Bless His holy name

I walked to Buckhurst Hill to get my hair cut this morning, leaving in very good time, which gave me ten minutes to wander around the graveyard at St. John’s Church on the way.

My eye was drawn to this family tombstone underneath an oak tree. All round the top are these words from Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

I thought it would be fun to look up the Powell family as they were obviously important members of the parish, and I found an interesting article online by Richard Morris of the Loughton & District Historical Society.

The names on the front of the tombstone are of husband and wife Agnes and Nathanael Powell, who were cousins. I learned that back in the early 1700s one David Powell was apprenticed in the City of London to a Mr. Baden, whose cousin Susannah he married. David and Susannah Powell had a son, whom they then named Baden Powell. (It was common practice to give children a family surname as their forename in those days.) 

Years later, one branch of Baden’s family decided to add Baden to their surname permanently, and of course the name Robert Baden Powell will be familiar to most people as the founder of the Boy Scouts.

Interestingly, to me, there is a road in Buckhurst Hill called Powell Road and I have always pronounced it to rhyme with ‘owl’. However, when I was a Girl Guide I was taught that Robert Baden Powell wrote a little poem to explain to people how to pronounce his surnames. There are several versions, but the one I was taught went something like this "Main, maid, maiden, please call it Baden; further for Powell, rhyme it with Nowell."

So although I’ve always pronounced Baden Powell’s name the way he requested, I’ve been inadvertently pronouncing the name of Powell Road wrong all these years, not knowing the family connection …!