St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley

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St Cyprian the Martyr Cathedral
Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr
St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley.jpg
St Cyprian's Cathedral: south transept and tower
St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
Location129 Du Toitspan Road, Kimberley
Country South Africa
Denomination Anglican
History
FoundedParish founded 1871
Dedication St Cyprian
DedicatedPresent building dedicated 13 May 1908
Architecture
Architect(s) Arthur Lindley with D.W. Greatbatch
Style Gothic Revival
CompletedDedication of Nave in 1908
Administration
Province Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Diocese Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman
Archdeaconry Cathedral Archdeaconry within the Archdeaconry of the Karoo
Clergy
Dean The Very Revd Fr Reginald Leeuw

The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The building was dedicated in 1908, becoming a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops mandated formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911. [1] The first Bishop, the Rt Revd Wilfrid Gore Browne, was enthroned there on 30 June 1912. [2]

Contents

The Parish of St Cyprian dates back to 1871 when a chapelry of the Parish of All Saints, Du Toit's Pan, Diocese of Bloemfontein, at first met in a tent in the nearby New Rush, on the Diamond Fields, a place later renamed Kimberley. [3] [4]

Beginnings

Churches in diggers' camps on the South African Diamond Fields met initially in tents in 1870–71. The first Anglican Church to be built was St Mary's in Barkly West. The nascent St Cyprian's congregation gathered later in a metal-roofed building, the Odd Fellows Hall near the Market Square and, from 1880 to 1908, in Jones Street, in a prefabricated wood-and-iron building which had been imported from England. [3]

The first rector was Fr John Witherston Rickards, previously a curate at St Cyprian's, Marylebone, London. He was appointed by the Bishop of Bloemfontein, the Rt Revd Allan Webb, being diverted from Modderpoort to the Diamond Fields when he arrived in 1871.

The writer J. W. Matthews recalled the "primitive state of things existing" in church matters when he reached the Diamond Fields in November 1871: worshippers gathered in a canvas tent billiard-room:

"On entering I beheld a full-robed clergyman officiating at one end of a billiard-table, which served for his reading desk, whilst a large and attentive crowd sat around the other end, some on rude benches which were fixed along the walls, others perched upon gin cases, buckets reversed, or any other make-shift[sic] that came to hand. The congregation behaved with suitable decorum, but I confess it was not easy to keep the mind from wandering to the incongruity of the surroundings. ..When the parson was praying or the people singing, it was not particularly edifying to be interrupted by the lively chaff and occasional bursts of blasphemy, which we could plainly hear through the canvas party-walls, which separated us from the adjoining bar and its half tipsy occupants". [5]

Rickards promoted the cause of education in Kimberley (three schools originated from this work). A Mission School, later called Perseverance, was established in his day, as were a school for boys and one for girls. [6] St Cyprian's Boys' School – known also as St Cyprian's Grammar School – under headmaster Thomas McLaren was established in March 1876: "For several years this was one of the best schools in Kimberley." [7]

The Revd C.B. Maude, a later rector of the parish, related that: "We have a canvas house for our sitting room and a wooden one for our bedroom. The floors are made of brick dried in the sun, but the legs of beds or tables make holes in them... The church floor is of mud and so is very dusty. It is a low building with an iron roof and when it rains we have to give up the service as we cannot be heard!" [3]

During Maude's incumbency a prefabricated church building was imported from England. The foundation stone was laid in 1879 by Sir Charles Warren. [8] As its erection neared completion, it was blown to the ground by a whirlwind; but on Low Sunday 1880 Bishop Webb of Bloemfontein dedicated the re-erected building and instituted C.B. Maude as Rector of Kimberley. [9]

In August 1884 the Vicar General of the Diocese of Bloemfontein, Archdeacon D.G. Croghan, appointed Canon William Thomas Gaul as Rector of St Cyprian's Kimberley. [10] In Gaul's appointment, Croghan noted, St Cyprian's assumed first place among the Anglican parishes in Kimberley. [11] Gaul subsequently became Rural Dean of Griqualand West and Archdeacon of Kimberley, and served the parish until 1895 when he was elected to succeed George Wyndham Knight-Bruce as second Bishop of Mashonaland. [12]

Becoming a Cathedral

The idea of building a "more worthy parish church" was mooted in 1901, when the former rector Bishop Gaul of Mashonaland, chided the St Cyprian's congregation for continuing to worship in a "tin shanty": he was referring to the wood and iron church in Jones Street built in 1879–80. [13] The foundation stone for the Neo-Gothic church building that would become the Cathedral was laid (by Bishop Gaul) on 5 March 1907 and the completed Nave was dedicated on 13 May 1908. [14] St Cyprian's Church became a Cathedral when Episcopal Synod approved the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911, the first Bishop, Gore Browne, being enthroned in 1912. [1] The foundation stone for the Chancel was laid in 1913, but war intervened and it was completed only in 1926 – as a war memorial. The Lady Chapel was added in memory of Dean Robson in 1936 (when a vestry and a new organ, by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd, were also built). [15] The building was brought nearer to completion in 1961 with the dedication of the bell tower – which was built closely following the original cathedral design (the architect had been Arthur Lindley of the firm of Greatbatch). A watercolour impression of the anticipated Chancel was painted by William M. Timlin, artist and architect, and a partner in Greatbatch & Timlin, who guided some of the later phases of construction. Funds for the building of the tower were given in memory of parishioners who lost their lives in World War II. [16] The funeral service of World War II RAF veteran "Sailor" Malan, a South African fighter pilot who became famous during the Battle of Britain, was held here in 1963.

Stained glass windows, plaques, furnishings and ornaments have been added by succeeding generations. Complementing earlier twentieth century glass, the Holy Spirit windows in the south transept, of thick scintillating glass set in concrete, are by the Pretoria artist Leo Theron. [16]

A cathedral hall and office complex was built in 1979.

Adjacent to the cathedral, a garden of remembrance was consecrated on 5 March 2007 as part of the cathedral's centenary. The bronze statue within it, by Jack Penn, commemorates Sister Henrietta Stockdale, 1847–1911, of the Community of St Michael and All Angels, a nursing pioneer who brought about the first state registration of nurses in the world. [17] It had been unveiled by Bishop Wheeldon in 1970. The graves of Sister Henrietta and of two fellow workers were reinterred alongside in 1984; nearby lie the re-interred remains of Archdeacon George Mervyn Lawson, 1865–1945, Director of Missions for Griqualand West from 1903 and Archdeacon of Kuruman, 1913–1941. [16]

Cathedral and Diocesan Centenaries and reinstitution of the St Cyprian's Grammar School

The centenary of the building was celebrated in 2007–8, with major events including the first return visit in 40 years by deported Bishop C.E. Crowther; the consecration (1 May 2007) and enthronement (16 June 2007) of Bishop Oswald Swartz and services commemorating the laying of the foundation stone (5 March 2007) and the dedication of the building (13 May 2008) [18]

Arising from the cathedral's centenary was the reinstitution of the St Cyprian's Grammar School, which had existed more than a hundred years previously as part of the mission of the St Cyprian's Parish Church in the late nineteenth century. [19] The school opened on 21 January 2009 and was dedicated on the cathedral's dedication feast, 13 May 2009, when the Head Student was instituted and the Head of the School and Chaplain each received the Bishop's licence. [20]

The centenary of the establishment of the Anglican Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in 1911/12 commenced with the Diocesan Family Weekend in September 2011. The diocese also recalled Sister Henrietta Stockdale on 6 October 2011, on the centenary of her death.

Music at St Cyprian's

William Crisp recorded that within a year of the establishment of the parish, a vested choir was in existence and was accompanied by a harmonium. In 1874 an organ, purchased from the Commemoration Church in Grahamstown, replaced the harmonium, and was itself replaced by an imported instrument from England in 1880. [15] This second organ, with a colourful history recounted by A. Pierce Jones in a 1924 article on "The Adventures of an Organ", [21] was transferred to the new building erected in 1907–8, soon to be a cathedral. In 1936 J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd built the organ which is still in use at St Cyprian's. [15]

The St Cyprian's Choir was enrolled with the Guild of Church Musicians in 1909. [22]

In January 2013 the cathedral hosted the 49th Summer School of the Royal School of Church Music (South Africa); the first time that the Summer School had been held in Kimberley. [23]

Rectors and Deans at St Cyprian's and the Bishops under whom they served

The early Rectors of St Cyprian's

The following priests served as Rector of St Cyprian's Parish, Kimberley, between 1871 and 1912, when it became a Cathedral:

Deans of Kimberley

From 1912, when St Cyprian's became the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, the Rector was automatically also the Dean of Kimberley. The following clergy have served as Deans of the Kimberley:

Subdeans

Subdeans have been: David Hart TSSF, Owen Franklin, Oswald Swartz (afterwards Dean of Pretoria and Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, 2007-2020).

Precentors

Precentors have been: John William Salt OGS (afterwards Dean of Eshowe and Bishop of St Helena) and Keith Thomas.

The Bishops of Bloemfontein (to 1912)

St Cyprian's initially was a Parish within the Diocese of Bloemfontein under the following Bishops:

The Bishops of Kimberley and Kuruman (from 1912)

The Bishops of Kimberley and Kuruman have occupied the Bishop's Throne, dedicated to St Edward, since Gore Browne's enthronement on 30 June 1912:

Related Research Articles

The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and encompasses the area around Kimberley and Kuruman and overlaps the Northern Cape Province and North West Province of South Africa. It is presided over by the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, until recently Ossie Swartz. On 19 September 2021 the Electoral College of Bishops elected to translate the Right Revd Brian Marajh of George to become the 13th Bishop of Kimberley & Kuruman. The seat of the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman is at St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley. There had been so far 12 bishops of the See, though one of these served for two different periods of time.

Wilfrid Gore Browne was an Anglican bishop, the first Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman from 1912 to 1928. He was described as a saintly bishop with "a keen sense of humour" and "a winning courtesy."

Oswald Peter Patrick Swartz is a South African Anglican bishop. He is the twelfth and current Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Oram</span>

Kenneth Cyril Oram AKC was an Anglican clergyman who served as Dean of Kimberley and of Grahamstown before his elevation to the episcopacy as Bishop of Grahamstown, 1974 to 1987.

St. Cyprian's Grammar School in Kimberley, South Africa, is a co-educational English-medium independent school for Grades R and 1–12, attached to St Cyprian's Cathedral. In its present form it opened to 83 students on 21 January 2009. St Cyprian's is one of the pilot schools within the Historic Schools Restoration Project initiated by Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane.

William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927) was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being elected the second Bishop of Mashonaland, where he styled himself "the smallest bishop with the largest diocese in Christendom." He officiated at the funeral of Cecil John Rhodes and helped draft the Rhodes Trust Deed.

John Witherston Rickards, priest, founded the Anglican Parish of St Cyprian the Martyr at New Rush, Kimberley, on the South African Diamond Fields, in 1871. He served a curacy at St Cyprian's, Marylebone, London, and following his time in South Africa he was vicar of Dixton in Monmouthshire, from 1886 until his death in 1921.

Neville Arthur Blachley Borton, M.A. was the second rector of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, South Africa, serving from 1876–77, being successor to Fr John Witherston Rickards. He afterwards ran a small church school at St Mary's Barkly West, was appointed principal of St Andrew's, Bloemfontein, and subsequently Vicar of Burwell, Cambridge, where he served until 1920.

The Perseverance School, Kimberley, was founded as such in 1883 but might be seen as having arisen from the St Cyprian's Mission School dating back to the early 1870s. Until 1917 it was officially called St Cyprian’s (E.C.) Mission School, although known as Perseverance from 1884. For part of its history it was referred to in the plural as Perseverance Schools, after a teacher-training section was established; and latterly the name applied principally to the teacher training college, Perseverance College, in Barkly Road, Kimberley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henrietta Stockdale</span>

Sister Henrietta, CSM and AA was a British nursing pioneer and Anglican religious sister. Through her influence and pressure the first state registration of nurses and midwives in the world was brought about when the Cape of Good Hope Medical and Pharmacy Act of 1891 passed into law. She was a member of the Anglican Community of St Michael and All Angels.

Allan Becher Webb was the second Anglican Bishop of Bloemfontein, afterward Bishop of Grahamstown and, later, Dean of Salisbury.

The Very Revd Thomas Claude Robson was the first Anglican Dean of Kimberley, and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, South Africa.

The Reverend Canon Robin Roy Snyman was a priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, who served as Dean of Kimberley and rector of St Cyprian’s Cathedral, and afterwards was Vice-Provost at the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, Port Elizabeth. He was born at Waterval Boven, in what is now Mpumalanga in 1934. He died in Port Elizabeth on 15 September 2020.

The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Barkly West, was for some years the principal Anglican parish on the Diamond Fields, South Africa, and the churches established soon afterwards at the Dry Diggings – what would become Kimberley – were at first mere outstations.

George Arthur Pullen was Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, South Africa.

Justus Mauritius Marcus was a South African Anglican bishop. He was Regional Bishop of Saldanha Bay in the Diocese of Cape Town from 2002 to 2003, having served as Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral from 1992 to 2002. He died from cancer, aged 48, on 1 December 2003. Marcus was predeceased by his first wife, Milly. His second wife and widow is Sarah Rowland Jones, a fellow priest who then fulfilled a research ministry in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa at the behest of two successive Archbishops of Cape Town before returning to Wales in late 2013.

Brian Victor Beck, an Anglican priest in South Africa, served as Dean of Kimberley from 2003 to 2010. He is an Honorary Canon of St Cyprian's Cathedral.

Alan John Butler, a Director of the Kuruman Moffat Mission in Kuruman, South Africa, and Canon of Kimberley Cathedral, was a priest who served in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman for a major part of the second half of the twentieth century. He was responsible for the restoration of the historic Moffat Mission precinct which became renowned as a conservation area and as a beacon of hope in the troubled last years of Apartheid. He was born in the United Kingdom in 1930 and died at Wimborne on 13 January 2011.

Simon Mark Aiken is Dean of Benoni and rector of St Dunstan's Cathedral in the Diocese of the Highveld. He was previously the 12th Dean of Kimberley and rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. Born in England in 1962, he went to South Africa in 2006, initially as subdean at Bloemfontein Cathedral.

Mphashane Reginald Leeuw is the 13th Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. Leeuw was born in Barkly West, Northern Cape, and served in several parishes in the diocese prior to his appointment as Dean.

References

  1. 1 2 Brian Roberts (1976). Kimberley: Turbulent City. David Philip & Historical Society of Kimberley and the Northern Cape. pp. 356–7. ISBN   978-0-949968-62-3 . Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Diamond Fields Advertiser, Monday 1 Jul 1912, pg 5, Col C & D Bishop of Kimberley – Consecration at Bloemfontein – A stately ceremonial; Diamond Fields Advertiser, Tuesday 2 Jul 1912, pg 5, Col E Bishop Enthroned – Impressive ceremony in the Cathedral Church – Sermon by the Bishop of Bloemfontein
  3. 1 2 3 Morris, D. 2007. A Cathedral Centenary: the background to the building of St Cyprian's Cathedral a hundred years ago, and the first years of its history. Now and Then 15(1):1–3.
  4. ↑ Early St Cyprian's – worship in a tent
  5. ↑ Josiah Wright Matthews (1887). Incwadi Yami. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. pp.  394–5. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Lekhela, E.P. 1970. The origin, development and role of missionary teacher-training institutions for the Africans of the North-Western Cape (an historical-critical survey of the period 1850–1954). PhD dissertation, UNISA.
  7. ↑ Moult, L. 1987 K.H.Story: a history of the Kimberley Boys' High School, p 13, 14.
  8. ↑ Diamond News 2 September 1879
  9. ↑ William Crisp (1923). Some Account of the Diocese of Bloemfontein, in the Province of South Africa, from 1863 to 1894. Nabu Press. ISBN   978-1-248-49176-8 . Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Williams, Alpheus F. 1948. Some dreams come true.
  11. ↑ Griqualand West Church Magazine, Feb 1885.
  12. ↑ Lewis, C; Edwards. G.E. (1935). South Africa – The Growth of the Church of the Province. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
  13. ↑ Diamond Fields Advertiser, 14 May 1901
  14. ↑ "New Parish Church", Diamond Fields Advertiser 13 May 1908 p 5, 7.
  15. 1 2 3 Morris, D. 2007. 'All the sounds of creation': the organs of St Cyprian's, Kimberley. Now and Then: Newsletter of the Historical Society of Kimberley and the Northern Cape 15(4):3–5.
  16. 1 2 3 St Cyprian's Cathedral 2010. A Cathedral Pilgrimage. Brochure.
  17. ↑ Charlotte Searle – biography of Henrietta Stockdale, Dictionary of South African Biography
  18. ↑ Centenary plaques in the Baptistery at St Cyprian's Cathedral marking each of these occasions
  19. ↑ Beangstrom, P. 2008. Church goes back to its roots: private school on the cards. Diamond Fields Advertiser 6 June 2008:3-2.
  20. ↑ Highway: quarterly newspaper of the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, Pentecost 2009, p. 2
  21. ↑ The Adventures of an Organ by A. Pierce Jones – article first appeared in "The Organ", No. 11, Vol III, January, 1924, pp. 169–172
  22. ↑ Guild of Church Musicians, London, Certificate No 570 dated 21 October 1909, preserved in the Crypt, St Cyprian's Cathedral
  23. ↑ 'Church choirs converge in city'. Diamond Fields Advertiser 10 January 2013

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