Memorial to Katherine Incent (d. March 1521), the wife of Robert Incent, with a full-length portrait of Katherine in her burial shroud. The Incents lived at the house opposite St Peter’s Church and were an influential family in the parish during the reign of King Henry VIII. The inscription reads:
Here lyeth buryed und(er) thys stone the bodye of Kateryn sumtyme wife of Robert Incent,Vgent father and mother unto John Incent docto(r) of ye lawe who hath done many benyfyt & ornament given unto thys chapel of Saynt John whyche sayd Kateryn dyed the XII day of Marche ye xii yere of the reygne of kyng Henry the viii.
A little further to the right on this wall is a smaller memorial to Robert Incent (d.1485), a simple inscribed plaque. Robert was the Secretary to Cicely, Duchess of York, the last royal resident at Berkhamsted Castle and the mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. He died of the Great Sweating Sickness, a mysterious disease that struck England in the late 15th century. The inscription reads:
Here lyeth buryed and thys stone the body of Robert Incent Gentylman late suant to the nobel pryncess Cecyle duchesse of Yorke & mother unto the worthy kyng Edward and Richard the thyrde whych sayd Robert dyed of the grete swetyng sykeness the first yere of the reygne of kyng Henry the vii upon whose sowlys Jhu have mercy Amen.
The son of Katherine and Robert , John Incent (c. 1480–1545) a lawyer and clergyman who became Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London in 1540 and founded the Berkhamsted School in 1541. John also contributed greatly to the development of the St John Chantry.
