Sir Francis ffolkes, 5th Baronet

The Rev. Sir Francis Arthur Stanley ffolkes, 5th Baronet (8 December 1863 – 18 October or 20 October 1938) was an English baronet and Anglican priest who served successive monarchs of the United Kingdom as an Honorary Chaplain and Chaplain-in-Ordinary.

Biography After his schooling at Oakham, ffolkes studied at Durham University (Hatfield Hall) where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1885. In 1893 he married Miss Isabel Boschetti and had one son, Edward John Patrick Boschetti ffolkes, who would later succeed to the baronetcy, and one daughter. He was Rector of Scoulton from 1894 to 1897, of Wolferton (close to Sandringham House) till 1912, and, after the death of his father, succeeded him as Rector of Hillington, Norfolk, the home of the ffolkes baronets.

In 1939 a memorial window dedicated to ffolkes was installed in the Lady Chapel of St Andrew's Church, East Hagbourne, as the gift of his sister, Margaret, the former Viscountess Dillon, who resided in the village, to which ffolkes was in his later years a frequent visitor. The centre of the window features Mary and Jesus.

Unusually, the window also features on one side, a Bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church in addition to a Western Bishop, and on the other side a Jewish rabbi and a Muslim cleric, all against the backdrop of the 'New Jerusalem'. The scene was apparently inspired by a speech given by ffolkes' nephew Tracy Philipps the previous Autumn at a meeting of the Near and Middle East Association, in which he expressed hope that one day in Jerusalem there would be a 'triple equality', with Jews, Christians, and Muslims living together in peace.

Honours