Memorials

Francis Malham. The table-top tomb in the North Aisle is for Francis Malham of Elslack, which is near Skipton in Yorkshire.

He died in Grantham in 1660 on his way to Yorkshire and was buried in St Wulfram's by his third wife Jane.

He was a distinguished Royalist soldier in the Civil War. The black marble top to the tomb shows his coat of arms.

Rt Hon Lord Dudley Ryder. After a distinguished career as Solicitor General and Attorney General, Lord Dudley Ryder was made Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1754, a post he held until his death in 17.

King George II conferred on him the title of Baron of Harrowby, but Lord Dudley died the day before the Patent was passed.
His son was to become Lord Harrowby 20 years later, after sitting as MP for Tiverton - the first of six generations of Ryders in the House of Commons.

The second baron, who was Foreign Secretary and Lord President, was raised to the earldom of Harrowby; and it was his son, the second earl, who married a grand-daughter of Thomas Coutts.

Both the fourth earl and the fifth (who married a daughter of WH Smith, the railway bookstall pioneer) combined distinguished parliamentary careers with partnerships in the bank. The marble monument to Lord Dudley Ryder, which can be found on the north wall, was sculpted by Henry Cheere in 1759. Long Service.

Three ordinary citizens of Grantham who gave long service to the town are commemorated by brass plaques, Sarah Bird and Abraham Cockman in the Lady Chapel and George Wilkinson on the south wall.

Sarah Bird was Headmistress of the Girls' School for 28 years, from 1858 to 1886. Born in 1834, she died in 1889.

The 1861 Census records Sarah Bird, Schoolmistress, living at the National School house, Castlegate, Grantham, with her widowed mother, also called Sarah Bird, and an 8 year old boarder, Agnes Taunt. Agnes was Miss Bird's niece. Later she was also a headmistress of the National School, and prior to that was headmistress of Little Gonerby Infants.

Sarah Bird was not a native of Grantham. The census records that she was born in Leintwardine, Herefordshire, close to the border with Shropshire.

In the 1891 Census, Abraham Cockman is described as a National School Master and his address was National School Boys, Castlegate, Grantham.

The National School in Castlegate is one of the St Wulfram's group of schools and was built adjacent to the churchyard in 1859. Sarah and Abraham would therefore be early Head Teachers of the school, one responsible for the girls and the other for the boys

George William Wilkinson was Parish Clerk for 25 years, between 1884 and 1909. George W Wilkinson was a Grantham-born man who married Charlotte Barnacle who was born in Colsterworth. In the 1891 Census he was living at 4, Swinegate with his wife and three year old daughter Lottie and a cousin, 13 year old Ada M Wilkinson.

In the 1900 Kelly's Directory he is recorded as Wilkinson, George William, parish clerk and collector of poor rates and assistant overseer for Harrowby without, 4 Swinegate. He died in 1910 aged 54 years.

On the north wall is a plaque in memory of Samuel Bentley Rudd, who was Churchwarden between 1874 and 1916, a total of 42 years. Samuel Bentley Rudd was a notable builder whose large premises were on Wharf Road.

He built many properties in Grantham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from large houses in Welby Gardens and his own house Welby Gate, to terraced dwellings for the working class. He was also Borough Magistrate and was Mayor of Grantham in 1886-1887.