High up on the wall of the south aisle is an ornate marble memorial to Henry Johnson (d.1760 aged 61), whose remains are buried below along with those of his widow, Laetitia (d. 1784, aged 70). The inscription proudly proudly asserts Henry Johnson’s noble lineage as a descendant of the Norman Barons De Vesci, who came into England with William the Conqueror at the Norman Conquest. It was at Berkhamsted Castle that William accepted the surrender of the English in 1066.
Henry Johnson was a writer who made his fortune with the South Sea Company in South America, and he owned Tyttenhanger House, near St Albans. The second of his three daughters, Agneta, married Charles Yorke MP. Yorke was appointed Lord Chancellor but died in office after only three days. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted a portrait of Agneta, The Honourable Mrs Charles Yorke, now lost. Among her children was Charles Philip Yorke, who served as Home Secretary 1803 to 1804 in the Addington government.
