The Church of St Francis De Sales and St Gertrude, Larkhall Lane, Stockwell, was founded in 1902. At that time Stockwell itself was an old village centred on what is now called Stockwell Green. Twelve years previously, in 1890, Stockwell tube station opened as the southern terminus of the Northern Line and by the time St Francis de Sales was being built Stockwell was a highly urban district of London.

The early masses in the church were celebrated exclusively in Latin with only the sermon, notices and hymns being in English. Early parishioners were mostly poor and families with children tended to go to one of the neighbouring churches, St Anne’s in Vauxhall or St Mary’s in Clapham, which had schools attached. Mass attendances fell away during the First and Second World Wars. During the Second World War the church and presbytery were twice damaged by bombs in November 1940 and May 1941. On the first occasion the bombs destroyed the large terraced houses to the left of the church and on the second occasion the bombs came through the roof of the church burning the sanctuary and all its contents. Mass continued to be celebrated without a break after temporary measures had been put in place. As the war neared its end mass attendances began to rise.
 

There followed a period of rebuilding in the Stockwell area and new homes were being built and the population density around the church began to rise. Blocks of flats also replaced many of the small terraced homes that had existed before the war. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s the congregation continued to grow as more new flats were built on bombed sites.

In 1954 Stockwell bus garage was built bringing more jobs and more families to the area. Church attendances continued to grow into the 1970’s and 1980’s and the church hall was finally completed in 1982. This was initially used as a parish hub for meetings and a social club along with receptions after weddings and christenings.
 

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Villefranche moved to Albert Square in 1980 and they have been a major blessing for the parish and they play a full and active part in parish life to this day. The demands of the parish meant that at one stage there were seven masses on a Sunday including a Spanish Mass and a Portuguese mass although mass attendances have dropped off since those days and there are now four masses at the weekend, one on Saturday evening and three on Sunday; and may likely drop from three to two on Sunday morning.