Thomas Read Kemp, born in nearby Lewes in 1782, was heavily involved in Brighton's development in the first decades of the 19th century, until he left the country in 1837 to escape his debts.

He became the Member of Parliament for Lewes in 1811, but left both the position and the Church of England in 1816 to found an independent Christian sect in Brighton.

It was intended to serve as a chapel of ease to St Nicholas' Church, but was used by various Nonconformist congregations for its first few years until the Vicar of Brighton found a suitable curate.

[3] Although Kemp converted back to Anglicanism in 1823,[1] the chapel remained independent until 1826: a recently ordained priest, Revd Robert Anderson (the brother of the incumbent at St George's Church in Kemp Town) bought it in 1825[1] and converted it via a local act of Parliament, the Brighthelmston Chapels of Ease Act 1826 (7 Geo.

[8] The eastern face, fronting Ship Street, was reclad in flint and restyled in Gothic Revival fashion, and a much taller octagonal tower replaced the existing square structure.

This contrasted with the stuccoed south face, which had been hidden behind a house until the 1867 rebuilding but which now abutted the newly widened Duke Street.

Robert Anderson bought the church from Thomas Read Kemp in 1825, he removed this feature and extended the building northwards.

[7][8] There were more alterations in 1855, and the widening of Duke Street (which runs along the south side of the church) made the southern face visible for the first time.

Somers Clarke and Micklethwaite redesigned the east-facing exterior in a style incorporating elements of the Perpendicular and Decorated forms of Gothic Revival architecture.