A tablet monument to Henry Thrale was erected on 20 September 1782 in St Leonard’s Church, Streatham, London, on the wall of the south aisle between the door of the choir vestry and the window. The monument is close to his mother-in-laws monument, Hester Maria Cotton.
Henry Thrale died on 4 April 1781 between 5am - 6am, with his wife and Samuel Johnson by his side.
Henry, and his father Ralph before him, both owned the powerful Anchor Brewery and were also both Members of Parliament for Southwark. They were wealthy and enjoyed a coterie of servants, maids and valets.
Born at 1pm on 15 September 1772. Penelope was born with a blackened face and unable to breathe properly. She survived just 10 hours, and died just before midnight the same day.
It was said that Mrs. Thrale had driven herself to total exhaustion during her previous pregnancy and had not recovered by the time Penelope was born.
Penelope was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham without any monument.
This epitaph to Hester Maria Cotton (born 1707, married 1739, and died 18 June 1773) was written by Samuel Johnson, who like Hester Maria Cotton, lived with the Thrale family for several years. The epitaph is at St Leonard's Church, Streatham.
St Leonard's Church Streatham was the principle place of worship for the Streatham Thrale family, chiefly comprising Ralph Thrale, his son Henry, wife Hester and her mother Hester Maria Cotton, and Henry and Hester's children.
St Leonards Church, Streatham, was the church attended by descendants of Ralph Thrale during the time that they lived at Streatham Park. The Thrale family vault was under the south aisle of the church and the covering slab is still there. However, the family remains were removed to the new catacomb at the time of the rebuilding of the church in 1831-2. The remains are still there and were respectfully filmed by the BBC in 2001.