fourth child and third son was:

In later life, George Cyril Comerford (1892-1971) and his family lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

George Cyril Comerford (1892-1971) was born in Hammersmith, London, 7 June 1892, and grew up in Fulham. He was working as a clerk when he married Lottie Elizabeth Weston (1893-1958) in Fulham on 24 September 1916, and they first lived 17 Rostrevor Road, Fulham. He entered the military in 1918 at the end of World War I, and the couple later lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Their only child was:

1, Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021), of whom next.

Lottie Elizabeth (Weston) Comerford died in Aylesbury 15 November 1958; George Cyril Comerford died in Aylesbury 18 February 1971. Their only son was:

Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021) of Bierton, Aylesbury, and Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. He was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 2 January 1928. At the age of 21 in 1949, he was still living in Bierton, near Aylesbury. At 24, he married in July 1952 in North Buckinghamshire, Barbara R Whiting (1929-2016), daughter of Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954) of Manor Farm, Wolverton, and Gladys M Whiting (1893-1974).

Barbara Ruth Whiting was born in Potterspury, Northamptonshire, 29 March 1929. Her father, Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954), was born at Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, and later lived at Pottersbury, Hanslope, Newport Pagnell, and then at the Manor Farm, Old Wolverton. He married Gladys M Whiting (1893-1974) of Long Buckby Wharf, Northamptonshire. Charles died on 23 May 1954, Gladys died in Old Wolverton on 3 February 1974, and they are buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Old Wolverton.

Herbert and Barbara Comerford were the parents of a large family, including four sons and a daughter. They later lived in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, where Barbara Comerford died on 21 August 2016, and Herbert Comerford died on 27 February 2021. I understand they have many descendants living today.

Manor Farm, Old Wolverton … the home of Barbara (Whiting) Comerford’s parents (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A Comerford family link brings me to Manor Farm in Old Wolverton and back to Castlethorpe

Manor Farm, Old Wolverton, the home of the Whiting family for over 40 years … Barbara Ruth Whiting married Herbert George Comerford in 1952 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I have been researching two branches of the Comerford family in London in recent weeks and have visited some of the areas where they lived and the London churches where they were baptised, married and were buried from.

These two branches of the family (see here and here) share a common ancestor, Thomas Comerford, who came to London from Ireland and was a tobacconist in London from the mid-18th century. Although they went on to have contrasting social experiences and lives, they continued to share the same naming patterns when it came to naming patterns.

Now I have come across a third branch of the Comerford family in London that I believe may be closely related to them. But as I was putting together a family tree for this third London branch of the Comerford family, I found an unexpected connection with Old Wolverton, which is less than half an hour’s walk from Stony Stratford, and Castlethorpe and Hanslope, villages about three or four miles north of Stony Stratford, and in nearby Newport Pagnell.

When I moved to Stony Stratford four or five years ago, I found opportunities to visit a number of places within a short distance in both Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire associated with branches of the Comberford and Comerford families.

For ten generations, members of the Comberford family of Comberford Hall, between Lichfield and Tamworth in Staffordshire, and their ancestors in the Parles family owned large portions of land in north Northamptonshire. These families gave their name to the manor near Watford Gap that was known for centuries as the Cumberford Manor and, before that, the Parles Manor. When the heiress Joan Parles married John Comberford, she brought the fourth part of the manor of Watford once held by the Parles family to the Comberford family ca 1460, and from then on it was known as Comberford Manor or Cumberford Manor.

Joan and John Comberford owned the manor of Byfield, with extensive property there and in Watford, Murcott, Shutlanger, Stoke Bruerne, Shaw, Alderton and Wappenham, along with half an acre in Yelvertoft. The Comberford family sold the former Parles estates in Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger, Alderton and Wappenham in 1504. But the family continued to hold on to the Cumberford Manor until Thomas Comberford sold his share of the manor in Watford to Sir John Spencer in 1563.

Quite separately, John Comberford’s father, Judge William Comberford, bought properties in Newport Pagnell and Tickford in 1470-1471.

Later, John Comberford’s grandson, Canon Henry Comberford (1499-1586), Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, was the Rector of Yelvertoft in 1546-1560. One of his predecessors there was his first cousin, the Revd Professor Thomas Babington, who was the Rector of Yelvertoft in 1510, and was also the Rector of All Saints’ Church, Milton Keynes, briefly in 1560, as well as Rector of Adstock and Sherrington, Buckinghamshire (1557), and Rector of Twyford, Buckinghamshire (1560-1563).

One of the London branches of the Comerford family has a number of members who have lived in Northampton for four or more generations, where they have been involved in the boot industry and the trade union movement. Another branch of the family closer to home in Buckinghamshire, orginally from Rosenalis an Ballinakill, Co Laois, has given its name to Comerford Way, a street in Winslow.

Barbara Comerford’s parents, Charles and Gladys Whiting, are buried in the churchyard at Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

My interest in the London branches of the Comerford family led me to another connection with these parts of Buckinghamshire. In July 1952, Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021) from Bierton near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, married Barbara Ruth Whiting (1929-2016), of Manor Farm, Wolverton.

Barbara Comerford was born in Potterspury, Northamptonshire. Her father, Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954), was born at Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, and later lived at Pottersbury, Hanslope, Newport Pagnell, and then at the Manor Farm, Old Wolverton. Charles and his wife Gladys died in Old Wolverton and are buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Old Wolverton.

So in recent days I went back to Castlethorpe and to Old Wolverton went in search of Manor Farm, where Barbara Comerford’s parents lived from 1929, to see their grave in the churchyard at Holy Trinity Church, to see the Whiting family graves in the churchyard at Saint Simon and Jude in Castlethorpe, and to find out more details of the history of the extended family Whiting family who had become intertwined with this branch of the Comerford family through the marriage of Barbara Whiting and Herbert Comerford.

The mediaeval village of Wolverton was divided east and west by the Grand Union Canal in 1800 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Manor Farm in Old Wolverton was managed by the Gleed and Wilkinson families for a long period before the Whiting family took over the farm in 1929 and they farmed the land for the next 41 years. Their time represents the last chapter of active agriculture on the property before the area was transformed with the development of Milton Keynes.

Historically, the expansive Wolverton Manor estate was divided into three main tenant farms: Warren Farm, Stacey Bushes Farm, and Manor Farm. The original village of Wolverton seems to have been founded in the early mediaeval era, with the name deriving from the Old English for ‘Wulfhere’s settlement’. The village is recorded as Wluerintone in the Domesday Book in 1086, with around 50 households. A small motte and bailey castle was built just east of the site of the church in the Norman period, with a manor house also probably located in the vicinity.

The extent of the village was divided by the Grand Union Canal in 1800, although its plan appears to have been fairly linear, with central trackways surrounded by housing plots, and surrounding fields of ridge and furrow.

By the late mediaeval period, the village was owned by the Longville family. Many deserted villages declined due to the Black Death, but Wolverton is thought to have declined due to the Longville family enclosing the land for more profitable sheep pasture, or for deer hunting, with the inhabitants forced off the land.

Manor Farm House in Old Wolverton stands on the site of the mediaeval Gilbertine monastic grange (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Manor Farm House is a Grade II* listed house dating back to the 13th century, when the Gilbertine monastic foundation had its grange there. Manor Farm includes a farmhouse range dating from ca 1700 with 19th century additions. In the early-to-mid 19th century, it was built into an extensive model farmstead arranged around five-fold yards, built of local brick and stone with a two-storey tower.

The early 19th century house is a two-storey limestone house with an attic and a cellar. It is basically ‘L’-shaped with steep pitched gabled roofs, red tiles, and brick chimney stacks with stone bases. The south front has three segmental headed dormers and there is a two-storey extension at both ends of the front.

The central entrance has a stone doorcase, two three-quarter columns supporting a plain entablature and a blocking course. Inside, there is a wide oak staircase with turned balusters and finials.

Castlethorpe Lodge in the early 1900s, one of the many homes of the Whiting family in North Buckinghamshire (Pat St John / Milton Keynes Heritage)

The Whitings who moved to Manor Farm House, Wolverton, in 1929, were a prominent family with widespread farming interests across North Buckinghamshire and south Northamptonshire. As well as Manor Farm in Wolverton, family members also farmed at nearby Lodge Farm or Home Farm in Castlethorpe, Lower Farm in Castlethorpe, and Cosgrove Lodge or Elms Farm.

The Whiting family can be traced back to at least the mid-18th century:

Richard Whiting (born 1759) from Horton, halfway between Northampton and both Roade in Northamptonshire and Hanslope in Buckinghamshire. He was the father of at least two sons and a daughter:

1, Benjamin Evans Whiting (1785-1863).
2, Elizabeth.
3, Henry Whiting.

The eldest son:

Benjamin Evans Whiting (1785-1863), was born in Horton, Northamptonshire, in 1785. He married Sarah Manton (1793-1871) in West Haddon, Northamptonshire, on 7 November 1814, and they were the parents of two daughters and a son:

1, Caroline (1817-1856), who married Thomas John Ashby (1817-1890) in Moulton, Northamptonshire, on 14 March 1839.
2, Joseph Evans Whiting (1820-1888), of whom next.
3, Eliza (1826-1911), who married George Everard from Naseby, Northamptonshire.

Benjamin Evans Whiting died in Hardingstone, Northamptonshire, on 1 April 1863, and his widow Sarah died in Castlethorpe on 7 November 1871. Their son:

Joseph Whiting (1849-1923), top, and two of his sons, Charles Whiting (1855-1914), below left, grandfather of Barbara (Whiting) Comerford, and George Whiting (1858-1920), below right

Joseph Evans Whiting (1820-1888), was born at Eakley Lanes, Stoke Goldington, Northamptonshire, in 1820. He married Caroline Higgins (1822-1913), who was born at Eakley Lanes in 1822. They were married in Saint John’s, Southwark, on 14 May 1848 and were the parents of eight children, six sons and two daughters:

1, Joseph Evans Whiting (1849-1923) of Caldecote. He was born at Eakley Lanes, 1 October 1849, and died in Newport Pagnell 7 June 1923. He bought Lathbury Manor in Newport Pagnell from Viscount Hood in 1904. He was married twice: (1), Elizabeth Tressler Manning (1842-1892), from Moulton, Northamptonshire, in Old Saint Pancras Church, London, 11 July 1870; (2) Elizabeth Syratt (1866-1935), from Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, in Saint John’s Church, Wembley, 23 June 1914; and he was the father of five daughters.
2, Henry William Whiting (1852-1918), born Eakley Lanes 25 February 1852, and died in London 29 December 1918. He bought Manor Farm, Willen, bought the Manor of Newport Pagnell in 1904, but sold it again in 1905, and bought the Manor of Caldecote in Newport Pagnell in 1908. He married Mary Elizabeth Thomason, eldest daughter of Bennett Thomason (1824-1878), of Beckerings Park Farm, Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, and Hannah Elizabeth Checkley (1817-1904), in Hanslope in May 1875, and they were the parents of seven sons and four daughters.
3, John George Whiting (born 1854), born in Stoke Goldington, may have died in childhood.
4, Benjamin Edwin Whiting (born 1854), born in Stoke Goldington, may have died in childhood.
5, Charles Evans Whiting (1855-1914), of Castlethorpe, of whom next.
6, George Benjamin Whiting (1858-1920), born Eakley Lanes, Stoke Goldington, 16 April 1858, baptised in Stoke Goldingham, 5 September 1858. He was married twice: (1) Catherine Francis Tipler (1867-1954), in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, in July 1891; and (2) Elizabeth Varney (1860-1889). George and Catherine were the parents of two sons.
7, Katherine Caroline (1861-1947).
8, Ellen (1864-1947).

Joseph Whiting died in Newport Pagnell on 18 April 1888; his widow Caroline (Higgins) died at Lathbury Manor, Buckinghamshire, in April 1913. When Joseph Evans died in 1888, three of his surviving sons – Joseph, George and Charles Whiting – went into partnership, while another son, Henry William Whiting, went out on his own.

Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church, Castlethorpe, where many members of the Whiting family were baptised, married or buried from (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Whiting brothers farmed 3,600 acres and their farms included: the Green Farm, Newport Pagnell, 263 acres; Caldecote Farm (now Manor Farm), 90 acres; Lathbury, 550 acres; Mill Farm, Gayhurst, 320 acres; Home Farm, Gayhurst, 415 acres; Bunstay Farm, 150 acres; Stoke Goldington, 520 acres; Castlethorpe, 485 acres; Pindon End Farm, 240 acres; Home Farm, Moulsoe, 330 acres; Top Farm, Moulsoe, 220 acres.

Joseph Evans Whiting’s fifth but third surviving son was:

Charles Evans Whiting (1855-1914), farmer. He was born at Eakley Lanes in 24 June 1855. He had farms at Castlethorpe and Hanslope, for many years he was a Conservative member of Castlethorpe Parish Council, and he was the vicar’s churchwarden at Castlethorpe Church for a number of years.

In the late 19th century, the gallery at the west end of Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church in Castlethorpe was known with humour as the ‘Fishes Gallery’ because the leading families who sat there had the names Pike, Whiting and Eel.

Some of the Whiting family graves in the churchyard at Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church, Castlethorpe (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Charles Whiting married Louisa Thomason (born 1858), daughter of Bennett Thomason (1824-1878), of Beckerings Park Farm, Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, and Hannah Elizabeth Checkley (1817-1904). She was born in Hanslope in 1858, and her sister Mary Elizabeth had married Henry William Whiting in Hanslope in 1875. Louisa and Charles were married in Woburn Sands, Bedfordshire, on 2 August 1883 and they were the parents of four sons and two daughters:

1, Dorothy Louisa (1885-1965), born Hanslope, 12 August 1885, married Alexander Edward Johnston (1889-1971) from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, in Saint Mary’s Church, Church End, Finchley, London, 28 September 1935, died Highgate, 27 December 1965.
2, Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954), of whom next.
3, Kathleen Mary Whiting (1888-1958).
4, Joseph Evans Whiting MC (1890-1923), of Castlethorpe Lodge, Castlethorpe. During World War I, he was a lieutenant with the Royal Field Artillery in France. He was a county councillor, and represented Weston Underwood on Newport Pagnell Rural Council. He married Julia Elizabeth Nickson (1893-1984), and they were the parents of two daughters: Anne Elizabeth Whiting (1920-1940), who died at the age of 19; and Patricia (born 1921) married (Squadron-Leader) John Ramsey St John (1917-1959), DSO, DFC and Bar, RAF, of Wellington, New Zealand, in Castlethorpe Parish Church in July 1941. She later lived at Castle House, Castlethorpe, and bought it from Lord Carrington in 1961.
5, Benjamin Sydney Whiting (1893-1975), married Elsie Louise Adams (1902-1980) of Muswell Hill, at Broughton Manor Farm, Newport Pagnell, 17 September 1924, and they were the parents of two children.
6, Herbert George Whiting (1896-1969), born Castlethorpe, 18 April 1896, moved to the Cape, South Africa. He married Judith Vaughan Ingle (1898-1962) in Saint Barnabas Church, Cogh, Cape Town, 3 June 1931, and they were the parents of three children. He died in Cape Town, 8 February 1969.

Louisa died in Newport Pagnell on 30 January 1914, Charles was 58 when he died at Castlethorpe on 20 October 1914, and they are both buried in the churchyard in Castlethorpe. His funeral in Castlethorpe was conducted by the Revd WJ Harkness, Vicar of Hanslope, assisted by the Revd T Evans, curate.

Autumn colours in Castlethorpe in north Buckinghamshire in morning sunshine this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The eldest son of Charles and Louisa Whiting was:

Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954) of Castlethorpe, Cosgrove and the Manor Farm, Old Wolverton. He was born in Castlethorpe on 3 December 1886, and later took on Manor Farm, Wolverton, in the mid-20th century.

Charles Reginald Whiting farmed the Lodge Farm, Cosgrove, and owned gravel pits bordering the River Ouse and Broad Waters. He began working gravel from his land to supply the Canal Company, and ran a successful gravel business until he sold the farmhouse, 110 acres of farmland and the gravel pits to the Cosgrove Sand and Gravel Company. He then moved to the Manor House, Old Wolverton, where he and his son Philip farmed over 300 acres at Old Wolverton Manor. Together, they managed the land for the final 41 years of its active life as a working farm until the land was acquired by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation.

He married Gladys Mary Montgomery (1893-1974) in Potterspury, Northamptonshire, in April 1915. She was born at Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, on 24 March 1893. They were the parents of three sons and a daughter:

1, Maurice Charles Whiting (1916-2010), dentist, born in Hanslope 19 May 1916; he married Rosemary Noel Harris (1919-2000) from Loxley, Warwickshire, in Evenlode, Gloucestershire, 15 March 1946; he died 12 March 2010.
2, Phyllis Mary (1918-1963), married Edgar Peter Brockes (1916-1977) in Towcester in January 1944.
She died in Kettering, 18 May 1963.
3, Reginald Philip Theodore Whiting (1921-1990). He was born in Potterspury 19 December 1921 and died in Wolverton 28 August 1990.
4, Barbara Ruth (1929-2016), born in Pottersbury 29 March 1929. She married Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021) of Aylesbury, in Old Wolverton, July 1952, and they were the parents of three children.

Charles Reginald Whiting died at the Manor Farm, Old Wolverton, on 23 May 1954; his widow Gladys died at Old Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, 3 February 1974. They are buried in the churchyard at Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton.

The second daughter and youngest of four children of Gladys and Charles Reginald Whiting was:

Barbara Ruth Whiting (1929-2016), who married Herbert George Comerford. Barbara Comerford was born Barbara Ruth Whiting in Potterspury on 29 March 1929. Her husband Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021), was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 2 January 1928, and at the age of 21 in 1949, he was living in Bierton, near Aylesbury. They were married in North Buckinghamshire, in July 1952.

Barbara and Herbert Comerford were the parents of a large family, including four sons and a daughter. They later lived in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, where Barbara Comerford died on 21 August 2016, and Herbert Comerford died on 27 February 2021. I understand they have many descendants living today.

Today, the site at Manor Farm Court supports a modern working environment with the farm buildings preserved and converted into an office complex known as Manor Farm Court, while the surrounding agricultural land has been transformed by the Milton Keynes Parks Trust into the Floodplain Forest Nature Reserve.

As for Herbert George Comerford and his branch of the Comerford family, I hope to share my research on their family tree in the days to come. I have also found a Comerford grave in the London Road cemetery in Stony Stratford, but I need time to find out where those connections may lead to.

The grave in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Old Wolverton, of Gladys and Charles Whiting, parents of Barbara Whiting who married Herbert Comerford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A new guide to my visits to churches in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire

The Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Since moving to Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes on my retirement at the end of March 2022, I have enjoyed visiting many churches, church buildings, and religious centres in Stony Stratford and the Milton Keynes area, and I have been writing about them and photographing them.

As the weeks turned to months and the months became years, the number of churches and religious centres I have visited in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, and further afield in the neighbouring counties of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, continues to grow, so that in time it became difficult for some readers to find these postings on this site.

An earlier posting that offers a guide to these places has become cumbersome to edit, and so this posting offers fresh links to these and similar postings, and a guide to churches and similar places in Oxford and Oxfordshire is to follow in the days ahead.

As I write about more churches and religious buildings, I intend to update this guide to my postings, indicating the date of the latest update at the end of this page, and to provide a link in the toolbars on the front page of this blog.

The tower of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen in Stony Stratford … originally a chapel-of-ease for the parish of Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Milton Keynes:

1, The Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Central Milton Keynes (7 December 2022) and here (21 May 2026)

Bletchley:

2, Saint Mary’s Church, Church Green Road, Bletchley, Church of England (16 December 2023)

3, Whaddon Way Church, Church of England and Baptist (13 November 2023)

4, Water Eaton Church Centre, Drayton Road, Bletchley, shared by Saint Frideswide’s Church (Church of England) and Spurgeon Baptist Church (16 January 2024)

5, Queensway Methodist Church (15 November 2022)

Bradwell:

6, Bradwell Abbey (5 April 2022)

Calverton:

7, All Saints’ Church, Calverton (11 September 2022), and here (16 April 2022)

Crown Hill:

8, The Oak Chapel, Crown Hill Crematorium, Milton Keynes (5 August 2026)

Downs Barn:

9, The Cross and Stable Church (12 June 2022)

Eaglestone:

10, The Chapel and Quiet Room, Milton Keynes University Hospital (20 March 2024)

Fishermead:

11, Trinity Church and Centre, Fishermead (13 June 2026)

12, Chinese Overseas Christian Mission, Fishermead (10 June 2026)

Furzton:

13, Church of the Servant King, Dulverton Drive (12 March 2025) and here (11 February 2026)

Great Linford:

14, Saint Andrew’s Church, Great Linford (25 May 2022) and here (3 November 2022)

15, The Old Rectory, Great Linford (17 November 2022).

16, The former Congregational Chapel, Great Linford (17 November 2022)

Middleton (Milton Keynes Village):

17, All Saints’ Church, Milton Keynes Village (29 January 2023)

New Bradwell:

18, Saint James Church (22 May 2022)

19, New Bradwell Gospel Hall, Caledonian Road (27 March 2023)

Newport Pagnell:

20, Saint Peter and Saint Paul (5 May 2022)

21, Saint Bede’s Roman Catholic Church (30 May 2022)

22, Newport Pagnell Methodist Church (11 May 2022)

23, Newport Pagnell United Reformed Church (7 May 2022)

24, (former) Tickford Priory (4 May 2022); see also here (19 May 2025)

25, Former Baptist churches, Newport Pagnell, 30 May 2022

Olney:

26, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Olney (13 April 2025)

27, Olney Baptist Church (12 April 2025)

Shenley Church End:

28, Saint Mary’s Church (15 October 2022)

29, ‘Glastonbury Thorn’, Shenley Church End (15 November 2025)

Stantonbury:

30, Christ Church, Stantonbury (8 January 2025)

31, Saint Peter’s Church (ruins), Stantonbury (9 January, 2025)

Stony Stratford:

32, Saint Mary and Saint Giles (27 March 2022), and here (18 April 2022)

33, Saint Mary Magdalene (Church of England), church tower and church ruins (11 April 2022)

34, Saint Mary the Virgin (Church of England), former parish church (28 March 2022)

35, Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos (10 May 2022)

36, Saint Mary Magdalene Roman Catholic Church (14 April 2022)

37, Stony Stratford Methodist Church (20 April 2022)

38, Stony Stratford Community Church, Baptist (20 April 2022)

39, Stony Stratford Evangelical Church (Congregationalist) (20 April 2022)

40, Saint Paul’s former school chapel (13 April 2022) and here (29 June 2026)

41, Saint Peter’s (the Old Cross Keys), former church hostel or hospital (29 June 2026)

42, The former rectories in Stony Stratford (29 May 2022)

43, Calverton Limes, former home of two generations of Percevals, rectors of Wolverton Saint Mary, Stony Stratford (28 December 2022)

Walton:

44, Saint Michael’s Church, Open University campus, Walton (14 November 2022).

Wavendon:

45, Saint Mary's Church, Wavendon (11 September 2024)

Willen:

46, Saint Mary Magdalene (26 May 2022)

Wolverton:

47, Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (19 April 2022)

48, Saint George’s Church, Wolverton (9 April 2022)

49, Woverton Methodist Church, Church Street (24 January 2023)

50, West End United Church, Church Street (24 January 2023)

51, former United Reformed Church (Congregational Church), Wolverton (26 February 2023)

52, Wolverton Evangelical Church, former Emmanuel Hall (25 January 2023)

53, Wolverton House, birthplace of Archbishop John Habgood of York (23 January 2023)

54, Urban Farm, Windsor Street, church-run project in Wolverton (10 July 2026)

Woughton-on-the-Green:

55, Saint Mary’s Church, Woughton (21 March 2024)

The Chantry Chapel of Saint John the Baptist … the oldest surviving building in Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other parts of Buckinghamshire:

Addington:

56, Saint Mary the Virgin, Addington (30 November 2025)

Aylesbury:

57, The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury (14 September 2022)

58, Aylesbury Methodist Church (11 January 2026)

59, (former) Congregational Church, High Street (14 September 2022)

60, Friends’ Meeting House (Quakers), Rickford’s Hill (14 September 2022)

61, New Tabernacle Church of God, Rickford’s Hill (14 September 2022)

62, The Prebendal House, Aylesbury (5 August 2025)

Buckingham:

63, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Parish Church (31 May 2022)

64, The Chantry Chapel of Saint John the Baptist (31 May 2022), and here (5 November 2025)

65, Saint Bernardine’s Roman Catholic Church, Chandos Road (6 November 2025)

66, former Franciscan seminary and church, London Road (18 July 2026)

67, The Old Meeting House, former Independent or Congregational chapel, Well Street (18 November 2025)

68, The Radcliffe Centre, former Congregational and United Reformed Church, Church Street (16 November 2025)

69, Salvation Army Citadel, Moreton Road, previously Primitive Methodists, Baptists (16 November 2025)

70, Well Street United Church, Methodists, URC and Baptists (16 November 2025)

71, Barton’s Chantry and Hospital, Church Street (9 June 2022)

72, Prebendal manors and houses, Buckingham (8 June 2022)

73, Saint Rumbold’s grave and legends, Buckingham (6 June 2022)

74, The Mitre Inn, Mitre Cottage on Mitre Street, Buckingham (25 November 2025)

Castlethorpe:

75, Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church (26 October 2025)

76, Castlethorpe Methodist Church (27 October 2025)

Gawcott:

77, Holy Trinity Church, Gawcott (23 November 2025)

78, Gawcott Methodist Chapel (24 November 2025)

Hanslope:

79, Saint James the Great Church, Hanslope (2 November 2025)

80, Hanslope Methodist Church (3 November 2025)

81, Gold Street Gospel Hall (former Baptist Chapel), Hanslope (3 November 2025)

Maids Moreton:

82, Saint Edmund’s Church, Maids Moreton (9 November 2025); see also here (11 November 2025) and here (12 November 2025)

83, The Old Rectory, Maids Moreton (8 November 2025)

Padbury:

84, Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury (14 December 2025)

85, The Old Chapel (former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel), Padbury (14 December 2025)

Seer Green:

86, Holy Trinity Church (18 January 2026)

Winslow:

87, Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow (6 September 2022)

88, (former) Congregational Church, Horn Street (7 September 2022)

89, Keach’s Meeting House, Bell Walk (7 September 2022)

90, Winslow Tabernacle, the former Baptist Chapel off High Street, Winslow (8 September, 2022)

Bedfordshire:

Bedford:

1, (former) All Hallows’ Church, Church Square (8 August 2024)

2, Bunyan Meeting Church (Baptists, Congregational, URC), Mill Street (4 August 2024)

3, Holy Trinity Church, Bedford (1 August 2024)

4, (former) Howard Chapel (Congregational, URC), Mill Street (5 August 2024)

5, Saint Cuthbert’s Church, Bedford (31 July 2024)

6, Saint Paul’s Church, Bedford (29 July 2024)

7, Saint Peter de Merton Church, Bedford (30 July 2024)

8, (former) Panacea Society, Albany Road and Castle Road (28 July 2024)

9, sculpture of Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, Bedford (3 August 2024)

Dunstable:

10, The Priory Church of Saint Peter, Dunstable (31 May 2026)

11, Christ Church, West Street, Dunstable (2 June 2026)

12, Dunstable Baptist Church at Saint Mary’s Gate, Dunstable (2 June 2026)

13, Dunstable Methodist Church, the Square, Dunstable (2 June 2026)

14, Saint Mary’s Church (Roman Catholic), Dunstable (1 June 2026)

Leighton Buzzard:

15, All Saints’ Church, Leighton Buzzard (17 August 2025)

16, Trinity Methodist Church, North Street (14 January 2026)

17, (former) Wesleyan Church, Hockliffe Street (14 January 2026)

18, Hockliffe Street Baptist Church (14 January 2026)

19, (former) Lake Street Baptist Chapel (14 January 2026)

20, Friends’ Meeting House (Quakers), Leighton Buzzard (31 August 2025)

Linslade:

21, Saint Barnabas Church, Linslade (24 August 2025)

Luton:

22, Saint Mary’s Church, Church Street, Luton (7 June 2026)

23, Bury Park United Reformed Church (12 January 2026)

The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and Saint Thomas of Canterbury on Barrack Road, Northampton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Northamptonshire:

Cathedrals:

1, The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and Saint Thomas of Canterbury (Roman Catholic), Barrack Road, Northampton (5 February 2023)

Northampton:

2, All Saints’ Church, Northampton (6 February 2023)

3, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Sheep Street (7 February 2023)

4, Saint James’s Church, Saint James’s Road (8 February 2023)

5, Saint John’s Church (former), Bridge Street (9 February 2023)

6, Saint Peter’s Church, Marefair (9 February 2023)

7, Christ Image Assembly, Wellington Street (11 February 2023)

8, Friends’ Meeting House, Wellington Street (11 February 2023)

All Saints’ Church in Yelvertoft … Henry Comberford was the rector in 1546-1560 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Northamptonshire:

Badby:

9, Saint Mary’s Church (20 September 2023)

Blisworth:

10, Saint John the Baptist (7 September 2024)

Crick:

11, Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Church Street (23 March 2023)

Deanshanger:

12, Holy Trinity Church, Deanshanger (22 March 2025)

13, Possible site of a monastery, Deanshanger (22 March 2025)

Lamport:

14, All Saints’ Church (6 May 2024)

15, Isham family chapel (6 May 2024), and the Lamport Crucifix (4 May 2024)

Long Buckby:

16, Saint Lawrence’s Church (4 April 2023)

17, Long Buckby Baptist Chapel (4 April 2023)

18, Long Buckby United Reformed Church (4 April 2024)

Old Stratford:

19, Memorial Hall, Old Stratford, venue for some evening services, Deanshanger parish (22 March 2025)

Passenham:

20, Saint Guthlac’s Church (21 April 2022), and here (8 June 2025)

Roade:

21, Saint Mary’s Church, Church End, Roade (9 September 2024)

22, Roade Baptist Chapel (9 September 2024)

23, Roade Methodist Church (9 September 2024)

Shutlanger:

24, Saint Anne’s Chapel-of-Ease (4 September 2024)

25, The Monastery, the former Parles and Comberford family chapel (4 September 2024)

26, (former) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (8 September 2024)

Stoke Bruerne:

27, Saint Mary the Virgin (3 September 2024) and here (5 September 2024)

28, the Old Chapel, (former) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (8 September 2024)

Towcester:

29, Saint Lawrence’s Church (20 March 2025)

Watford:

30, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church (11 March 2023)

Yelvertoft:

31, All Saints’ Church, Yelvertoft (20 March 2023)

The Quaker Meeting House at the north end of Wellington Street in Northampton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other Religious Traditions:

Synagogues in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire:

Bedford:

1, Jewish Bedford (12 July 2024) and here (9 August 2024)

Bletchley:

2, Bletchley: Bletchley Hebrew Congregation (1 December 2023)

Dunstable:

3, former synagogue, Watling House, 123 High Street North, Dunstable (5 June 2026)

4, former synagogue, 132 Luton Road, Dunstable (5 June 2026)

5, former synagogue, Poynters Road, Dunstable (5 June 2026)

Great Linford:

6, Milton Keynes and District Reform Synagogue, Great Linford (25 November 2022)

Luton:

7, Luton United Synagogue, Dunstable Road, Luton, and Jewish Luton (5 June 2025)

8, Luton Town Hall, venue for occasional Jewish services, 2001-2009 (5 June 2025)

9, 5 Moor Path, the first-ever synagogue in Luton (5 June 2025)

10, former synagogue, Bury Park Road (5 June 2025)

11, former synagogue, 51 John Street, Luton (5 June 2025)

Northampton:

12, Northampton Hebrew Congregation, Overstone Road (10 February 2023)

13, the Mediaeval Synagogue, Sheep Street (3 February 2023)

Wolverton:

14, The Wolverton United Synagogue Membership Group, or the Haversham Jewish Community, New Bradwell and Haversham (24 March 2023)

Mosques:

1, Fishermead: the Islamic Centre Milton Keynes, Fishermead Boulevard (12 June 2026)

2, Wolverton: The Central Jamia Mosque, Church Street, Wolverton (11 March 2024)

3, Luton: Islamic Cultural Centre, Bury Park Road (5 June 2025)

Buddhists:

1, Japanese Peace Pagoda, Willen, 24 May 2022

Other traditions:

1, The Tree Cathedral, Milton Keynes, 3 August 2022

The Peace Pagoda on the shores of Willen Lake was built in 1980 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Last updated: 30 August 2026