The Parish of Hammersmith is situated in the Hammersmith & Fulham Deanery. It was founded in 1903. The church was built in 1916 and consecrated on 20th May 1933.
1902 – Cardinal Herbert Vaughan asks the Augustinian Friars to fill a missionary gap in West Kensington and primarily serve the large number of Irish immigrants living and working in the Hammersmith.
1903 – 12 April Easter Sunday: Priory and small chapel opened on 71 Comeragh Road, West Kensington. 16 September: The present site on Fulham Palace Road as acquired and a temporary iron church, accommodating 200 people. 28 September: Friars move from Comeragh Road to 38 Fulham Palace Road and it becomes residence of the first Augustinian Community.
1905 – The Parish boundaries are revised, with a section of Holy Trinity, Brook Green parish being added to it.
1915 – 25 March: Foundation stone laid by Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster.
1916 – 14 October: Formal opening of the Church by Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster.
1917 – 25 March: First Parish Priest, Fr. Raleigh (below) dies in Dungarven.
1920 – Chapel of St Nicholas of Tolentine installed (an Augustinian friar of the twelfth century) made by Edmund Sharp of Dublin. The window depicting St Nicholas dates from 1952. The reredos picture of St Nicholas in painted by Fr Edward Foran.
1933 – Church is consecrated.
1960 – The Mother of Good Counsel Altar was refurbished with renewed marble décore taken from the high altar.
1961 – Apse opened to the “extended church” (now the St John Stone Hall) owing to 6,000 Mass attendance every Sunday. Parish Centre opened to form a dance hall and youth club. It later became the Catholic Social Club and is now the Augustinian Centre.
1964 – 7 September: St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School opens on Disbrowe Road with a blessing by Cardinal John Heenan.
1972 – Irish Welfare Bureau founded by the Augustinians with Fr. Brian Lawlor as first director. The bureau provided Irish support and advice service, including the Austin House Hostels.
1988 – Apse wall restored and the Sanctuary reordered.
2003 – 12 April: Centenary of the Parish with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor. New windows (including stained glass) are installed in the Church.
2009 – 1 May: Father Michael Campbell O.S.A. appointed as first Augustinian Bishop in England since the reformation to the Diocese of Lancaster.
2012 – Launch of Austin Forum, the Order’s outreach project engaging in Augustinian spirituality, social justice and cultural projects.
2013 – The Regeneration Project is launched to provide a new centre at St. Augustine’s for the Augustinians in Britain.
2016 – The Parish celebrates the Centenary of the current Church building.