The Land on which the church is built once belonged to John Temple Leader (1810-1903). In his Will, he left the land to his great nephew and his wife, Lord and Lady Westbury. Lady Westbury gave the plot of land to the church in memory of her great uncle Archbishop Amigo, who was very concerned that the old English Saints should not be forgotten, insisted the new church be dedicated to St. Simon Stock, a 12th Century Englishman who founded the Carmelite Order of Friars in Aylesford in Kent.

When the Church was eventually completed and consecrated in 1936 the then parish priest, Canon Pritchard, asked that the old medieval title of Our Lady of Pity be added to the dedication.

From the time of of the Norman Conquest until the reformation, Putney belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Manor of Mortlake and all the Churches and Chapels on it were dedicated to Our Lady, St. Mary.

The Canonical boundaries of the Parish stretch from Putney Park to the District Railway Line at East Putney and from Putney Heath to the River Thames. The statue of Simon Stock outside the Church is actually a modelled on a likeness of John Temple Leader.