During the ‘Reign of Terror’ that followed the French ‘storming of the Bastille’ in 1789, more than 8,000 clergy escaped to England.
In 1792, eighteen were welcomed to Thame by the Rev. Timothy Tripp Lee and the local magistrates. The Marquess of Buckingham and Richard Smith JP arranged for them to rent the empty Mansion House where they established a chapel and a quasi-monastic community with 100 members, supported by local subscription.
In 1802, following a temporary peace with France, most of the clergy returned home, following a public send-off by Thame’s vicar.
Revs. William Chandermerle and John Benign le Bihan died whilst in Thame. Their grave is a long, curved, flat stone in the ground, without an inscription, in the fork of the footpaths to the south of the Chancel in St. Mary’s.