Born in 1856 Henrietta Barnett founded the Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1906 as an area to the north of London with affordable housing and green spaces so the working clas did not have to live in the slums she experienced in Whitechapel. 

Raymond Unwin was a prominent engineer, architect and town planner of the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. Henrietta Barnett asked him to help plan Hampstead Garden Suburb following his success in designing Letchworth.

The first vicar of the church Rev Basil Graham Bourchier was a loyal servant to St Jude's and a popular figure, gathering crowds from all around London to see him preach.