Dedicated to St John the Baptist, its name preserves the memory of a local priory dissolved by King Henry VIII.

[13] Many members of the church[14] became missionaries in Africa and Asia, among them the first Bishop of Chota Nagpur, the Rt Revd Jabez Cornelius Whiteley, whose father, Chaplain to the Haberdashers' Aske's Hospital School formerly located in Pitfield Street[15][16] was the Revd Edward Whiteley: to give opportunities to the "local poor",[17] the parish's first vicar founded what became London's largest savings bank[18] and St John's National Schools[19] which still thrive in India.

[20] The present vicar, the Revd Graham Hunter, serves as an Assistant of the Haberdashers' Company and helps Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, pioneer the CofE's Health Inequalities Action Group (HIAG) bringing together faith leaders.

A large example of a Commissioners' church, its original floor plan remains intact as well as notable galleries and décor,[23] including a painted ceiling[24] executed in the early 20th century by the architect Joseph Arthur Reeve.

[25] Built and installed in 1915 by the firm of Thomas Sidwell Jones,[26] the organ sits in the choir gallery retaining its original late-Georgian wooden case with an elaborate façade displaying the arms of William IV.