Thomas Benjamin Watkins

Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury

In 1879 Watkins was ordained as deacon by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and appointed to the curacy of Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells, where he served between 1879 and 1884. He was ordained priest by Charles Longley on 19 September 1880. He then held the post of Holy Trinity Church, Tunbridge Wells from 1884 to 1888. That post was offered to him by Canon Edward Hoare, "one of the best known of the distinctly evangelical section of the Church of England". In that post he was promoted to senior curate, "holding that position with credit, and winning much esteem in it". Between 1888 and 1894 he was vicar of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury. The living was worth £268 (equivalent to £30,117.14 in 2025) per annum, a vicarage and ten acres of glebe land.

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  Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells, 1850
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  HolyTrinity Church, Tunbridge Wells, 1829
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  St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury, 1911

Herne Bay

Watkins was appointed vicar of Christ Church, Herne Bay, in 1894. He was nominated for the post by Dr Charles Kessick Bowes, brother of Dr Tom Armstrong Bowes, following a delay caused by internal bickering within Herne School Board (HSB). Watkins served in the town until 1907. Watkins became chaplain to the Herne School Board, but in 1898 the board was taken over by the managers of the Metropolitan Asylums District, so in lieu of lost income he received a gratuity of £70 (equivalent to £7,866.42 in 2025) from the HSB.

Watkins founded St John's Church, Herne Bay, following twelve years' work and the raising of the building cost of £12,000 (equivalent to £1,275,239.04 in 2025). The architects were Richard Philip Day, and William Herbert James, The project was funded by Sir Henry Montagu Oxenden, 9th Baronet. The foundation stone was laid by Sir Horatio Davies, Lord Mayor of London in Brunswick Square on 28 July 1898.The builder was A.S. Ingleton. The church was consecrated by William Walsh, Bishop of Dover, on 25 July 1899. Watkins presented the bishop with a petition of consecration at the door, and was answered with an authority read by the bishop. Inside the building, the choir and a "large number of clergy of the district" repeating the 24th Psalm, processed up the aisle to the communion table, where the bishop received the deed of conveyance. The registrar read the sentence of consecration, and morning prayers were said. The collection amounted to £94 2s 4d (equivalent to £10,456.77 in 2025).

The church was constructed of Kentish ragstone with Bath stone dressing, and internal red brick. The nave seated a congregation of 800. The 1903 five-light east window, by the Percy Bacon Brothers, depicted the Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension with a circular light above, of Christ in Glory. The church had two other windows by the Bacon Brothers: the side chapel window of St James and St Peter, and a 1905 window showing John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. In 1899 the nave was consecrated and dedicated to John the Evangelist, and the chancel was added in 1903. The diminishing congregation removed to Christ Church, Herne Bay, in 1973. In the face of opposition from the public, St John's was then demolished in 1973, and Donnithorne House, a care home, was built in its place. In 1914, Thomas William Watkins, son of T.B. Watkins, was appointed architect for the church's projected bell tower. £500 (equivalent to £49,881.80 in 2025) had been promised for a peal of bells, provided that the tower was erected by May 1916. Due to the interruption of the First World War, the tower was not built. It would have had 4-foot (122 cm) thick walls at the base, an outdoor pulpit between buttresses, a baptistery at the base of the tower, and no west door in the tower. The tower, without bells and other extras, would have cost £3,500 (equivalent to £349,172.59 in 2025).

In April 1907, before Watkins left for Dover, his parishioners and friends presented him with an illuminated album and a silver tea and coffee service "in recognition of thirteen years' faithful service". Watkins was described as "one who had endeared himself to all hearts by his gentle disposition and sterling worth ... he would be remembered in the annals of Herne Bay as one of their best and dearest vicars".

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  Christ Church, Herne Bay, 1839
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  St John's Church, Herne Bay, 1904
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  William Herbert James, L.R.I.B.A., co-designer of St John's Church
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  Proposal drawing for St John's tower, 1914

Dover

Between 1907 and 1926 Watkins was rector of St James the Apostle, Dover. On 4 May 1907 he was inducted, by the Bishop of Dover, into the post in the presence of a "large and influential congregation ... including a considerable representation of the local clergy". Hymns were assisted by a full choir and organ. At the evening service the Bishop of Dover exegesized on the text, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians 6.2). There followed the ritual of induction. The bishop, carrying the Archibishop of Canterbury's mandate in his hand, and accompanied by Watkins and the bishop's attendants, proceeded to the church's west door, and laid Watkin's hand on the door key, speaking the formal induction phrases. Watkins then tolled the bell twelve times; a ritual intended to signify to the congregation that he was taking possession of the church. The bishop and his procession then visited the font, the prayer desk, the lectern, the pulpit, and the communion table. At each halting place, the bishop admonished Watkins at each point to do his duty, and Watkins responded, "I will do so, the Lord being my helper". There followed a lesson, a prayer, a hymn and a benediction for the congregation.

On the next day,.Sunday, Watkins began his tenure with a sermon on the Thirty-nine Articles. His second sermon on the Sunday afternoon was The Five Alls, interpreting them in terms of the religious and moral duties of Man. In his third sermon on the Sunday, he started as he was to continue, on the subject of evangelism. In 1921 Watkins was living at the St James Rectory, Dover, with his wife, three daughters, a guest, and two servants. He resigned from his post at Dover in 1926, leaving on his 70th birthday. Watkins was honorary chaplain to Dover College, and he was also chaplain to the Gordon Boys' Orphanage. In 1925 he was invested as an honorary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral. St James' Church was bombed during the Second World war and is now a ruin.

Reviews and memorials

In anticipation of Watkins taking up the post of vicar at Herne Bay, the Herne Bay Press reported the following assessment of his character:

[At St Dunstan's, Watkins'] organising and ministerial abilities had play and a certain amount of scope, while the church organizations soon showed, by the infusion of new life and earnest, loving zeal, that he was gathering around him a band of willing and devoted workers. As a preacher he is earnest and thoughtful, given more to the practical side of Christianity than to the exposition of its doctrines – thinking more of the life than of the mere profession of a creed. His pulpit addresses are plain, homely, thorough, and evangelical. His excursions into the realms of imagination and theory are only taken the better to enforce the truth under consideration at the hour. He has fairly balanced logical faculties, and uses them on the constructive side of affairs rather than in the more easy role of pure criticism. He is genial in converse, a capital listener, takes an evident interest in the welfare of those committed to his charge, is alert to watch the varying moods of men, sufficiently sympathetic to gauge the undercurrent of their thoughts, human enough to smile with the cheerful, and tender enough to solace the sorrowing. Candid and sincere in his expression of opinion; he gives to others who differ from his views credit for their convictions – he wins by bonhomie rather than rules by dogmatism, and never forgets that courtesy which is said to be the grace of kings.

As a clergyman [Watkins] is essentially a working parson, the organisations of his church are fostered with care, guided by tact, and to get all to work doing that for which each is best fitted is his constant endeavour – let us is much more frequently his counsel than to command others, or even to take upon himself the whole of the work to be accomplished. It is this characteristic that in a large measure made his monthly service for men in Canterbury a success. As a churchman he is decidedly evangelical in views, an admirer of bright and hearty services, led by the clergyman but thoroughly enjoyed and taken part in by his congregation. At Canterbury he was a regular and systematic visitor "seeking to know personally", as one who knew and worked with him there writes, and to make a friend of every one of his parishioners. He warmly supports the cause of foreign missions, while also interesting himself in the welfare of those in his parish; for the latter of whom Bible classes for men, women, girls and youths, mothers' meetings, gymnastic classes, cricket club etc., were kept in active operation. Not himself a total abstainer he yet has strong sympathies with the temperance movement, and the Church of England Temperance Society has ever found in him a friend.

On 25 July 1936 a memorial stained glass window depicting The Good Shepherd and The Light of the World was installed and dedicated in memory of Watkins in St James the Apostle Church, Dover. It was dedicated by Watkins' son, Claude, who was at that time vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Hastings, and his children Wilfrid, Sylvia and Joyce were also present. The Reverend Canon William George Elnor, vicar of St Mary's Church, Dover, gave the address. He said:

Watkins visited Reculver every year to preach for the Church Mission Society. He was a great progressionist for the extension of the Kingdom of God overseas, and a great propogandist on behalf of its work, so that when, fifteen years later he (Canon Elnor) came to Dover, to be vicar of St Mary's, he was not surprised to find that the parish of St James' was a live-wire on behalf of that particular work of the church ... [Watkins] was loved and respected by everyone, even those outside his parish, but his reputation for his twelve years' ministry in Herne Bay was well in remembrance; twelve years of striking and successful labour; he achieved the building of a daughter church, which stood there now, a monument of his vigorous industry and his spiritual leadership. [Elnor] remembered so well how he maintained the fresh nature of his physical personality, and how he never lost that geniality, friendly attitude, sense of humour, and kindly expression of countenance, all of which spoke of his inward and sincere charity of heart ... which he had in those days of service in both the churches at Dover ... [During the First World War] he had the experience .. of receiving ... one of the first bombs in his garden.

Elnor added that Watkins was "an evangelical by conviction"; he was ever ready to see the good in those whose views were not his own". He said that Watkins assisted the Church and Rural Deanery, and "gave advice in the Council of their Chapters". He added that " [Watkins'] ministry at Dover was a pleasant and happy epoch in the lives of his congregation".

On the same day, 25 June 1933, at St James' Church, Dover, its rector, Rev. C.K. Chadwick, spoke his own elegy to Watkins, from the pulpit. He said:

Watkins' great approachableness, fatherliness, simple faith, humility and gladness of heart made him beloved by all ... At Herne Bay ... he accomplished a magnificent work in building the parish church of St John. He lived a strenuous life, and his ministry at Dover included the Great War. It was interesting to recall that his church was in the nearest parish to the scene of the operations on the other side of the Channel ... His eldest daughter, hearing him preach about the need for workers overseas, volunteered, at the urge of her own father, as a missionary. His work was indeed being carried on in the lives of his own children.