Addington, Stanley, Grey and Palmerston all had local associations.

The Sidmouth Tomb lies in the graveyard of St. Mary the Virgin in Mortlake. The inscriptions on his Tomb are indecipherable. But fortunately the plaque shown below in the middle of the graveyard provides us with the essential details.

Henry Addington, the 1st Viscount Sidmouth, was born in 1757. The plaque says that his Premiership from 1801 to 1804 was undistinguished. That perhaps reflects a little unfairly on his political career given he was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1789 to 1801.

He lived in White Lodge in Richmond Park while he was Prime Minister and died there in 1844. But as Deputy Ranger he is said to have contributed much to the work of the Park. And of course we recognise the name in Sidmouth Wood, through which incidentally we can see St. Paul’s Cathedral.

This part of the plaque shows two other well known local names. The Gilpin family was renowned for three generations and memorialised in Gilpin Avenue. Temple is a name with numerous local connections.

Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (1799–1869), the 14th Earl of Derby and Prime Minister three times between 1852 and 1866. He was also known as Lord Stanley. The family is of course memorialised in Derby Road and Stanley Road.

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), was Prime Minister from 1831 to 1834. He lived at Sheen House while Prime Minister.

And the most celebrated

Henry John Temple,born in 1784, the 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was a political collosus for the first two thirds of the 19th century. He lived briefly in Temple Grove from 1800, part of the old Manor House in East Sheen. He is still the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party and the most recent Prime Minister to have died in office, at the age of 80.