Blake was married to Catherine Boucher in this South London church on 17 August, 1782. Catherine, whose family lived nearby, was twenty-one at the time, Blake twenty-five. They remained married for forty-five years until Blake's death, Catherine 'uncomplainingly and helpfully sharing the low and rugged fortunes which over-originality insured as his unvarying lot'.

Despite having almost no education (Catherine merely made her mark, an X, in the parish register) she was much more than a prudent housekeeper for Blake, even helping him out with his engravings. Blake acknowledged this on his deathbed, crying out to her 'Stay! Keep as you are! You have ever been an angel to me', before drawing her portrait for the last time. Catherine outlived her husband by a number of years, dying in 1831. She was buried in Bunhill Fields.

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Website
www.stmarysbattersea.org.uk
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