History of English Churches in Switzerland – Meiringen
History of English Church, Meiringen
Regular Anglican services in Meiringen were started for British tourists in 1850, by the Revd Dr May of Nottingham. From 1864 the authorities made the village’s own Swiss church, built in 1486, available to Dr May for those services; in 1868 he decided to build an English church of his own, in Swiss style, on a site in the garden of the Hôtel Sauvage given by its proprietor, Eduard Baud. It opened that June, to a design by the London architects Newman and Billing. Queen Victoria, holidaying in Switzerland that same summer, gave £50 towards it — a sum Ruth Freiburghaus, writing in St Ursula’s Church Magazine in 2016, reckons at £4,000 or more in today’s money. Paul Schniewind’s account (pp. 118–119) settles what had looked like a conflict of dates: 1864 and 1868 belong to two different buildings, not to one disputed one.
When fire destroyed most of the village in 1891 — including the English church and all its records — a new church was built on the same site. From that year Canon H. Horsley began bringing parties of nearly 140 English visitors every June, a tradition he kept up until 1921 and other chaplains continued into the early 1930s, by which time Meiringen had lost some of its popularity with English tourists. During the First World War the village was a temporary home for some 200 British soldiers interned in Switzerland, who had the use of the English church — one of a string of camps that also included Château-d’Œx, Mürren, Vevey, Les Diablerets, Lucerne, Davos and Leysin.
In 1937, faced with repairs it could not meet, the SPG — which had nominated Meiringen’s chaplains since 1876 and formally accepted the patronage in 1906 — surrendered the church to the owners of the Hôtel Sauvage, who sold it to the Christian Science group; Anglican services have been held in the local Swiss church since, when the need has arisen. Since 1991 the building has housed the Sherlock Holmes Museum — Arthur Conan Doyle had discovered Meiringen on a tour of Switzerland with his wife in 1893, and sent Holmes over the nearby Reichenbach Falls in “The Final Problem”.
Date of first Chaplaincy: 1850
Church dates: 1868, rebuilt on the same site after the 1891 fire
Patron: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) — nominating chaplains from 1876, patron from 1906
Hotel: Hôtel Sauvage
Current Status: Used as the Sherlock Holmes Museum
Sources
Anglicans in Switzerland, Past and Present, Paul Schniewind (pp. 118–119)
Sherlock Holmes Museum – The English Church
Further Reading
Questions answered
- When was the English church at Meiringen built?
- In 1868. From 1864 the authorities had made the village’s own Swiss church of 1486 available to the Revd Dr May for Anglican services; in 1868 Dr May built a separate English church in Swiss style, on a site in the garden of the Hôtel Sauvage given by its proprietor Eduard Baud, and it opened that June. The two dates belong to two different buildings, not to one disputed one. That church burned with most of the village in 1891 and was rebuilt on the same site.
- Did Queen Victoria give money to the English church at Meiringen?
- Yes. Queen Victoria, holidaying in Switzerland in the summer of 1868, gave £50 towards the new church — a sum Ruth Freiburghaus, writing in St Ursula’s Church Magazine in 2016, reckons at £4,000 or more in today’s money.
- What is the English church at Meiringen used for now?
- It has housed the Sherlock Holmes Museum since 1991. Arthur Conan Doyle discovered Meiringen on a tour of Switzerland with his wife in 1893, and sent Holmes over the nearby Reichenbach Falls in “The Final Problem”. The SPG had surrendered the building in 1937, when the repairs it needed became unaffordable, and the owners of the Hôtel Sauvage sold it to the Christian Science group.
- Were British soldiers interned at Meiringen during the First World War?
- Yes. Meiringen was a temporary home for some 200 British soldiers interned in Switzerland — one of a string of camps that also included Château-d’Œx, Mürren, Vevey, Les Diablerets, Lucerne, Davos and Leysin.