Penang & East India Company
Penang was one of the two British ports in Southeast Asia belonging to the East India Company. It had been founded in 1786. The other British settlement was Beencoolen on the West Coast of Sumatra. Bencoolen had been founded about a hundred years earlier than Penang.
11 Aug 1786 - Prince of Wales Island colony (under British East India Company)ceded to Britain by Sultan of Kedah.
Jun 1801 - Province Wellesley on mainland added (confirmed Nov 1802).
1805 - 1830 - Prince of Wales Island Presidency (under British East India Co.)
1867 - Renamed Penang Island.
14 Aug 1826 - Part of Straits Settlements, with Singapore & Malacca.
1 Apr 1867 - Crown colony
Originally part of the Malay sultanate of Kedah, Penang was ceded to the British East India Company in 1786 by the Sultan of Kedah, in exchange for military protection from Siamese and Burmese armies who were threatening Kedah. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light, known as the founder of Penang, hoisted the Union Jack thereby taking formal possession of Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island (name used until after 1867) in honour of the heir to the British throne. Penang was the first British possession in the Malay States and Southeast Asia.
The location of the island at the opening of the Straits of Malacca attracted the British East India Company to use the island as a natural harbour and anchorage for their trading ships, and as a naval base to counter growing French ambitions in the region. The settlement on the north-eastern tip of the island was named George Town after King George III of Great Britain.
From 1786 to 1805 Penang was a "Residency" under the direct control of the Governor of Bengal. The original governors of Penang were Superintendents appointed by the Governor-general in Calcutta, subject to the Bengal Government and were retained on a very small salary by the British East India Company. They were not members of the Indian Civil Service nor were they attached to any of the garrisons or military forces of the British East India Company. They were civilian traders who spent part of their time on the governance and administration of the island and part on their own personal commercial activities. Superintendents mediated and arbitrated in local disputes but had no formal of local jurisdiction. Light had argued for the need for well-paid, full-time administrators with complete responsibility and full powers of jurisdiction backed up with sufficient resources to enforce that authority, but this did not come for another fourteen years
EIC Bengal|Residency of Prince of Wales' Island|Superintendents
From 1800 to 1805, the governors of Penang were changed from Superintendents to
Lieutenant-Governor who rule over Prince of Wales Island and Province Wellesley.
EIC Bengal|Residency of Penang: Prince of Wales' Isle & Province Wellesley (Lieut.-Gov)
In 1805 Penang's Colonial status elevated to that of an independent Presidency from that date till 1829 and was also known as the Eastern Presidency under the direct control of the Governor-General of India. This change was likely the catalyst for the founding of the Government Gazette in 1806. The new Government consisted of three councillors in addition to the Governor and 11 other officers. The Gazette subsequently dutifully recorded the arrival of new governors and appointment of new councillors
EIC India|Presidency of the Straits Settlements at Penang- Governor & Resident Councillor
The Presidency of the Straits Settlements, also known as the Eastern Presidency, under the control of the Indian Government, was formed on 1 August 1826 by the amalgamation of the three Settlements of Singapore (including Christmas Island and the Cocos-Keeling group), Penang (including Province Wellesley), and Malacca, with the seat of Government at Penang.
EIC India|Presidency of the Straits Settlements at Singapore|Governor & Resident Councillor
Fullerton moved the seat of Government of the Eastern Presidency from Penang to Singapore and left the direct charge of the settlement of Penang (Prince of Wales' Island and Province Wellesley) in the hands of its Resident Councillor.
EIC Bengal|Residency of the Straits Settlements at Singapore|Governor & Resident Councillor
The Presidency was abolished on 1 May 1830 and the Presidency of the Straits Settlements was downgraded to a single Residency, constituted by the three settlements, under direct control of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal. There was a consequent large reduction in public personnel. By 1832 there were only nine appointed officials to administer the three Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore. From this time onwards the surviving civil servants would each take on several different roles, so many roles left vacant due to retrenchment following the downgrading.
EIC Bengal|Residency of the Straits Settlements at Penang|Resident & Deputy-Residents
Office of Governor of the Straits Settlement retained but title changed to Resident. Resident Councillors replaced with Deputy-Residents.
EIC Bengal|Residency of the Straits Settlements at Singapore|Governor & Resident Councillor
Kenneth Murchison moved the seat of Government of the Residency of the Straits Settlements. Once again Singapore became the capital of the Straits Settlements. Roles and titles of Governor and Resident Councillor restored.
EIC India|Residency of the Straits Settlements at Singapore|Governor & Resident Councillor
In 1851 the Straits Settlements, while still remaining a Residency, was transferred from the authority of the Governor of the Presidency of Bengal and put under direct control of the Governor-general of India. The powers previously invested in the Governor of Bengal were now vested in the Governor of the Straits Settlements.
1858 - EIC abolished
In 1858 the British East India Company was abolished and the Straits Settlements automatically fell under the direct control of the India Office which replaced the Company.The India Office was established under the provisions of the Government of India Act 1858. This act transferred the powers and functions of the British East India Company to the Crown, which continued to function as the ultimate ruler of India until 1947, when British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan.The Viceroy of India was the head of the British administration in India. However, he reported directly to the Secretary of State for India, a British government minister, and through him to the Cabine.
On 1 April 1867 the Straits Settlements were transferred from the control of the Indian Government to that of the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London (Colonial Office).
The East India Company(EIC)
The history of British India is that of the East India Company until 1858. The original company which was set up to trade on the mainland of India and in the Spice Islands (East Indies) was incorporated in 1600. The first trading post, known as a station or factory, was set up at Surat on the West Coast (Bombay Presidency) around 1612 and the second at Fort St. George (Madras Presidency) 1640. Bombay was leased to the company by Charles II who had acquired it as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry in 1662. The mouth of the Ganges was known as Kallikati (Calcutta) and here Fort William was established around 1665. These three factories in time developed to become the three Presidencies of India, each controlling the ever-growing areas around them. Until 1813 the Company had a complete monopoly of all trade east of the Cape of Good Hope across to Cape Horn, that is all of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. No British subject could go to India without the permission of the East India Company or live there without a licence granted by them.
The East India Company's influence spread with Fort Marlborough (Bencoolen) being established in Sumatra. For a time this was a Presidency in its own right controlling other factories along the west coast. Other factories were at the Prince of Wales Island (Penang), Singapore, Malacca, Java, Borneo, Celebes, Siam (Thailand), Persia (Iran) and the Persian Gulf, Macao and Whampoa (China). St Helena was settled by the East India Company in 1659 and was held and administered by them until the island was handed over to the Crown in 1836.
The rival French company, Compagnie des Indes, was established in the 18th century and succeeded the Dutch as Britain's chief rival in Asia. For the first time the Company was in conflict with the Indian people as both the English and French enlisted the local Indian rulers to further their cause. The East India Company also enlisted armed forces in Britain and over the years accrued more and more Indian territory. This was against the wishes of the London Directors and the Government. In 1773 the Government intervened to create the Bengal Governor as Governor-General of all the Company's Indian lands. Later a London Board of Control was appointed to supervise the East India Company.
The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. Its capital was moved from Penang to Singapore in 1832.
In 1857 the Indian Mutiny took place in northern India (the Seepoy uprising). The following year 1858 the British Government effectively brought the Company to an end. India was then governed by London through a Viceroy in Calcutta and later Delhi until independence was granted in 1947.
(source: wikipedia)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Poem on Penang People
Penang People
To this corner of the world came
People from China and India
From Indonesia and Europe
Some of the people
Adopted local ways
They spoke Malay
Dressed Malay
But still kept their customs
Others stuck to their ways
While firmly planting
A foot on Malaysian soil
The alchemy worked
And today we have a nation
That is a kaleidoscope
Of many things and many people
We all belong to this fabric
Having each lent a stitch
To make up a whole
Now we invite the world
To see this tapestry.
David Lazarus, 1986.
To this corner of the world came
People from China and India
From Indonesia and Europe
Some of the people
Adopted local ways
They spoke Malay
Dressed Malay
But still kept their customs
Others stuck to their ways
While firmly planting
A foot on Malaysian soil
The alchemy worked
And today we have a nation
That is a kaleidoscope
Of many things and many people
We all belong to this fabric
Having each lent a stitch
To make up a whole
Now we invite the world
To see this tapestry.
David Lazarus, 1986.
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings - Founder of Penang Free School
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings(b. 1782; d. 1827)
1782- Born, parent John Hutchings and Sarah Sparke
Baptism: Dittisham baptd 11 Apl 1781 (not confirm as year early than year born)
1803- St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, BA 30-10-1803 Ordination as deacon of Dittsham at Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Palace, Exeter by Bishop Fisher, John/Exeter(1803-1807) (ref: http://www.theclergydatabase.org.u/jsp/DisplayOrdination.jsp?CDBOrdRedID=190407)
1805- Robert Sparke Hutchings (1805 to 1827). Reactor of St. George's Church, Dittisham, Devonshire(note: it was also written his father John Hutchings (1768 to 1802)was also Reactor there). It was reported he was rector from 1805-1827, that is wrong as in 1816 he was in Penang. Dittisham is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district of the English county of Devon. It is situated on the banks of the tidal River Dart, some 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream of Dartmouth.
1808 - St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, MA. Ordination at Exeter St Mary Steps.//Diocese of Exeter on 14-6-1808 as reactor of Dittinsham alias Dittisham St George by Bishop: Manners Sutton, Charles( ref: http://ccedb.cch.kcl.ac.uk/jsp/bishops/DisplayBishop.jsp?ordTenID=23)
1813 Chaplain; Presidency Chaplain. The East India Company also appointed Anglican chaplains who served as part of the military service. Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island. The first Chaplain for Prince of Wales Island was Rev Atwill Lake in 1804.
1815 - He was presented to Dittisham in 1815, by the Earl of Mount Edgecombe
1816 - Rev Hutchings is now a Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island.
Found Penang Free School at Love Lane in Penang. Rev Robert Hutchings, wanted to establish a free school to train “a race of intelligent and honest servants” of the Government (Chelliah 1947,37). The Penang Free School for boys was opened on 21 October 1816, at a house in Love Lane. About $10,867 were received from public subscriptions between 1816 and 1824 (Elcum 1908). This school is free only in the sense of being open to all creeds (Campbell,1998).
The Penang Free School, set up by Rev. R. Hutchings in 1816, was reported to contain a class to conduct ‘formal’ Tamil education in the Straits Settlement.
He found a Auxiliary Bible Society in Penang.
1817 - The foundation stone of Church of St George was laid. Rev Hutchings paid a visit to Bengal on account of his health but was persuaded by Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society to stay for 3 years until 1820. Rev Hutchings was a Malay scholar. He translated Old Testatement in Jawi.
1818 - Married in 1818 with ELVIRA10 PHIPPS in India. St Geroge Church Penang was completed in 1818.
In 1818, with the assistance of Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchins (and the use of convict labor), Robert Smith channeled his growing passion by designing St George's Church (modeled after a larger church in Madras), in Penang, Malaysia. St. George’s Anglican Church is the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia and located at the corner of Lebuh Farquhar and Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling, Penang, Malaysia. The church was named after the patron saint of England. It was completed in 1818 on initiative of Penang Colonial Chaplain, Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings and consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. The Greek temple in the church grounds is a memorial to Francis Light. Today it is one of the oldest landmarks in the city of George Town, and the oldest Anglican Church in Malaysia. In 2007 the church was declared one of the 50 National Treasures of Malaysia by the Malaysian government.
1819 - Daughter SARAH HUTCHINGS(b1819-d1876) was born. St George Church Penang was consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. Northam Road Cemetery was consecrated at the same time. Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings was not in Penang, He was in Bengal, India.
1820 -Son was born on December 18, 1820 in Penang
1821 - Son Robert Sparke Hutchings(b1820-d1910), same name with the father, was Christening on MAR 1821 in Penang, Pinang-Malaya, Malaysia
1822 - make his will in Penang in 18th July 1822
1823 - The founding of Raffles Institute, Singapore.
1 Apr 1823 : Raffles called a meeting with Robert Morrison (Dr), educationist and missionary, and Reverend Hutchings, chaplain of Prince of Wales Island. a meeting was held at Raffles' House on Government Hill on 1st April when a very long and able minute, written by Sir Stamford Raffles, from which sentences have been often quoted, was read, in which he stated that there were three objects hi view. (1) To educate the sons of the higher order of natives and others. (2) To afford means of instruction in the native languages to such of the Company's servants and others as may desire it. (3) To collect the scattered literature and traditions of the country with whatever may illustrate their (sic) laws and customs, and to publish and circulate in a correct form the most important of these, with such other works as may be calculated to raise the character of the institution and to be useful and instructive to the people.
A long paper written by Dr. Morrison was then read, suggesting the scheme for removing the Anglo-Chinese College from Malacca and uniting it with the Institution in Singapore. The Rev. R. S. Hutchings, who was the Chaplain at Penang, then spoke, and after him Dr. Morrison. These speeches were all reprinted in a pamphlet in Singapore in 1838, with the annual report of the Institution Free School. The officers were nominated, including the principal inhabitants, and among the Patrons was William Wilberforce, M.P. of England.
On 15th April the first meeting of the Trustees was held, Mr. J. A. Maxwell being the Honorary Secretary and A. L. Johnston & Co. the Honorary Treasurers. The subscriptions had amounted to $17,495; being $9,670 for the Institution generally, ?'$1,075 for the Scientific Department, and $6,750 for the Malayan College. The Anglo-Chinese College house at Malacca was intended to be sold, and $4,000 was included in the above amount as its probable proceeds, the East India Company contributing $4,000, Raffles $2,000, Dr. Morrison $1,200, Colonial Farquhar $1,000, the Sultan and Tumongong $1,000 each, and Lady Raffles $400. The other subscribers were Mr. Bonham, F. G-. Bernard, Captain Davis, Captain Flint, D. A. Eraser, G. Gordon, Thomas Howard, Lieut. L. N. Hull, Rev. R. S. Hutchings, Lieut. Jackson, A. L. Johnston, the Malay College, J, A. Maxwell, G. Mackenzie, Dr. Montgomerie, D. S. Napier, Charles Scott, and Rev. G. H. Thomson. A monthly subscription of $300 had been promised by Government for the schools, and $25 yearly for the library. Lieutenant Jackson made a plan and estimate of the proposed building, which he said could be constructed in twelve months, this was approved, and $15,000 was voted for the purpose.
(extract from http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/anecdot/ri-b.html)
After the meeting, Raffles made public his proposals for an institution of learning,a Malayan college. The resulting birth of the Singapore Institution also led to a call for a library and museum as "a means of diffusing knowledge" to both the Chinese and Malay students equally(ref: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_696_2005-01-19.html)
The Singapore Institution is today's Raffles Institution. Raffles Institution is an independent school comprising an all-boys' Secondary section and a co-educational Junior College section. It is the oldest school in Singapore. Founded in 1823 as Singapore Institution by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, it is consistently ranked as one of the top secondary schools in Singapore in the now-defunct official school rankings released by the Ministry of Education.(source; wikipedia)
1826 - British settlements in Malacca, Penang, and Singapore were combined to form the British Colony of the Straits Settlement in 1826. Rev Hutchings was on sick leave for long period.
1827 - died on 20 Apr 1827 in Penang. Buried at The Northam Road Protestant Cemetery Penang.
Penang Free School
On the 6th February 1816, a committee headed by Reverend Robert Sparke Hutchings, then colonial chap-lain of the Prince of Wales Island submitted a proposal of the establishment of a school to the Governor of the day. On the 21st of October 1816, Penang Free School came into existence. The school is open to all children regardless of race or religion. Hence, it is named the Pinang Free School.
Housed on rented premises in Love Lane, Free School started as a Day School for boys and continued without interruptions since 1816 to the present day. The first school building was only ready for occupation in 1821 and was used for 107 years until 1927. By the 1920s, the school was badly over crowded and to accommodate the rising enrolment, the government acquired a new site of 30 acres in Green Lane. Construction of the new buildings commenced in 1924 and on the 9th of January, the new school buildings in Green Lane were officially declared open by the Resident Councilor of Penang, Mr. Ralph Scott. The old building was named 'Hutching's School' catering for primary education while Penang Free School became a secondary institution. The old building is now the State Museum.
The administration of the school was initially the responsibility of a Committee of Directors. How-ever, on the first of January 1920, by the passing of the Penang Free School (Acquisition) Bill, the Government took over the management of the school. The school, however, retained its endowments, administered by a Board of Trustees and chaired by the Chief Minister of Penang. The trustees are responsible for the provisions of scholarships for deserving students. One such scholarship is the Hutchings scholarship. With the implementation of the Educational Ordinance in 1957, Penang Free School became a national-type fully assisted secondary school run by a properly constituted Board of Governors. Since the loss of "Government" status, the provision of more facilities for the school had been greatly affected.
St George Church
The formation of the St George's Church was credited to Reverend Robert Sparke Hutchings, the same person who founded the Penang Free School, the oldest English school in Southeast Asia, and who gave his name to Hutchings School nearby.
Why the name was St George? Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings was naming the name after the parish church of his home village, Dittinsham alias Dittisham St George, where his father John Hutchings and himself were the reactor of the church.
Malay Grammar & Malay Bible translation
compiled and wrote what were considered the first books on Malay grammar, in addition to several elementary text-books and a dictionary mainly for school use. He founded the Auxiliary Bible Society and translated the New Testament into Malay.
Death in 1827
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings died on 20th April, after only a week's illness (ref:The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany, Volume 25, NO 125, by East India Company, Pg 113 1828)
Clergy deceased 1827
At Fort St George, Madras Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings, Reactor of Dittisham, Devonshire. He was of St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, MA, 1808; and was presented to Dittisham in 1815, by the Earl of Mount Edgecombe(pg 473, The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 97, Part 2, 1827).
The Will
Will of Robert Sparke Hutchings
from Newfoundland will books volume 1 pages 554 & 555 probate year 1848
In re
Robert Sparke Hutchings deceased.
In the name of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost the one Great and Incomprehensible and Most Adorable God, Amen. I Robert Sparke Hutchings of Dittisham in the County of Devon Clerk but now Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island in the East Indies being of sound mind but now mindful of the uncertainty of human existence do commit my soul to the mercy of God through the merits of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and do make this my last will and testament in manner following,
first I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal estate in England the East Indies or elsewhere of which I may die possessed or be entitled to in reversion of whatsoever nature or description the same may be to my beloved and affectionate wife Elvira in whom I have every reason to place the most perfect confidence.
Secondly I will that she shall receive use and enjoy the income arising from the same during her life,
thirdly that she shall have power to dispose of the whole of the aforesaid property by her will giving the same to our children in such shares or proportions as she may think proper,
fourthly that nevertheless it is not hereby intended to exclude her from the power of selling or disposing of any part or parts thereof during her life provided it be for the use and benefit of any of our dear children,
lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my said wife Elvira to be my sole executrix of this my last will and testament.
Dated at Penang this eighteen day of July 1822 (Signed) Robert Sparke Hutchings (LS)
Witnesses to this my last will and testament (Signed) Robt Ibbetson, H.C. Civil Service Penang. Ralph Rice Recorder of Penang. A.J. Kerr, Registrar of the Court of Judicature at Penang.
Certified correct
D.M. Browning
Registrar
(Will of Robert Sparke Hutchings from Newfoundland will book labeled, "REGISTRY OF WILLS 1846," pages 168 & 169 probate year 1848. It is probable that this will was probated in England in 1828.)
In the name of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost the one Great and Incomprehensible God! Amen. I Robert Sparke Hutchings of Dittisham in the County of Devon Clerk but now Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island in the East Indies being of sound mind but now mindful of the uncertainty of human existence do commit my soul to the mercy of God through the merits of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and do make this my last Will and Testament in manner following.
First. I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal estate in England the East Indies or elsewhere of which I may die possessed or be entitled to in reversion of whatsoever nature or description the same may be to my beloved and affectionate wife, Elvira, in whom I have every reason to place the most perfect confidence.
Secondly. I will that she shall receive use and enjoy the income arising from the same during her life.
Thirdly. That she shall have power to dispose of the whole of the aforesaid property by her will giving the same to our children in such shares or proportions as she may think proper.
Fourthly. That nevertheless it is not hereby intended to exclude her from the power of selling or disposing of any part or parts thereof during her life provided it be for the use and benefit of any of our dear children.
lastly. I do hereby constitute and appoint my said wife Elvira to be my Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament.
Dated at Penang this eighteenth day of July 1822. (Signed) Robert Sparke Hutchings (LS)
Witnesses to this my last Will and Testament (Signed) Robert Ibbetson, HC Civil Service. Penang. ~
Ralph Rice. Recorder of Penang. A.J. Kerr, Registrar of the Court of Judicature at Penang ~ True Copy. Richard Allan Acting Registrar ~ Registrar the 16th July 1827 ___________
Proved at London the 19th September 1828 before the Worshipful John Daubery. Doctor of Laws and Surrogate by the oath of Elvira Hutchings. Widow the Relict the Sole Executrix to whom Administration was granted, having been first sworn duly to administer. Charles Duberley(?) ~ John Iggleston(?) Charles Bidford. Deputy Registrar
Why the copy of the will was found in Newfoundland, Canada was unknown.
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings died in Penang on 20th April 1827, and was buried at the old Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road. I don't know whether the Penang Free School still maintains this tradition on the Founder's Day (the 21st of October), the school prefects would gather at his graveside in the morning to drink a toast to him.
Hutchings Primary School or SMK Hutchings at Farquhar Street(Lebuh Farquhar) in Penang is named after him. Penang Free School today no longer remain as Anglican School, it is now a government school. The traces of missionary school have been faded away slowly. The name " Free School" is for all, regardless of race, religion and background. His aim was to provide a school for the orphans and poor children. They were to be educated , fed and clothed. And since they were to be so completely taken care of, he suggested that it should be a boarding school but with room for day scholars. The day scholars were to be taught their own language by "nation teachers", and English would be taught to them only if they desired it. Plan for a girls' school too was included in the petition on the same basis. But under government school, all had changed. If Rev Hutchings is still around, he may not recognize the school....it was once the school for the rich and now the school for the privileges....
There is also a place called Taman Hutchings or Hutching Garden
And I sincerely hoped that there will be a mini museum set up in St George Church in memory of him.
Elvira Phipps, wife of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings(b1791-d1875)
24. ELVIRA PHIPPS, the youngest of 15 Children of CONSTANTINE PHIPPS and ELIZABETH TIERNEY are b. June 20, 1791, Caen, Dept. of Calvados; d. March 1875, La Bigoterie, Guernsey.
ELVIRA10 PHIPPS (CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3)440 was born June 20, 1791 in Caen, Dept. of Calvados, and died March 1875 in La Bigoterie, Guernsey. She married (1) JAMES CAREY. Civil servant Cape of Good Hope, eldest son of the Jurat of the Royal Court; senior branch and head of noblesse of that island. Nephew to Lord de Saumarez and his mother was sister to General Le Marchant and aunt to Sir Gaspard and Sir Decies Le Marchant. She married (2) REVEREND ROBERT S. HUTCHINGS 1818. He died 1827 in Panaug, near Singapore. REVEREND R.S. HUTCHINGS: Christ Church, Oxon; Chaplain H.E.I.C.S.; Rector of Dittisham, Devon; Persian interpreter.
Children of ELVIRA PHIPPS and JAMES CAREY are:
45. i. EMMA AUGUSTA11 CAREY.
46. ii. REVEREND JAMES GASPARD LE MARCHANT CAREY, d. 1885.
47. iii. JULIA CAREY, d. 1872.
iv. LOUISA SOPHIA CAREY, d. 1891; m. CAPTAIN H. BANCE. Two children died in infancy.
48. v. MAJOR-GENERAL CONSTANTINE PHIPPS CAREY, b. May 29, 1835.
Children of ELVIRA PHIPPS and R.S. HUTCHINGS are:
49. vi. SARAH HUTCHINGS, b. 1819; d. 1876.
50. vii. REVEREND ROBERT SPARKE HUTCHINGS, b. December 18, 1820, Penaug, Singapore.
51. viii. ELVIRA HUTCHINGS.
Note: Julia Hutchings, Margaret Hutchings(? - d1928) are also listed as daughters of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings(ref:Descendant Tree of John Hutchings , http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/m/Sue-P-Dambrumenil/PDFGENEO5.pdf). But it was reported they have 8 children.
Saturday 4 January 1840
MARRIAGES
In St.George’s Church on Monday 30th December by the Rev George Hough MA, Senior Colonial Chaplain:
Mr. W.H. TRANN to Francina BLEMAIRS.
Mr. James JORDEN to Isabella Johanna CHAPLIN.
MARRIED by Special Licence at Wynberg on the 2nd inst by the Rev Holt Okes DD, George POTT Esq, 3rd Bengal Infantry, eldest son of George POTT Esq of Podrig, Roxburghshire, to Julia, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Robert Sparke HUTCHINGS of Dittisham, Devon
Children of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings
SARAH HUTCHINGS(b1819-d1876)
49. SARAH HUTCHINGS (ELVIRA PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3) was born 1819, and died 1876. She married REVEREND A.J. MACLEANE, principal of Brighton College and subsequently Bath Grammar School.
Children of SARAH HUTCHINGS and A.J. MACLEANE are:
i. SARAH HOVENDEN12 MACLEANE, b. 1839; m. HENRY SLINGSBY BETHELL, 1860. Nephew of 1st Lord Westbury. Nine sons and six daughters.
ii. CHARLES DONALD MACLEANE, b. 1843; m. KATHERINE CAUNTER, 1868. Madras Civil Service. Three sons and two daughters.
iii. FLORA SOPHIA MACLEANE, b. 1848; m. REVEREND J. CHOLMELEY, Vicar of Swaby, Lincolnshire. Two sons and three daughters.
iv. EVELYN MARY SUSIE MACLEANE, b. 1850; m. REVEREND J.A. WILLIAMS, 1874, Vicar of Alderminster, Warwickshire. Five sons and four daughters.
v. WALTER ARTHUR MACLEANE, b. 1852. Dramatic author, New York.
vi. AGNES MARGARET MACLEANE, b. 1854. Nun of the Sacred Heart.
vii. REVEREND DOUGLAS MACLEANE, b. 1856; m. AUGUSTA WIGHTWICK, 1888. Rector of Codford St. Peter's, Bath. Two daus.
viii. ARTHUR JOHN MACLEANE, b. 1858; m. EVA MACLEAN, 1894. Dean of Argyll and the Isles.
REVEREND ROBERT SPARKE HUTCHINGS(b1820-d1910)- same name as the father
50. REVEREND ROBERT SPARKE HUTCHINGS (ELVIRA10 PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3) was born December 18, 1820 in Penaug, Singapore. He married FRANCES HODSON 1845, daughter of C. HODSON. Honorable Canon of Salisbury; Proctor in Convocation; Vicar of Alderbury, Salisbury.
Children of ROBERT HUTCHINGS and FRANCES HODSON are:
i. CHARLES ROBERT12 HUTCHINGS, b. April 03, 1847; m. LIZETTA ATKIN, 1881. One son and three daughters.
ii. FRANCES MACLEANE HUTCHINGS, b. December 26, 1848; d. January 1850.
iii. DR. ARTHUR CAREY HUTCHINGS, b. May 25, 1850; d. of New South Wales.
iv. HENRY DURDON HUTCHINGS, b. September 08, 1854; d. July 11, 1880.
v. FRANCES MARY HUTCHINGS, b. December 29, 1858.
vi. REVEREND GEORGE CYRIL HUTCHINGS, b. July 08, 1864; m. FRANCES ETHEL OPENSHAW, 1891. Curate of Melksham, Wilts.
vii. ELIZABETH HUTCHINGS, b. December 31, 1865.
The obituary Notice for Fellow of Royal Royal Astronomical Society reported:
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings was born on 18th Dec 1819 in Penang(known as Pulo Penang, East Indies)where his father was a Chaplain, holding the same time the living of Dittisham, Devon. He was educated at Clergy Orphan School in London, and was Exhibitioner of Christ Church, Oxford. After taking his degree in 1845, he was ordained to the curacy of Kingsteignton, South Devon, and in the same year he married Frances, only surviving child of late Charles Philip Hodson, of Stainley Hall, Yorks.
In 1850, he was appointed as Vicar of Monkton Wyld, Dorset, and in 1865 was made Vicar of Alderbury, near Salisbury ; this living he held until his death, having being made an Honorary Cannon of Salisbury in 1876. He was greatly interested in Astronomy, and owned several good instruments.
His wife predeceased him in 1896, a year after the celebration of their Golden Wedding. He died in 1910, November 6th, leaving two sons and two daughters. He was buried at Monkton Wyld, St Andrew (ref: http://www.opcdorset.org/MonktonWyldeFiles/MonktonWyldeMIs.htm)
He was elected a Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society on 1886 December, 10th.
(source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 71, p.270.)
Marriage: 15 Apr 1891 St John, Yealand Conyers, Lancashire, England
George Cyril Hutchings - 26 clerk in Holy Orders bachelor of Meltsham, Wiltshire
Frances Ethel Openshaw - 27 spinster of Yealand Conyers
Groom's Father: Robert Sparke Hutchings, clerk in Holy Orders
Bride's Father: James Arthur Openshaw, Gentleman
Witness: J A Openshaw; Frances Hutchings; Philip Allan C??? Ellis
Married by Banns by: R S HUTCHINGS, [other text hard to read]
Register: Marriages 1867 - 1920, P 28, No 55
Source: Film 1849661
(Source:http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Warton-near-Lancaster/stjohnycn/marriages_1867-1920.html)
Elvira Hutchings(same name as the mother)
51. ELVIRA HUTCHINGS (ELVIRA10 PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3) She married MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES MORAY MACLEANE.
Children of ELVIRA HUTCHINGS and CHARLES MACLEANE are:
i. MAJOR THOMAS MACLEANE.
ii. CATHERINE ELVIRA MACLEANE, m. CAPTAIN RICHARDSON. 35th Regt. One son and one daughter.
iii. FREDERICK HOVENDEN MACLEANE.
iv. MARION ISABEL MACLEANE.
v. B.A. MORAY MACLEANE, b. South Africa.
(source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~walkersj/FrancisPhipps.html)
Related articles
1.Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings, http://ssquah.blogspot.com/2009/11/rev-robert-sparke-hutchings.html(you can see the photo of the tombstone in The Northam Road Protestant Cemetery Penang.
2. St. George's Church, http://www.dittisham.org.uk/st._georges_church.asp
3. A Collection of Newfoundland Wills(Robert Sparke Hutchings), http://ngb.chebucto.org/Wills/hutchings-robert-sparke-1-554.shtml
4. Descendant Tree of John Hutchings , http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/m/Sue-P-Dambrumenil/PDFGENEO5.pdf
5. Ven. A C Dumper, The History of Saint George's Church, Penang, http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/epub/guides/stgeorge-pen.htm
6. The Beginnings of the Raffles Institute, http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/anecdot/ri-b.html
1782- Born, parent John Hutchings and Sarah Sparke
Baptism: Dittisham baptd 11 Apl 1781 (not confirm as year early than year born)
1803- St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, BA 30-10-1803 Ordination as deacon of Dittsham at Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Palace, Exeter by Bishop Fisher, John/Exeter(1803-1807) (ref: http://www.theclergydatabase.org.u/jsp/DisplayOrdination.jsp?CDBOrdRedID=190407)
1805- Robert Sparke Hutchings (1805 to 1827). Reactor of St. George's Church, Dittisham, Devonshire(note: it was also written his father John Hutchings (1768 to 1802)was also Reactor there). It was reported he was rector from 1805-1827, that is wrong as in 1816 he was in Penang. Dittisham is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district of the English county of Devon. It is situated on the banks of the tidal River Dart, some 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream of Dartmouth.
1808 - St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, MA. Ordination at Exeter St Mary Steps.//Diocese of Exeter on 14-6-1808 as reactor of Dittinsham alias Dittisham St George by Bishop: Manners Sutton, Charles( ref: http://ccedb.cch.kcl.ac.uk/jsp/bishops/DisplayBishop.jsp?ordTenID=23)
1813 Chaplain; Presidency Chaplain. The East India Company also appointed Anglican chaplains who served as part of the military service. Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island. The first Chaplain for Prince of Wales Island was Rev Atwill Lake in 1804.
1815 - He was presented to Dittisham in 1815, by the Earl of Mount Edgecombe
1816 - Rev Hutchings is now a Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island.
Found Penang Free School at Love Lane in Penang. Rev Robert Hutchings, wanted to establish a free school to train “a race of intelligent and honest servants” of the Government (Chelliah 1947,37). The Penang Free School for boys was opened on 21 October 1816, at a house in Love Lane. About $10,867 were received from public subscriptions between 1816 and 1824 (Elcum 1908). This school is free only in the sense of being open to all creeds (Campbell,1998).
The Penang Free School, set up by Rev. R. Hutchings in 1816, was reported to contain a class to conduct ‘formal’ Tamil education in the Straits Settlement.
He found a Auxiliary Bible Society in Penang.
1817 - The foundation stone of Church of St George was laid. Rev Hutchings paid a visit to Bengal on account of his health but was persuaded by Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society to stay for 3 years until 1820. Rev Hutchings was a Malay scholar. He translated Old Testatement in Jawi.
1818 - Married in 1818 with ELVIRA10 PHIPPS in India. St Geroge Church Penang was completed in 1818.
In 1818, with the assistance of Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchins (and the use of convict labor), Robert Smith channeled his growing passion by designing St George's Church (modeled after a larger church in Madras), in Penang, Malaysia. St. George’s Anglican Church is the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia and located at the corner of Lebuh Farquhar and Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling, Penang, Malaysia. The church was named after the patron saint of England. It was completed in 1818 on initiative of Penang Colonial Chaplain, Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings and consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. The Greek temple in the church grounds is a memorial to Francis Light. Today it is one of the oldest landmarks in the city of George Town, and the oldest Anglican Church in Malaysia. In 2007 the church was declared one of the 50 National Treasures of Malaysia by the Malaysian government.
1819 - Daughter SARAH HUTCHINGS(b1819-d1876) was born. St George Church Penang was consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. Northam Road Cemetery was consecrated at the same time. Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings was not in Penang, He was in Bengal, India.
1820 -Son was born on December 18, 1820 in Penang
1821 - Son Robert Sparke Hutchings(b1820-d1910), same name with the father, was Christening on MAR 1821 in Penang, Pinang-Malaya, Malaysia
1822 - make his will in Penang in 18th July 1822
1823 - The founding of Raffles Institute, Singapore.
1 Apr 1823 : Raffles called a meeting with Robert Morrison (Dr), educationist and missionary, and Reverend Hutchings, chaplain of Prince of Wales Island. a meeting was held at Raffles' House on Government Hill on 1st April when a very long and able minute, written by Sir Stamford Raffles, from which sentences have been often quoted, was read, in which he stated that there were three objects hi view. (1) To educate the sons of the higher order of natives and others. (2) To afford means of instruction in the native languages to such of the Company's servants and others as may desire it. (3) To collect the scattered literature and traditions of the country with whatever may illustrate their (sic) laws and customs, and to publish and circulate in a correct form the most important of these, with such other works as may be calculated to raise the character of the institution and to be useful and instructive to the people.
A long paper written by Dr. Morrison was then read, suggesting the scheme for removing the Anglo-Chinese College from Malacca and uniting it with the Institution in Singapore. The Rev. R. S. Hutchings, who was the Chaplain at Penang, then spoke, and after him Dr. Morrison. These speeches were all reprinted in a pamphlet in Singapore in 1838, with the annual report of the Institution Free School. The officers were nominated, including the principal inhabitants, and among the Patrons was William Wilberforce, M.P. of England.
On 15th April the first meeting of the Trustees was held, Mr. J. A. Maxwell being the Honorary Secretary and A. L. Johnston & Co. the Honorary Treasurers. The subscriptions had amounted to $17,495; being $9,670 for the Institution generally, ?'$1,075 for the Scientific Department, and $6,750 for the Malayan College. The Anglo-Chinese College house at Malacca was intended to be sold, and $4,000 was included in the above amount as its probable proceeds, the East India Company contributing $4,000, Raffles $2,000, Dr. Morrison $1,200, Colonial Farquhar $1,000, the Sultan and Tumongong $1,000 each, and Lady Raffles $400. The other subscribers were Mr. Bonham, F. G-. Bernard, Captain Davis, Captain Flint, D. A. Eraser, G. Gordon, Thomas Howard, Lieut. L. N. Hull, Rev. R. S. Hutchings, Lieut. Jackson, A. L. Johnston, the Malay College, J, A. Maxwell, G. Mackenzie, Dr. Montgomerie, D. S. Napier, Charles Scott, and Rev. G. H. Thomson. A monthly subscription of $300 had been promised by Government for the schools, and $25 yearly for the library. Lieutenant Jackson made a plan and estimate of the proposed building, which he said could be constructed in twelve months, this was approved, and $15,000 was voted for the purpose.
(extract from http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/anecdot/ri-b.html)
After the meeting, Raffles made public his proposals for an institution of learning,a Malayan college. The resulting birth of the Singapore Institution also led to a call for a library and museum as "a means of diffusing knowledge" to both the Chinese and Malay students equally(ref: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_696_2005-01-19.html)
The Singapore Institution is today's Raffles Institution. Raffles Institution is an independent school comprising an all-boys' Secondary section and a co-educational Junior College section. It is the oldest school in Singapore. Founded in 1823 as Singapore Institution by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, it is consistently ranked as one of the top secondary schools in Singapore in the now-defunct official school rankings released by the Ministry of Education.(source; wikipedia)
1826 - British settlements in Malacca, Penang, and Singapore were combined to form the British Colony of the Straits Settlement in 1826. Rev Hutchings was on sick leave for long period.
1827 - died on 20 Apr 1827 in Penang. Buried at The Northam Road Protestant Cemetery Penang.
Penang Free School
On the 6th February 1816, a committee headed by Reverend Robert Sparke Hutchings, then colonial chap-lain of the Prince of Wales Island submitted a proposal of the establishment of a school to the Governor of the day. On the 21st of October 1816, Penang Free School came into existence. The school is open to all children regardless of race or religion. Hence, it is named the Pinang Free School.
Housed on rented premises in Love Lane, Free School started as a Day School for boys and continued without interruptions since 1816 to the present day. The first school building was only ready for occupation in 1821 and was used for 107 years until 1927. By the 1920s, the school was badly over crowded and to accommodate the rising enrolment, the government acquired a new site of 30 acres in Green Lane. Construction of the new buildings commenced in 1924 and on the 9th of January, the new school buildings in Green Lane were officially declared open by the Resident Councilor of Penang, Mr. Ralph Scott. The old building was named 'Hutching's School' catering for primary education while Penang Free School became a secondary institution. The old building is now the State Museum.
The administration of the school was initially the responsibility of a Committee of Directors. How-ever, on the first of January 1920, by the passing of the Penang Free School (Acquisition) Bill, the Government took over the management of the school. The school, however, retained its endowments, administered by a Board of Trustees and chaired by the Chief Minister of Penang. The trustees are responsible for the provisions of scholarships for deserving students. One such scholarship is the Hutchings scholarship. With the implementation of the Educational Ordinance in 1957, Penang Free School became a national-type fully assisted secondary school run by a properly constituted Board of Governors. Since the loss of "Government" status, the provision of more facilities for the school had been greatly affected.
St George Church
The formation of the St George's Church was credited to Reverend Robert Sparke Hutchings, the same person who founded the Penang Free School, the oldest English school in Southeast Asia, and who gave his name to Hutchings School nearby.
Why the name was St George? Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings was naming the name after the parish church of his home village, Dittinsham alias Dittisham St George, where his father John Hutchings and himself were the reactor of the church.
Malay Grammar & Malay Bible translation
compiled and wrote what were considered the first books on Malay grammar, in addition to several elementary text-books and a dictionary mainly for school use. He founded the Auxiliary Bible Society and translated the New Testament into Malay.
Death in 1827
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings died on 20th April, after only a week's illness (ref:The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany, Volume 25, NO 125, by East India Company, Pg 113 1828)
Clergy deceased 1827
At Fort St George, Madras Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings, Reactor of Dittisham, Devonshire. He was of St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, MA, 1808; and was presented to Dittisham in 1815, by the Earl of Mount Edgecombe(pg 473, The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 97, Part 2, 1827).
The Will
Will of Robert Sparke Hutchings
from Newfoundland will books volume 1 pages 554 & 555 probate year 1848
In re
Robert Sparke Hutchings deceased.
In the name of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost the one Great and Incomprehensible and Most Adorable God, Amen. I Robert Sparke Hutchings of Dittisham in the County of Devon Clerk but now Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island in the East Indies being of sound mind but now mindful of the uncertainty of human existence do commit my soul to the mercy of God through the merits of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and do make this my last will and testament in manner following,
first I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal estate in England the East Indies or elsewhere of which I may die possessed or be entitled to in reversion of whatsoever nature or description the same may be to my beloved and affectionate wife Elvira in whom I have every reason to place the most perfect confidence.
Secondly I will that she shall receive use and enjoy the income arising from the same during her life,
thirdly that she shall have power to dispose of the whole of the aforesaid property by her will giving the same to our children in such shares or proportions as she may think proper,
fourthly that nevertheless it is not hereby intended to exclude her from the power of selling or disposing of any part or parts thereof during her life provided it be for the use and benefit of any of our dear children,
lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my said wife Elvira to be my sole executrix of this my last will and testament.
Dated at Penang this eighteen day of July 1822 (Signed) Robert Sparke Hutchings (LS)
Witnesses to this my last will and testament (Signed) Robt Ibbetson, H.C. Civil Service Penang. Ralph Rice Recorder of Penang. A.J. Kerr, Registrar of the Court of Judicature at Penang.
Certified correct
D.M. Browning
Registrar
(Will of Robert Sparke Hutchings from Newfoundland will book labeled, "REGISTRY OF WILLS 1846," pages 168 & 169 probate year 1848. It is probable that this will was probated in England in 1828.)
In the name of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost the one Great and Incomprehensible God! Amen. I Robert Sparke Hutchings of Dittisham in the County of Devon Clerk but now Resident Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island in the East Indies being of sound mind but now mindful of the uncertainty of human existence do commit my soul to the mercy of God through the merits of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and do make this my last Will and Testament in manner following.
First. I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal estate in England the East Indies or elsewhere of which I may die possessed or be entitled to in reversion of whatsoever nature or description the same may be to my beloved and affectionate wife, Elvira, in whom I have every reason to place the most perfect confidence.
Secondly. I will that she shall receive use and enjoy the income arising from the same during her life.
Thirdly. That she shall have power to dispose of the whole of the aforesaid property by her will giving the same to our children in such shares or proportions as she may think proper.
Fourthly. That nevertheless it is not hereby intended to exclude her from the power of selling or disposing of any part or parts thereof during her life provided it be for the use and benefit of any of our dear children.
lastly. I do hereby constitute and appoint my said wife Elvira to be my Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament.
Dated at Penang this eighteenth day of July 1822. (Signed) Robert Sparke Hutchings (LS)
Witnesses to this my last Will and Testament (Signed) Robert Ibbetson, HC Civil Service. Penang. ~
Ralph Rice. Recorder of Penang. A.J. Kerr, Registrar of the Court of Judicature at Penang ~ True Copy. Richard Allan Acting Registrar ~ Registrar the 16th July 1827 ___________
Proved at London the 19th September 1828 before the Worshipful John Daubery. Doctor of Laws and Surrogate by the oath of Elvira Hutchings. Widow the Relict the Sole Executrix to whom Administration was granted, having been first sworn duly to administer. Charles Duberley(?) ~ John Iggleston(?) Charles Bidford. Deputy Registrar
Why the copy of the will was found in Newfoundland, Canada was unknown.
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings died in Penang on 20th April 1827, and was buried at the old Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road. I don't know whether the Penang Free School still maintains this tradition on the Founder's Day (the 21st of October), the school prefects would gather at his graveside in the morning to drink a toast to him.
Hutchings Primary School or SMK Hutchings at Farquhar Street(Lebuh Farquhar) in Penang is named after him. Penang Free School today no longer remain as Anglican School, it is now a government school. The traces of missionary school have been faded away slowly. The name " Free School" is for all, regardless of race, religion and background. His aim was to provide a school for the orphans and poor children. They were to be educated , fed and clothed. And since they were to be so completely taken care of, he suggested that it should be a boarding school but with room for day scholars. The day scholars were to be taught their own language by "nation teachers", and English would be taught to them only if they desired it. Plan for a girls' school too was included in the petition on the same basis. But under government school, all had changed. If Rev Hutchings is still around, he may not recognize the school....it was once the school for the rich and now the school for the privileges....
There is also a place called Taman Hutchings or Hutching Garden
And I sincerely hoped that there will be a mini museum set up in St George Church in memory of him.
Elvira Phipps, wife of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings(b1791-d1875)
24. ELVIRA PHIPPS, the youngest of 15 Children of CONSTANTINE PHIPPS and ELIZABETH TIERNEY are b. June 20, 1791, Caen, Dept. of Calvados; d. March 1875, La Bigoterie, Guernsey.
ELVIRA10 PHIPPS (CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3)440 was born June 20, 1791 in Caen, Dept. of Calvados, and died March 1875 in La Bigoterie, Guernsey. She married (1) JAMES CAREY. Civil servant Cape of Good Hope, eldest son of the Jurat of the Royal Court; senior branch and head of noblesse of that island. Nephew to Lord de Saumarez and his mother was sister to General Le Marchant and aunt to Sir Gaspard and Sir Decies Le Marchant. She married (2) REVEREND ROBERT S. HUTCHINGS 1818. He died 1827 in Panaug, near Singapore. REVEREND R.S. HUTCHINGS: Christ Church, Oxon; Chaplain H.E.I.C.S.; Rector of Dittisham, Devon; Persian interpreter.
Children of ELVIRA PHIPPS and JAMES CAREY are:
45. i. EMMA AUGUSTA11 CAREY.
46. ii. REVEREND JAMES GASPARD LE MARCHANT CAREY, d. 1885.
47. iii. JULIA CAREY, d. 1872.
iv. LOUISA SOPHIA CAREY, d. 1891; m. CAPTAIN H. BANCE. Two children died in infancy.
48. v. MAJOR-GENERAL CONSTANTINE PHIPPS CAREY, b. May 29, 1835.
Children of ELVIRA PHIPPS and R.S. HUTCHINGS are:
49. vi. SARAH HUTCHINGS, b. 1819; d. 1876.
50. vii. REVEREND ROBERT SPARKE HUTCHINGS, b. December 18, 1820, Penaug, Singapore.
51. viii. ELVIRA HUTCHINGS.
Note: Julia Hutchings, Margaret Hutchings(? - d1928) are also listed as daughters of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings(ref:Descendant Tree of John Hutchings , http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/m/Sue-P-Dambrumenil/PDFGENEO5.pdf). But it was reported they have 8 children.
Saturday 4 January 1840
MARRIAGES
In St.George’s Church on Monday 30th December by the Rev George Hough MA, Senior Colonial Chaplain:
Mr. W.H. TRANN to Francina BLEMAIRS.
Mr. James JORDEN to Isabella Johanna CHAPLIN.
MARRIED by Special Licence at Wynberg on the 2nd inst by the Rev Holt Okes DD, George POTT Esq, 3rd Bengal Infantry, eldest son of George POTT Esq of Podrig, Roxburghshire, to Julia, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Robert Sparke HUTCHINGS of Dittisham, Devon
Children of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings
SARAH HUTCHINGS(b1819-d1876)
49. SARAH HUTCHINGS (ELVIRA PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3) was born 1819, and died 1876. She married REVEREND A.J. MACLEANE, principal of Brighton College and subsequently Bath Grammar School.
Children of SARAH HUTCHINGS and A.J. MACLEANE are:
i. SARAH HOVENDEN12 MACLEANE, b. 1839; m. HENRY SLINGSBY BETHELL, 1860. Nephew of 1st Lord Westbury. Nine sons and six daughters.
ii. CHARLES DONALD MACLEANE, b. 1843; m. KATHERINE CAUNTER, 1868. Madras Civil Service. Three sons and two daughters.
iii. FLORA SOPHIA MACLEANE, b. 1848; m. REVEREND J. CHOLMELEY, Vicar of Swaby, Lincolnshire. Two sons and three daughters.
iv. EVELYN MARY SUSIE MACLEANE, b. 1850; m. REVEREND J.A. WILLIAMS, 1874, Vicar of Alderminster, Warwickshire. Five sons and four daughters.
v. WALTER ARTHUR MACLEANE, b. 1852. Dramatic author, New York.
vi. AGNES MARGARET MACLEANE, b. 1854. Nun of the Sacred Heart.
vii. REVEREND DOUGLAS MACLEANE, b. 1856; m. AUGUSTA WIGHTWICK, 1888. Rector of Codford St. Peter's, Bath. Two daus.
viii. ARTHUR JOHN MACLEANE, b. 1858; m. EVA MACLEAN, 1894. Dean of Argyll and the Isles.
REVEREND ROBERT SPARKE HUTCHINGS(b1820-d1910)- same name as the father
50. REVEREND ROBERT SPARKE HUTCHINGS (ELVIRA10 PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3) was born December 18, 1820 in Penaug, Singapore. He married FRANCES HODSON 1845, daughter of C. HODSON. Honorable Canon of Salisbury; Proctor in Convocation; Vicar of Alderbury, Salisbury.
Children of ROBERT HUTCHINGS and FRANCES HODSON are:
i. CHARLES ROBERT12 HUTCHINGS, b. April 03, 1847; m. LIZETTA ATKIN, 1881. One son and three daughters.
ii. FRANCES MACLEANE HUTCHINGS, b. December 26, 1848; d. January 1850.
iii. DR. ARTHUR CAREY HUTCHINGS, b. May 25, 1850; d. of New South Wales.
iv. HENRY DURDON HUTCHINGS, b. September 08, 1854; d. July 11, 1880.
v. FRANCES MARY HUTCHINGS, b. December 29, 1858.
vi. REVEREND GEORGE CYRIL HUTCHINGS, b. July 08, 1864; m. FRANCES ETHEL OPENSHAW, 1891. Curate of Melksham, Wilts.
vii. ELIZABETH HUTCHINGS, b. December 31, 1865.
The obituary Notice for Fellow of Royal Royal Astronomical Society reported:
Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings was born on 18th Dec 1819 in Penang(known as Pulo Penang, East Indies)where his father was a Chaplain, holding the same time the living of Dittisham, Devon. He was educated at Clergy Orphan School in London, and was Exhibitioner of Christ Church, Oxford. After taking his degree in 1845, he was ordained to the curacy of Kingsteignton, South Devon, and in the same year he married Frances, only surviving child of late Charles Philip Hodson, of Stainley Hall, Yorks.
In 1850, he was appointed as Vicar of Monkton Wyld, Dorset, and in 1865 was made Vicar of Alderbury, near Salisbury ; this living he held until his death, having being made an Honorary Cannon of Salisbury in 1876. He was greatly interested in Astronomy, and owned several good instruments.
His wife predeceased him in 1896, a year after the celebration of their Golden Wedding. He died in 1910, November 6th, leaving two sons and two daughters. He was buried at Monkton Wyld, St Andrew (ref: http://www.opcdorset.org/MonktonWyldeFiles/MonktonWyldeMIs.htm)
He was elected a Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society on 1886 December, 10th.
(source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 71, p.270.)
Marriage: 15 Apr 1891 St John, Yealand Conyers, Lancashire, England
George Cyril Hutchings - 26 clerk in Holy Orders bachelor of Meltsham, Wiltshire
Frances Ethel Openshaw - 27 spinster of Yealand Conyers
Groom's Father: Robert Sparke Hutchings, clerk in Holy Orders
Bride's Father: James Arthur Openshaw, Gentleman
Witness: J A Openshaw; Frances Hutchings; Philip Allan C??? Ellis
Married by Banns by: R S HUTCHINGS, [other text hard to read]
Register: Marriages 1867 - 1920, P 28, No 55
Source: Film 1849661
(Source:http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Warton-near-Lancaster/stjohnycn/marriages_1867-1920.html)
Elvira Hutchings(same name as the mother)
51. ELVIRA HUTCHINGS (ELVIRA10 PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE9, CONSTANTINE8, JAMES7, JAMES6, FRANCIS5, GEORGE4, ROBERT3) She married MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES MORAY MACLEANE.
Children of ELVIRA HUTCHINGS and CHARLES MACLEANE are:
i. MAJOR THOMAS MACLEANE.
ii. CATHERINE ELVIRA MACLEANE, m. CAPTAIN RICHARDSON. 35th Regt. One son and one daughter.
iii. FREDERICK HOVENDEN MACLEANE.
iv. MARION ISABEL MACLEANE.
v. B.A. MORAY MACLEANE, b. South Africa.
(source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~walkersj/FrancisPhipps.html)
Related articles
1.Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings, http://ssquah.blogspot.com/2009/11/rev-robert-sparke-hutchings.html(you can see the photo of the tombstone in The Northam Road Protestant Cemetery Penang.
2. St. George's Church, http://www.dittisham.org.uk/st._georges_church.asp
3. A Collection of Newfoundland Wills(Robert Sparke Hutchings), http://ngb.chebucto.org/Wills/hutchings-robert-sparke-1-554.shtml
4. Descendant Tree of John Hutchings , http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/m/Sue-P-Dambrumenil/PDFGENEO5.pdf
5. Ven. A C Dumper, The History of Saint George's Church, Penang, http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/epub/guides/stgeorge-pen.htm
6. The Beginnings of the Raffles Institute, http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/anecdot/ri-b.html
Reverend Louis Courtier Biggs
Reverend Louis Courtier Biggs(b? - d 1903) was the colonial chaplain at Penang from 1885-1897. He was also the acting colonial chaplain for Penang in 1875,1877 & 1878. He must have been to Penang started in 1875. The time when the Anglican church was under United Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak. He was the one that found the St George's Girls' School(some said Mrs Biggs) and St Paul Anglican Church, Macalister Road, Penang. The Hymn book you use during the service most probably is authored by him.
(Note: There were 4 periods in the history of Church of England or Anglican in Strait Settlement and Malaya.
(i) 1814-1869 : Under Bishop of Calcutta
(ii)1869-1881: Singapore, now Malaya were de facto within Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak(found in 1855)
(iii)1881-1908: United Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak
(iv) From 1908 - Diocese of Singapore)
His son, Mr Louis Alban Coutier Biggs or L Courtier Biggs was also in Penang serving as Municipal Secretary of Georgetown, Penang; he was also active in the St George Church, Penang.
Reverend Louis Courtier Biggs(b? - d 1903)
1863 - graduated at Oxford ,BA
1864 - was ordered deacon
1865 - ordained priest
1866 - graduated at Oxford, MA(The Ecclesiastical gazette, or, Monthly register of the affairs of the Church of England, 1865 pg272)
1867 - S Edmund Hall, Oxford, curate of Grendon, Northamptonshire. He was the editor for the book, Hymns ancient and modern: for use in the services of the church. He was most probably the curate of parish church, St Mary(ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grendon,_Northamptonshire)
Grendon is a small village and civil parish in rural Northamptonshire, England on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. Many houses are made of the local limestone and various older thatched houses still survive. The name of the village means "green hill" and today the village remains centred on the hill. The village has a parish church (St Mary's) which dates in part back to Norman times, and a thatched pub, The Half Moon, run by the Charles Wells brewery. The church, the Rectory, the site of Grendon Hall, and a few farm-houses and cottages lie on the east bank of the Anker on the road from Atherstone to Polesworth. Northamptonshire is an inland county in the East Midlands region. It contains the watershed between the Severn and The Wash.
Note: A parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a parish church or local church. Historically each parish should have had at least one parish priest (who might be termed its vicar or its rector), perhaps supported by one or more curates or deacons - although as a result of ecclesiastical pluralism some priests might have held more than one parish living, placing a curate in charge of those where they did not reside
1871 - Biggs, Louis Coutier, M.A., Rector of West Chickerell, Dorset. Chickerell is a small town 2 kilometres (1 miles) north-west of Weymouth in west Dorset, England. (Chickerell West, par., S. Dorset, on E. Fleet Channel, 3 m. NW. of Weymouth, 1576 ac., pop. 819; P.O. Chick Hill, eminence, Pett par., Sussex, 4½ miles NE. of Hastings). He was one of the Signatures To a Remonstrance Addressed to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England On Occasion of the Report of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council In Re Herbert v. Purchas. London: Sold by Messrs. James Parker & Co.. 1871.
1874 - he went to Malacca as chaplain, and was at the same time acting chaplain at Penang in 1875 and 1877, 1878, and at Singapore 1881. In 1879, he was still the Colonial Chaplain in Malacca.
1877 - reported stayed at Fort, Malacca. He was the Chaplain of the Christ Church, Malacca; The secretary for trustee of Malacca Girl's School; Vice President for Malacca School,AD 1826.(Ref: Singapore Directory,1877)
1881 - LC Briggs(Penang), W Everingham(Malacca), W H Gomes attended Bishop Hose's enthronement. In 1881,Rev LC Briggs was also the Acting Colonial Chaplain in St Andrew, Singapore.
1884 - Handwritten signed letter [to James Mearns] from Wm. Cooke, 6 Clifton Place, Sussex Square, W.. Regarding hymns; mentions Mr. Dayman, Schmolck, Mr. Chester, and Mr. L. Coutier Biggs. 15 March 1884.
Penang 1885-1897, Colonial Chaplain
1885 - Left Malacca, appointed as colonial chaplain at Penang in 1885 to 1897
1886 - Founding of St Paul Church Penang, a Chinese church(formally known as St. George’s Church Chinese Mission). The St. George’s Church Chinese Mission was founded in 1886 by then Colonial Chaplain of Penang, the late Rev. Louis Courtier Biggs, ably assisted by Mrs. Lim Kim Soa (nee Tan Ooi lu Ghee).But some said in 1887 as reported in Rev John H Smith lecture on the Centenary Celebration of St George Church consecration( Pg 6, Singapore Diocesan Association, December, 1953)
1889 - Chaplain, St George Church, Penang(ref: The Directory & chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, &c:with which are incorporated "The China directory" and "The Hongkong directory and Hong list for the Far East"(1889),The Hongkong Daily Press Office.)
1891 - Government Gazette 17th April 1891, reported Rev LC Biggs has returned from leaves, and has resumed duty as Colonial Chaplain of Penang (ref:Straits Times Weekly Issue, 22 April 1891, Page 10). Pinang Gazette dated 7-4-1891, reported "Our Colonial Chaplain Rev LC Biggs, accompanied by Mrs Biggs and their daughter, Rose Biggs, returned to the Colony on Sunday from leave of absence, arriving here by the O.S.S. Company's steamer, Hector".(ref: Daily Advertiser, 10 April 1891, Page 3)
1893 - In 1893 the S.P.C.K. published for the Chinese Christians of the Straits Settlements a card containing: Amoy Lord’s Prayer, Creed and Ten Commandments, translated by Mr. Biggs.
1897 - On 19th April 1897, Wedding of Katharine Rosalie Courtier Biggs, the only daughter of Rev LC Biggs and Mrs Biggs married to Henry Hessy Gompertz(Henry Hessy Johnston Gompertz)of Strait Civil Service, at St George Church(ref: The Straits Times, 23 April 1897, Page 2)
Rev LC Biggs Left Penang. Owing to failure of health he retired from foreign work and returned to England.
1901 - In 1901 the S.P.C.K. published for Gomes the translation of the Liturgy, excepting the Psalms, the Athanasian Creed, and the Epistles and Gospels. The English title reads: * The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the Church of England, in the Hok-kien dialect (Amoy colloquial). Transliterated by the Rev. W. H. Gomes, B.D., Missionary, S.P.G., Singapore, assisted by the Rev. L. C. Biggs, M.A., formerly Colonial Chaplain, Penang. Singapore: Printed at the American Mission Press, for the S.P.C.K. . . . 1901. (8), 216 pages, fcap. 8vo.
He was reported to be the late Vicar of Monkleigh, North Devon in who’s who 1929-1940.
1903 - Rev LC Biggs passed away on 23-4-1903 at Ilfracombe(Ref:.The Straits Times, 19 May 1903, Page 4 )
Ilfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs. The parish, which includes a significant rural area and other villages outside the town of Ilfracombe, stretches along the coast from 'The Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west. The main Anglican church is the parish church 'Holy Trinity' which is the mother church to St Peter's on Highfield Road.
The St George's Girls' School
1884
The St George's Girls' School, nowadays known as SMK (Perempuan) St George, is a school for girls founded by Anglican missionaries, similar to the Penang Free School. St George's Girls' School traces its history to informal classes conducted by Mrs Biggs, wife of Reverend L. Courtier Biggs, the Anglican missionary in Penang. At that time, classes were held at their home called "The Manse", located at Farquhar Street.
1885
Mrs Biggs taught for a year before a formal school was established for girls. It was named after St George, the patron saint of English, whose name is often used throughout the British Empire for schools and churches established by Anglican missionaries. The first classes were held on 7 January 1885, and the school headmistress was Miss R.A. Shackleford.
In 1888, a bungalow was constructed next to the reverend's residence, and classes were relocated there. The building, now in a dilapidated state, is still standing, next to E&O Hotel. In 1909, the British government took over the running of the school, and renamed it Government Girls' School. In 1916, the government attempted to turn Government Girls' School into a co-educational school, but the idea was shortlived.
In 1920, the school was handed back to the Anglican church, at which time it reverted to its original name of St George's Girls' School. The school logo is a red crest of St George slaying a dragon. With further expansion and student intake, the school relocated to new premises along The building, now in a dilapidated state, is still standing, next to Northam Road (Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah). In 1954, it moved to its present located at Macalister Road, and the Northam Road school building was given over to the Northam Road Girls' School.
St Paul’s Church Penang(formerly The St. George’s Church Chinese Mission)槟城圣公会圣保罗堂(中路)
1886
The St. George’s Church Chinese Mission was founded in 1886 by then Colonial Chaplain of Penang, the late Rev. Louis Courtier Biggs, ably assisted by Mrs. Lim Kim Soa(林金沙夫人) nee Tan Ooi lu Ghee(陳有義女士)(b? d 1933)). Church welfare work was carried out by them in the Penang prison, and among the lepers in Pulau Jerejak. A small private school for teaching Chinese to Chinese women was run by Mrs. Lim as well. Mrs. Lim also gave literary assistance to those Government servants in Penang associated with the Church who were known as Chinese cadets. In this way there was close association and co-operation between the European and Chinese congregation and there was more missionary zeal expressed by the European members in those days. The Chinese congregation was limited for Pong principally. The growth was very slow and owing to the smallness of the congregation the Chinese Mission was financed entirely by funds from the St. George’s Church.
In Penang the Chinese Mission was begun in 1886 under the direction of the chaplain Louis Courtier Biggs, assisted by Lim Kim Soa, a Chinese Christian from Amoy(厦门)(Robert Hunt, Kam Hing Lee, John Roxborogh, 1992)
In 1886 a Mission chapel was erected [6], and in 1887 a Chinese department was added to the Mission through the instrumentality of the Chaplain, the Rev. LC Biggs [7], and about two years later three Chinese were confirmed.
The foundation stone of St Paul’s Church Penang , formally known as St. George’s Church Chinese Mission or Anglican Chinese Mission was laid at No. 56, Macalister Road, Penang on Sunday 31 July 1949 at 9.30a.m. by the Ven. S.M. collier, the Archdeacon of Penang, a large attendance of the members and friends of the Church witnessed the occasion.
Louis Coutier Biggs
Louis Coutier Biggs graduated at Oxford, B.A. 1863, M.A. 1866, was ordered deacon 1864, and ordained priest in 1865. In 1874 he went to Malacca as chaplain, and was at the same time acting chaplain at Penang in 1875 and 1877, 1878, and at Singapore 1881. He left Malacca in 1885, .and was from that time on until 1897 colonial chaplain at Penang. Owing to failure of health he retired from foreign work and returned to England. In 1893 the S.P.C.K. published for the Chinese Christians of the Straits Settlements a card containing: Amoy Lord’s Prayer, Creed and Ten Commandments, translated by Mr. Biggs.
(source: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part4d.htm)
Authors of Hymn Book
Reverend Louis Courtier Biggs was also a Hymnologist. he authored some hymn books:-
1. Hymns, Ancient and Modern: For Use in the Services of the Church (1867),
by Louis Coutier Biggs (Editor) , LaVergne, Tennessee: Kessinger Publishing’s Legacy Reprints, 2009.
2. English Hymnology(1873), by Louis Coutier Biggs, reproduction 2010 by BiblioBazaar
3. Amoy Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments, Strait Settlement(1893)
One of the founding principles of the Church of England when it originally broke with Rome was that church services should be “understanded of the people” (as it is stated in the Articles of Religion) so that everyone present might be able to follow the liturgy and know what is going on. Accordingly, once the Book of Common Prayer was created in English, it was therefore subsequently translated into many languages, as needed. The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World,by Dr. William Muss-Arnolt, published in 1913, seeks to describe all of these translations, both of the Church of England and of the American Episcopal Church, as they were at that time. PART IV — THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA AND THE FAR EAST, Chapter XL. — China and Corea, included the article, "The Crowning Work of the Literary Career of Gomes, his Translation of the Liturgy into Hokien Colloquial for the Chinese of the Straits Settlements, assisted by L. C. Biggs"
The family
The daughter & son-in-law
On 19th April 1897, Wedding of Katharine Rosalie Courtier Biggs, the only daughter of Rev LC Biggs and Mrs Biggs married to Henry Hessy Gompertz(Henry Hessy Johnston Gompertz)(b 1867 - d 1929 or 1930)of Strait Civil Service, at St George Church(ref: The Straits Times, 23 April 1897, Page 2)
Hendry Hessy Johnston Gompertz(son of Hendry James Colley, Inspector Revenue Survey India), b Nundyal, India 31st August 1867, ed Bedford , Open 1885, Member 21-10-1886, Classic Mod 1888, Classic 1890, BA 10-10-1890, in Indian Cadet Exam 1890, at Chao Chow Fu, China.(ref: Registrum Collegii Exoniensis(Exerter College). Register of the Rectors, Fellows, and Other Members on the Foundation(2009), Charles William Boase, BiblioBazaar, LLC)
H. H. J. Gompertz was a Hong Kong cadet, appointed in 1900 and resigned in 1904(HONG KONG CADETS, 1862-1941, by H. J. LETHBRIDGE). The London Gazette , Downing Street, dated March 29, 1909. The KING has been pleased to give directions for the appointment of Henry Hessy Johnston Gompertz, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Police Magistrate and Coroner, Hong-Kong, to be Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of that Colony. He was awarded Knight Bachelor on 5-6-1926(Birthday Honours, gazetted 3 July 1926)
The Chief Justice of the F.M.S., Sir Henry Gompertz(The Straits Times, 23 June 1928, Page 9) Sir Henry Gompertz, the retiring Chief Justice, F.M.S., was entertained to a banquet at Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday by the Selangor Bar Association. Mr. E. A. S. Wagner, who presided, proposed the toasts of the King, the Sultan, and of Sir Henry Gompertz(The Straits Times, 15 December 1928, Page 10).
The son - Louis Alban Coutier Biggs(b? - d1959)
Louis Alban Coutier Biggs (E.V.), assistant secretary, Municipal Commissioners, Northam Road ; Straits Settlements Government Gazette, December 23, 1904, appointed as jurors in the settlement. He was mentioned as Municipal Secretary of Penang (ref: BYGONE SELANGOR; a souvenir", RIMBA,1922). The Straits Times, 16 October 1924, Page 10 reported Mr LA Coutier Biggs acted in the play, Twelve Pound Look at Town hall on 23th and 25th Oct 1924.
Mr L Courtier Biggs or LA Courtier Biggs, Municipal Secretary Penang, the son of Rev LC Biggs, married Anna Minnett, daughter of Alma Baker, in 1925 at St George Church. The Mohogany tree in the church compound was planted in Sept 1885(when Rev LC Biggs was the chaplain here), planted by AB Mackean from the seeding from a tree planted by Warren Hastings.(Rev Keppel Garnier,1925, Singapore Diocesan Magazine Vol. XV No. 58)
He passed away on 16-10-1959 at Annagh, The Warren, Mayfield, Sussex, England(London Gazette dated 30-10-1959).
Further info required
I cannot obtain the background information of Rev Louis Courtier Biggs and his wife, especially before coming to Malaya and after returning to England.
Anyone know the information about him?
References/related articles:
1. History of Chinese Anglican Churches in Penang 1886-2006, by Rev Stephen Soe; http://stpaulpenang.multiply.com/journal/item/3
2. Letters to Henrietta(2003), by Isabella Lucy Bird, Kay Chubbuck, Henrietta Amelia Bird, UPNE( pg 239-242, 315)
3. Christianity in Malaysia:a denominational history(1992), by Robert Hunt, Kam Hing Lee, John Roxborogh, Pelanduk Publication
4. http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part4d.htm
5. A short history of St Andrew's Cathedral Singapore(19), by Frank G Swindell, published by Malaya Tribune Press Ltd, Singapore; http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/ang/sing/swindell-1929.pdf(Pg 24 & 25)
6. Classified digest of the records of the Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, 1701-1892(1894), by Charles Frederick Pascoe, Pub. at the Society's office
7. The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World , http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part4d.htm
(Note: There were 4 periods in the history of Church of England or Anglican in Strait Settlement and Malaya.
(i) 1814-1869 : Under Bishop of Calcutta
(ii)1869-1881: Singapore, now Malaya were de facto within Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak(found in 1855)
(iii)1881-1908: United Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak
(iv) From 1908 - Diocese of Singapore)
His son, Mr Louis Alban Coutier Biggs or L Courtier Biggs was also in Penang serving as Municipal Secretary of Georgetown, Penang; he was also active in the St George Church, Penang.
Reverend Louis Courtier Biggs(b? - d 1903)
1863 - graduated at Oxford ,BA
1864 - was ordered deacon
1865 - ordained priest
1866 - graduated at Oxford, MA(The Ecclesiastical gazette, or, Monthly register of the affairs of the Church of England, 1865 pg272)
1867 - S Edmund Hall, Oxford, curate of Grendon, Northamptonshire. He was the editor for the book, Hymns ancient and modern: for use in the services of the church. He was most probably the curate of parish church, St Mary(ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grendon,_Northamptonshire)
Grendon is a small village and civil parish in rural Northamptonshire, England on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. Many houses are made of the local limestone and various older thatched houses still survive. The name of the village means "green hill" and today the village remains centred on the hill. The village has a parish church (St Mary's) which dates in part back to Norman times, and a thatched pub, The Half Moon, run by the Charles Wells brewery. The church, the Rectory, the site of Grendon Hall, and a few farm-houses and cottages lie on the east bank of the Anker on the road from Atherstone to Polesworth. Northamptonshire is an inland county in the East Midlands region. It contains the watershed between the Severn and The Wash.
Note: A parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a parish church or local church. Historically each parish should have had at least one parish priest (who might be termed its vicar or its rector), perhaps supported by one or more curates or deacons - although as a result of ecclesiastical pluralism some priests might have held more than one parish living, placing a curate in charge of those where they did not reside
1871 - Biggs, Louis Coutier, M.A., Rector of West Chickerell, Dorset. Chickerell is a small town 2 kilometres (1 miles) north-west of Weymouth in west Dorset, England. (Chickerell West, par., S. Dorset, on E. Fleet Channel, 3 m. NW. of Weymouth, 1576 ac., pop. 819; P.O. Chick Hill, eminence, Pett par., Sussex, 4½ miles NE. of Hastings). He was one of the Signatures To a Remonstrance Addressed to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England On Occasion of the Report of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council In Re Herbert v. Purchas. London: Sold by Messrs. James Parker & Co.. 1871.
1874 - he went to Malacca as chaplain, and was at the same time acting chaplain at Penang in 1875 and 1877, 1878, and at Singapore 1881. In 1879, he was still the Colonial Chaplain in Malacca.
1877 - reported stayed at Fort, Malacca. He was the Chaplain of the Christ Church, Malacca; The secretary for trustee of Malacca Girl's School; Vice President for Malacca School,AD 1826.(Ref: Singapore Directory,1877)
1881 - LC Briggs(Penang), W Everingham(Malacca), W H Gomes attended Bishop Hose's enthronement. In 1881,Rev LC Briggs was also the Acting Colonial Chaplain in St Andrew, Singapore.
1884 - Handwritten signed letter [to James Mearns] from Wm. Cooke, 6 Clifton Place, Sussex Square, W.. Regarding hymns; mentions Mr. Dayman, Schmolck, Mr. Chester, and Mr. L. Coutier Biggs. 15 March 1884.
Penang 1885-1897, Colonial Chaplain
1885 - Left Malacca, appointed as colonial chaplain at Penang in 1885 to 1897
1886 - Founding of St Paul Church Penang, a Chinese church(formally known as St. George’s Church Chinese Mission). The St. George’s Church Chinese Mission was founded in 1886 by then Colonial Chaplain of Penang, the late Rev. Louis Courtier Biggs, ably assisted by Mrs. Lim Kim Soa (nee Tan Ooi lu Ghee).But some said in 1887 as reported in Rev John H Smith lecture on the Centenary Celebration of St George Church consecration( Pg 6, Singapore Diocesan Association, December, 1953)
1889 - Chaplain, St George Church, Penang(ref: The Directory & chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, &c:with which are incorporated "The China directory" and "The Hongkong directory and Hong list for the Far East"(1889),The Hongkong Daily Press Office.)
1891 - Government Gazette 17th April 1891, reported Rev LC Biggs has returned from leaves, and has resumed duty as Colonial Chaplain of Penang (ref:Straits Times Weekly Issue, 22 April 1891, Page 10). Pinang Gazette dated 7-4-1891, reported "Our Colonial Chaplain Rev LC Biggs, accompanied by Mrs Biggs and their daughter, Rose Biggs, returned to the Colony on Sunday from leave of absence, arriving here by the O.S.S. Company's steamer, Hector".(ref: Daily Advertiser, 10 April 1891, Page 3)
1893 - In 1893 the S.P.C.K. published for the Chinese Christians of the Straits Settlements a card containing: Amoy Lord’s Prayer, Creed and Ten Commandments, translated by Mr. Biggs.
1897 - On 19th April 1897, Wedding of Katharine Rosalie Courtier Biggs, the only daughter of Rev LC Biggs and Mrs Biggs married to Henry Hessy Gompertz(Henry Hessy Johnston Gompertz)of Strait Civil Service, at St George Church(ref: The Straits Times, 23 April 1897, Page 2)
Rev LC Biggs Left Penang. Owing to failure of health he retired from foreign work and returned to England.
1901 - In 1901 the S.P.C.K. published for Gomes the translation of the Liturgy, excepting the Psalms, the Athanasian Creed, and the Epistles and Gospels. The English title reads: * The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the Church of England, in the Hok-kien dialect (Amoy colloquial). Transliterated by the Rev. W. H. Gomes, B.D., Missionary, S.P.G., Singapore, assisted by the Rev. L. C. Biggs, M.A., formerly Colonial Chaplain, Penang. Singapore: Printed at the American Mission Press, for the S.P.C.K. . . . 1901. (8), 216 pages, fcap. 8vo.
He was reported to be the late Vicar of Monkleigh, North Devon in who’s who 1929-1940.
1903 - Rev LC Biggs passed away on 23-4-1903 at Ilfracombe(Ref:.The Straits Times, 19 May 1903, Page 4 )
Ilfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs. The parish, which includes a significant rural area and other villages outside the town of Ilfracombe, stretches along the coast from 'The Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west. The main Anglican church is the parish church 'Holy Trinity' which is the mother church to St Peter's on Highfield Road.
The St George's Girls' School
1884
The St George's Girls' School, nowadays known as SMK (Perempuan) St George, is a school for girls founded by Anglican missionaries, similar to the Penang Free School. St George's Girls' School traces its history to informal classes conducted by Mrs Biggs, wife of Reverend L. Courtier Biggs, the Anglican missionary in Penang. At that time, classes were held at their home called "The Manse", located at Farquhar Street.
1885
Mrs Biggs taught for a year before a formal school was established for girls. It was named after St George, the patron saint of English, whose name is often used throughout the British Empire for schools and churches established by Anglican missionaries. The first classes were held on 7 January 1885, and the school headmistress was Miss R.A. Shackleford.
In 1888, a bungalow was constructed next to the reverend's residence, and classes were relocated there. The building, now in a dilapidated state, is still standing, next to E&O Hotel. In 1909, the British government took over the running of the school, and renamed it Government Girls' School. In 1916, the government attempted to turn Government Girls' School into a co-educational school, but the idea was shortlived.
In 1920, the school was handed back to the Anglican church, at which time it reverted to its original name of St George's Girls' School. The school logo is a red crest of St George slaying a dragon. With further expansion and student intake, the school relocated to new premises along The building, now in a dilapidated state, is still standing, next to Northam Road (Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah). In 1954, it moved to its present located at Macalister Road, and the Northam Road school building was given over to the Northam Road Girls' School.
St Paul’s Church Penang(formerly The St. George’s Church Chinese Mission)槟城圣公会圣保罗堂(中路)
1886
The St. George’s Church Chinese Mission was founded in 1886 by then Colonial Chaplain of Penang, the late Rev. Louis Courtier Biggs, ably assisted by Mrs. Lim Kim Soa(林金沙夫人) nee Tan Ooi lu Ghee(陳有義女士)(b? d 1933)). Church welfare work was carried out by them in the Penang prison, and among the lepers in Pulau Jerejak. A small private school for teaching Chinese to Chinese women was run by Mrs. Lim as well. Mrs. Lim also gave literary assistance to those Government servants in Penang associated with the Church who were known as Chinese cadets. In this way there was close association and co-operation between the European and Chinese congregation and there was more missionary zeal expressed by the European members in those days. The Chinese congregation was limited for Pong principally. The growth was very slow and owing to the smallness of the congregation the Chinese Mission was financed entirely by funds from the St. George’s Church.
In Penang the Chinese Mission was begun in 1886 under the direction of the chaplain Louis Courtier Biggs, assisted by Lim Kim Soa, a Chinese Christian from Amoy(厦门)(Robert Hunt, Kam Hing Lee, John Roxborogh, 1992)
In 1886 a Mission chapel was erected [6], and in 1887 a Chinese department was added to the Mission through the instrumentality of the Chaplain, the Rev. LC Biggs [7], and about two years later three Chinese were confirmed.
The foundation stone of St Paul’s Church Penang , formally known as St. George’s Church Chinese Mission or Anglican Chinese Mission was laid at No. 56, Macalister Road, Penang on Sunday 31 July 1949 at 9.30a.m. by the Ven. S.M. collier, the Archdeacon of Penang, a large attendance of the members and friends of the Church witnessed the occasion.
Louis Coutier Biggs
Louis Coutier Biggs graduated at Oxford, B.A. 1863, M.A. 1866, was ordered deacon 1864, and ordained priest in 1865. In 1874 he went to Malacca as chaplain, and was at the same time acting chaplain at Penang in 1875 and 1877, 1878, and at Singapore 1881. He left Malacca in 1885, .and was from that time on until 1897 colonial chaplain at Penang. Owing to failure of health he retired from foreign work and returned to England. In 1893 the S.P.C.K. published for the Chinese Christians of the Straits Settlements a card containing: Amoy Lord’s Prayer, Creed and Ten Commandments, translated by Mr. Biggs.
(source: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part4d.htm)
Authors of Hymn Book
Reverend Louis Courtier Biggs was also a Hymnologist. he authored some hymn books:-
1. Hymns, Ancient and Modern: For Use in the Services of the Church (1867),
by Louis Coutier Biggs (Editor) , LaVergne, Tennessee: Kessinger Publishing’s Legacy Reprints, 2009.
2. English Hymnology(1873), by Louis Coutier Biggs, reproduction 2010 by BiblioBazaar
3. Amoy Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments, Strait Settlement(1893)
One of the founding principles of the Church of England when it originally broke with Rome was that church services should be “understanded of the people” (as it is stated in the Articles of Religion) so that everyone present might be able to follow the liturgy and know what is going on. Accordingly, once the Book of Common Prayer was created in English, it was therefore subsequently translated into many languages, as needed. The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World,by Dr. William Muss-Arnolt, published in 1913, seeks to describe all of these translations, both of the Church of England and of the American Episcopal Church, as they were at that time. PART IV — THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA AND THE FAR EAST, Chapter XL. — China and Corea, included the article, "The Crowning Work of the Literary Career of Gomes, his Translation of the Liturgy into Hokien Colloquial for the Chinese of the Straits Settlements, assisted by L. C. Biggs"
The family
The daughter & son-in-law
On 19th April 1897, Wedding of Katharine Rosalie Courtier Biggs, the only daughter of Rev LC Biggs and Mrs Biggs married to Henry Hessy Gompertz(Henry Hessy Johnston Gompertz)(b 1867 - d 1929 or 1930)of Strait Civil Service, at St George Church(ref: The Straits Times, 23 April 1897, Page 2)
Hendry Hessy Johnston Gompertz(son of Hendry James Colley, Inspector Revenue Survey India), b Nundyal, India 31st August 1867, ed Bedford , Open 1885, Member 21-10-1886, Classic Mod 1888, Classic 1890, BA 10-10-1890, in Indian Cadet Exam 1890, at Chao Chow Fu, China.(ref: Registrum Collegii Exoniensis(Exerter College). Register of the Rectors, Fellows, and Other Members on the Foundation(2009), Charles William Boase, BiblioBazaar, LLC)
H. H. J. Gompertz was a Hong Kong cadet, appointed in 1900 and resigned in 1904(HONG KONG CADETS, 1862-1941, by H. J. LETHBRIDGE). The London Gazette , Downing Street, dated March 29, 1909. The KING has been pleased to give directions for the appointment of Henry Hessy Johnston Gompertz, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Police Magistrate and Coroner, Hong-Kong, to be Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of that Colony. He was awarded Knight Bachelor on 5-6-1926(Birthday Honours, gazetted 3 July 1926)
The Chief Justice of the F.M.S., Sir Henry Gompertz(The Straits Times, 23 June 1928, Page 9) Sir Henry Gompertz, the retiring Chief Justice, F.M.S., was entertained to a banquet at Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday by the Selangor Bar Association. Mr. E. A. S. Wagner, who presided, proposed the toasts of the King, the Sultan, and of Sir Henry Gompertz(The Straits Times, 15 December 1928, Page 10).
The son - Louis Alban Coutier Biggs(b? - d1959)
Louis Alban Coutier Biggs (E.V.), assistant secretary, Municipal Commissioners, Northam Road ; Straits Settlements Government Gazette, December 23, 1904, appointed as jurors in the settlement. He was mentioned as Municipal Secretary of Penang (ref: BYGONE SELANGOR; a souvenir", RIMBA,1922). The Straits Times, 16 October 1924, Page 10 reported Mr LA Coutier Biggs acted in the play, Twelve Pound Look at Town hall on 23th and 25th Oct 1924.
Mr L Courtier Biggs or LA Courtier Biggs, Municipal Secretary Penang, the son of Rev LC Biggs, married Anna Minnett, daughter of Alma Baker, in 1925 at St George Church. The Mohogany tree in the church compound was planted in Sept 1885(when Rev LC Biggs was the chaplain here), planted by AB Mackean from the seeding from a tree planted by Warren Hastings.(Rev Keppel Garnier,1925, Singapore Diocesan Magazine Vol. XV No. 58)
He passed away on 16-10-1959 at Annagh, The Warren, Mayfield, Sussex, England(London Gazette dated 30-10-1959).
Further info required
I cannot obtain the background information of Rev Louis Courtier Biggs and his wife, especially before coming to Malaya and after returning to England.
Anyone know the information about him?
References/related articles:
1. History of Chinese Anglican Churches in Penang 1886-2006, by Rev Stephen Soe; http://stpaulpenang.multiply.com/journal/item/3
2. Letters to Henrietta(2003), by Isabella Lucy Bird, Kay Chubbuck, Henrietta Amelia Bird, UPNE( pg 239-242, 315)
3. Christianity in Malaysia:a denominational history(1992), by Robert Hunt, Kam Hing Lee, John Roxborogh, Pelanduk Publication
4. http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part4d.htm
5. A short history of St Andrew's Cathedral Singapore(19), by Frank G Swindell, published by Malaya Tribune Press Ltd, Singapore; http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/ang/sing/swindell-1929.pdf(Pg 24 & 25)
6. Classified digest of the records of the Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, 1701-1892(1894), by Charles Frederick Pascoe, Pub. at the Society's office
7. The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World , http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part4d.htm
Rev DD Moore - The founder of Wesley Church Penang
Rev. D. D. Moore,
Rev DD Moore or Rev Daniel D Moore was one of two pioneer missionaries sent by Methodist Mission from Singapore to Penang in 1891. Their mission was to start the ACS(Anglo Chinese School), Penang. The other missionary was Rev Benjamin H Balderston. He was also the founder of Methodist Girls' School Penang in 1892(Note: There was a report that Dr Benjamin Franklin West (b. 22 April 1858, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA - d. 2 July 1933, Seattle, Washington, USA) was the one who set up the Anglo-Chinese Girls School in Penang in 1892 (today known as the Methodist Girls School in Penang) ref: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1511_2009-11-30.html); and also the founder and minister of Welesley Church Penang(formerly FitzGerald Memorial Church) from 1891-1895.
Rev DD Moore was from Prince Edward Island(PEI), Canada.
Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population (excluding the territories). The island has a few other names: "Garden of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation", referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not join the confederation itself until 1873 when it became the seventh Canadian province.
Charlottetown is a Canadian city. It is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County.
1925 - The United Church was founded in 1925 as a merger of four Protestant denominations: the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, two-thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches
The life of Rev DD Moore or Daniel Davies Moore(1856-1946)
Rev. Daniel Davies Moore, son of Mary Helen Davies(Nathan)and Rev. Frederick William Moore(b 1826- d1893), was born on 20 Jul 1856 in Nova Scotia. He was christened on 22 Oct 1856 in Charlottetown Trinity (First Methodist), PEI. He died on 30 Aug 1946 in Western Australia. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, WA.
Methodist Minister. The name of Rev. D. D. Moore, M.A. apppears on a list of "Methodist Ministers who have gone out from Prince Edward Island", with the date of 1879(History of Methodism in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island -- 1888). In 1881 he was living with his parents in Charlottetown, his age on the census given as 25. In 1888 he was Methodist Minister for Cornwall, Prince Edward Island. Some time before 1901, he was appointed to a mission in British Columbia, which became with the building of a church in 1902, the (Anglican) parish of All Saints, Mission City, British Columbia. In Sep 1903 he resigned to pursue further pioneer work in Western Australia.
Rev DD Moore(1856-1946)
1856 Born as Daniel Davies Moore on 20 Jul 1856 in Nova Scotia. He was christened on 22 Oct 1856 in Charlottetown Trinity (First Methodist), PEI. His parent was Mary Helen Davies(Nathan) and Rev Frederick William Moore.
1873 Rev. D. D. Moore was Rector at Church of England Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, until 1873 he resigned,no date was given when did he joined the church(source: Pictonians at Home and Abroad, The Religious History of the County;http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/pictou/pictou2.htm)
1879 MOORE, D.D., M.A. was ordained in 1879.
1881 In 1881 he was living with his parents in Charlottetown, his age on the census given as 25.
1888-1889 In 1888 he was Methodist Minister for Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, Canada
1889-1890 Rev. D. D. Moore, M. A. left Methodist Church at Charlottetown. PEI, Rev. Benjamin. H. Balderston who come from the same place, went to Singapore
1891
The Methodist Mission sent two missionaries, Rev Daniel D More, Rev Benjamin H. Balderston to Penang to start Anglo Chinese School in Penang. ACS(now known as MBS), Penang opened by Rev. B. H. Balderston on 28th May 1891 at Carnarvon St, in July. Rev. Daniel. D. Moore join the school later. But by end the year, there were 60 students( Earnest Lau, 2008)
'IT WAS in the year 1891 that Mission Conference decided to extend the education work to the girls. Mr Moore almost at once began to visit in wealthy Chinese homes. His desire was that the bright little girls should be taught as well as their brothers. He soon became acquainted with a prominent Chinese citizen, Mr Cheah Teck Soon, whose sister was persuaded to have her little girls taught with their brothers.
Rev. D.D. Moore conducted the first English Evening Service at the Penang Town Hall in July. Later the English Service moved to a rented home for missionaries. The first Sacramental Service was conducted by Dr. J.C. Floyd in August for 8 persons. The English Service moved to the Armenian church in November. Sunday School began and the church started with 3 members.
1892 - Rev. D. D. Moore open MGS in 1892. So a small private school was begun in No. 1 Penang Road, where the missionaries lived. There were only 2 pupils and the school was in Northam Road. Thus began the first 110 years. Miss Emma Norris was the first teacher(Note: She may be the wife of Rev DD Moore). Later on, Mrs Young, a widowed lady, came into the work of the Penang Mission. She played the organ for the Sunday services that were held in the old Armenian church. Mr Moore, finding how capable Mrs Young was, persuaded her to take charge of the school which was held in the home of Mr Teck Soon in Farquhar Street. Soon after, other children joined. Mrs Young later become Mrs. G. F. Pykett.
Note: There was a report that Dr Benjamin Franklin West (b. 22 April 1858, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA - d. 2 July 1933, Seattle, Washington, USA) was actually the one who set up the Anglo-Chinese Girls School in Penang in 1892 (today known as the Methodist Girls School in Penang) ref: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1511_2009-11-30.html. May be it was because Rev DD Moore's wife was the first teacher.
1893 - Rev. B. H. Balderston Return to Canada due to illness. Rev D.D. Moore, started English Service at Priory in Northern Road (a garage for the Runneymede Hotel).
Mrs Young did all she could in making the school attractive and also in visiting Chinese homes. The school grew to twenty pupils, when the missionaries moved to a large house by the sea named "The Priory". This home meant much to our Penang work in those early days. With the Chinese lady's consent, the girls' school was moved to "The Priory", where it became more stable and continued to grow. Of the religious teaching at this time, Bishop Thoburn remarked, "Everyday is a Sunday School here."
1894 - Rev G.F. Pykett came to Penang, where he and Mrs Young were married in January 1894. Mr Moore writes in his first report from Penang: Mrs. G. F. Pykett became the first principal of ACGS(now MGS, Penang).
1895 - The Wednesday Parish Meeting of Wesley Church Penang began. Rev D.D. Moore chaired the 1st meeting. Rev. D. D. Moore left the school, ACS Penang in 1895. Rev Albert J. Amery take over as pastor of Wesley Church Penang from Rev DD Moore in 1897, and the English Service moved to Penang ACS new building.
Note: It was presumed that Rev DD Moore left Penang in 1895, and it may be correct as there was no mention of replacement of minister in the history of Welesley Church Penang, in 1896 the name of minister was left vacant(http://www.wesleypenang.org/history.htm). The church may not have minister since Rev DD Moore left in 1895.
1901 - Some time before 1901, D.D. Moore was appointed to a mission in British Columbia, which became with the building of a church in 1902, the (Anglican) parish of All Saints, Mission City, British Columbia. He had joined the Anglican mission.
Note: The Town of Mission City had an interesting beginning as a land promotion. The town's core commercial properties and residential streets were auctioned off at the "Great Land Sale" of 1891, with buyers brought in via the CPR mainline from Vancouver as well as from Eastern Canada. Some of the early houses and commercial buildings were, in fact, specifically designed to be reminiscent of small towns in southern Ontario in order to encourage buyers. Hailed at the time as a new metropolis, the fledgling town's location at the junction of the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline with a northward extension of the Burlington Northern Railroad brought name suggestions that included East Vancouver and North Seattle. The name Mission City was chosen due to the site's proximity to the historic St. Mary's Mission of the Oblate order just east of town, which was founded in 1868.
All Saints Anglican Church, 33077 Second Ave, Mission, BC, V2V 1J7???....is anyone there know about Rev DD Moore?
1903 - In Sep 1903, Rev. D. D. Moore resigned to pursue further pioneer work in Western Australia.
Note: No info about him in Australia
1946 - . Rev. D. D. Moore died on 30 Aug 1946 in Western Australia. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, WA.
The Family
Parents
His father Rev. Frederick William Moore was born on 7 Jun 1826 in Charlottetown, PEI. He was christened on 15 Oct 1826 in Charlottetown St Paul's (Anglican), PEI. He died in 1893. He married Mary Helen Davies (Nathan) on 2 Jun 1855. She was born on 6 Nov 1828 in Charlottetown, PEI. She was christened on 9 Feb 1851 in Charlottetown Trinity (First Methodist), PEI.
Rev. Frederick William Moore was a Methodist Minister. The name of Rev. F. W. Moore, 1851, apppeared on a list of "Methodist Ministers who have gone out from Prince Edward Island". It is recorded in 1888 that he had "retired from the active work of the ministry some years ago on account of failing health". In 1881 and 1891 he was living in Charlottetown. He gave his occupation in 1881 as Minister and Accountant.
Fredrick William2 Moore (James1) was born June 07, 1826 in Charlottetown, PEI, and died 1893 in
Charlottetown, PEI. He married Mary Helen Davies June 22, 1855, daughter of Nathan Davies and Amelia Mcnutt. She was born 1829.
Children of Fredrick Moore and Mary Davies are:
57 i. Daniel Davis3 Moore, born Abt. 1850 in Western Australia. He married Emma Lutterel; born Abt. 1850.
58 ii. Sidney Moore, born Abt. 1850. He married Bessie Mitchell; born Abt. 1850.
59 iii. Edith S. Moore, born Abt. 1850.
60 iv. Stewart Collings Moore, born May 1862.
61 v. Fretz W. L. Moore, born 1866; died in Maritzburg, Natal, South Africa.
62 vi. Amy Moore, born 1869; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
63 vii. Minnie Moore, born 1874; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She married Herbert Arthur Webb; born Abt.
Wife
Daniel married (1) Emma Luttrell on 5 Jul 1888 in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. Emma was born in 1867. She died on 14 Mar 1889 in Cornwall Parsonage, Cornwall, PEI. She was buried in Sherwood Cemetery, Brackley , PEI. At the time of her death, Rev DD Moore was still in PEI, but left for Singapore in the same year.
Daniel married(2) Marie H . Marie was born on 19 Dec 1861 in China. The 1901 census for Canada records that she settled in Canada in 1899. Rev Moore re-married while in Penang as their first child was born in 1894, and he left Penang in 1895.
Daniel and Marie had the following children:
i. Fritz Davies Moore was born on 22 Dec 1894 in "Str. Settlement". The 1901 census for Canada records that he settled in Canada in 1899. His place of birth is probably short for Straits Settlement which I would interpret as Malaya.
Another finding:-
i. DANIEL DAVIS3 MOORE, REV., b. 1856, Nova Scotian, Canada1; d. Western Australia1; m. EMMA LUTTEREL; b. 18671; d. Mar 14, 1889, Cornwall Parsonage, Cornwall, PEI1.
Notes for DANIEL DAVIS MOORE, REV.:
1881 Census: Daniel 25 born in Nova Scotia, occupation Probationer.
More About EMMA LUTTEREL:
Burial: Sherwood Cemetery, Brackley Lot 33-4 Stone 5591
(http://www.islandregister.com/davies.html)
Any one know Rev DANIEL DAVIS3 MOORE or Rev DD Moore, MA? Is the above information reliable on his background? Please help.....
Related articles:
1. I Was There - An AUTOBIOGRAPHY Frank Proctor, Edited by William N Tindall & Pamela Proctor, published by tmi Publications, Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada; http://www.soldierstory.com/latest_news.html( A autobiography of a soldier, lived in Mission City, Frank's adopted hometown of Mission in the beautiful Fraser Valley of British Columbia. where he raised his family and operated his own business until retirement to the beauty of his art. When Frank Proctor died earlier this year one of the pews in All Saints Anglican Church was left vacant during his funeral. That pew was for Frank's angels who had looked after him during his long life. The book mention about All Saints Anglican Church in Mission city. Did they know Rev DD Moore?)
2. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15077003850
3. Old church could find new role, http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/cowichannewsleader/news/99287394.html
Brief history of Auld Kirk:
• Built as All Saints Church in 1913 on a hill overlooking the lake’s north end by the son of the first clergyman, Rev. Jack Aitken. Parishioners climbed a trail up the slope for services.
• Cut into sections and moved to Shawnigan village in 1938, where a belfry was added.
• Later, when the congregation joined the Cobble Hill church, All Saints was put up for sale with the stipulation it could be used for arts, antiques or books but not food services or housing.
• In 1983, Frank and Nancy Roseborough of Victoria and Shawnigan bought the property.
• After renovations and installation of a new bell from Ontario, the former church opened as a gallery for local work.
Is it the same old All Saints Anglican Church that Rev DD Moore ministered in 1902?.
4. From mission to church: the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore(2008),by Earnest Lau, published by Genesis Book, Singapore. Pg 18.
Rev DD Moore or Rev Daniel D Moore was one of two pioneer missionaries sent by Methodist Mission from Singapore to Penang in 1891. Their mission was to start the ACS(Anglo Chinese School), Penang. The other missionary was Rev Benjamin H Balderston. He was also the founder of Methodist Girls' School Penang in 1892(Note: There was a report that Dr Benjamin Franklin West (b. 22 April 1858, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA - d. 2 July 1933, Seattle, Washington, USA) was the one who set up the Anglo-Chinese Girls School in Penang in 1892 (today known as the Methodist Girls School in Penang) ref: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1511_2009-11-30.html); and also the founder and minister of Welesley Church Penang(formerly FitzGerald Memorial Church) from 1891-1895.
Rev DD Moore was from Prince Edward Island(PEI), Canada.
Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population (excluding the territories). The island has a few other names: "Garden of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation", referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not join the confederation itself until 1873 when it became the seventh Canadian province.
Charlottetown is a Canadian city. It is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County.
1925 - The United Church was founded in 1925 as a merger of four Protestant denominations: the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, two-thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches
The life of Rev DD Moore or Daniel Davies Moore(1856-1946)
Rev. Daniel Davies Moore, son of Mary Helen Davies(Nathan)and Rev. Frederick William Moore(b 1826- d1893), was born on 20 Jul 1856 in Nova Scotia. He was christened on 22 Oct 1856 in Charlottetown Trinity (First Methodist), PEI. He died on 30 Aug 1946 in Western Australia. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, WA.
Methodist Minister. The name of Rev. D. D. Moore, M.A. apppears on a list of "Methodist Ministers who have gone out from Prince Edward Island", with the date of 1879(History of Methodism in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island -- 1888). In 1881 he was living with his parents in Charlottetown, his age on the census given as 25. In 1888 he was Methodist Minister for Cornwall, Prince Edward Island. Some time before 1901, he was appointed to a mission in British Columbia, which became with the building of a church in 1902, the (Anglican) parish of All Saints, Mission City, British Columbia. In Sep 1903 he resigned to pursue further pioneer work in Western Australia.
Rev DD Moore(1856-1946)
1856 Born as Daniel Davies Moore on 20 Jul 1856 in Nova Scotia. He was christened on 22 Oct 1856 in Charlottetown Trinity (First Methodist), PEI. His parent was Mary Helen Davies(Nathan) and Rev Frederick William Moore.
1873 Rev. D. D. Moore was Rector at Church of England Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, until 1873 he resigned,no date was given when did he joined the church(source: Pictonians at Home and Abroad, The Religious History of the County;http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/pictou/pictou2.htm)
1879 MOORE, D.D., M.A. was ordained in 1879.
1881 In 1881 he was living with his parents in Charlottetown, his age on the census given as 25.
1888-1889 In 1888 he was Methodist Minister for Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, Canada
1889-1890 Rev. D. D. Moore, M. A. left Methodist Church at Charlottetown. PEI, Rev. Benjamin. H. Balderston who come from the same place, went to Singapore
1891
The Methodist Mission sent two missionaries, Rev Daniel D More, Rev Benjamin H. Balderston to Penang to start Anglo Chinese School in Penang. ACS(now known as MBS), Penang opened by Rev. B. H. Balderston on 28th May 1891 at Carnarvon St, in July. Rev. Daniel. D. Moore join the school later. But by end the year, there were 60 students( Earnest Lau, 2008)
'IT WAS in the year 1891 that Mission Conference decided to extend the education work to the girls. Mr Moore almost at once began to visit in wealthy Chinese homes. His desire was that the bright little girls should be taught as well as their brothers. He soon became acquainted with a prominent Chinese citizen, Mr Cheah Teck Soon, whose sister was persuaded to have her little girls taught with their brothers.
Rev. D.D. Moore conducted the first English Evening Service at the Penang Town Hall in July. Later the English Service moved to a rented home for missionaries. The first Sacramental Service was conducted by Dr. J.C. Floyd in August for 8 persons. The English Service moved to the Armenian church in November. Sunday School began and the church started with 3 members.
1892 - Rev. D. D. Moore open MGS in 1892. So a small private school was begun in No. 1 Penang Road, where the missionaries lived. There were only 2 pupils and the school was in Northam Road. Thus began the first 110 years. Miss Emma Norris was the first teacher(Note: She may be the wife of Rev DD Moore). Later on, Mrs Young, a widowed lady, came into the work of the Penang Mission. She played the organ for the Sunday services that were held in the old Armenian church. Mr Moore, finding how capable Mrs Young was, persuaded her to take charge of the school which was held in the home of Mr Teck Soon in Farquhar Street. Soon after, other children joined. Mrs Young later become Mrs. G. F. Pykett.
Note: There was a report that Dr Benjamin Franklin West (b. 22 April 1858, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA - d. 2 July 1933, Seattle, Washington, USA) was actually the one who set up the Anglo-Chinese Girls School in Penang in 1892 (today known as the Methodist Girls School in Penang) ref: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1511_2009-11-30.html. May be it was because Rev DD Moore's wife was the first teacher.
1893 - Rev. B. H. Balderston Return to Canada due to illness. Rev D.D. Moore, started English Service at Priory in Northern Road (a garage for the Runneymede Hotel).
Mrs Young did all she could in making the school attractive and also in visiting Chinese homes. The school grew to twenty pupils, when the missionaries moved to a large house by the sea named "The Priory". This home meant much to our Penang work in those early days. With the Chinese lady's consent, the girls' school was moved to "The Priory", where it became more stable and continued to grow. Of the religious teaching at this time, Bishop Thoburn remarked, "Everyday is a Sunday School here."
1894 - Rev G.F. Pykett came to Penang, where he and Mrs Young were married in January 1894. Mr Moore writes in his first report from Penang: Mrs. G. F. Pykett became the first principal of ACGS(now MGS, Penang).
1895 - The Wednesday Parish Meeting of Wesley Church Penang began. Rev D.D. Moore chaired the 1st meeting. Rev. D. D. Moore left the school, ACS Penang in 1895. Rev Albert J. Amery take over as pastor of Wesley Church Penang from Rev DD Moore in 1897, and the English Service moved to Penang ACS new building.
Note: It was presumed that Rev DD Moore left Penang in 1895, and it may be correct as there was no mention of replacement of minister in the history of Welesley Church Penang, in 1896 the name of minister was left vacant(http://www.wesleypenang.org/history.htm). The church may not have minister since Rev DD Moore left in 1895.
1901 - Some time before 1901, D.D. Moore was appointed to a mission in British Columbia, which became with the building of a church in 1902, the (Anglican) parish of All Saints, Mission City, British Columbia. He had joined the Anglican mission.
Note: The Town of Mission City had an interesting beginning as a land promotion. The town's core commercial properties and residential streets were auctioned off at the "Great Land Sale" of 1891, with buyers brought in via the CPR mainline from Vancouver as well as from Eastern Canada. Some of the early houses and commercial buildings were, in fact, specifically designed to be reminiscent of small towns in southern Ontario in order to encourage buyers. Hailed at the time as a new metropolis, the fledgling town's location at the junction of the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline with a northward extension of the Burlington Northern Railroad brought name suggestions that included East Vancouver and North Seattle. The name Mission City was chosen due to the site's proximity to the historic St. Mary's Mission of the Oblate order just east of town, which was founded in 1868.
All Saints Anglican Church, 33077 Second Ave, Mission, BC, V2V 1J7???....is anyone there know about Rev DD Moore?
1903 - In Sep 1903, Rev. D. D. Moore resigned to pursue further pioneer work in Western Australia.
Note: No info about him in Australia
1946 - . Rev. D. D. Moore died on 30 Aug 1946 in Western Australia. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, WA.
The Family
Parents
His father Rev. Frederick William Moore was born on 7 Jun 1826 in Charlottetown, PEI. He was christened on 15 Oct 1826 in Charlottetown St Paul's (Anglican), PEI. He died in 1893. He married Mary Helen Davies (Nathan) on 2 Jun 1855. She was born on 6 Nov 1828 in Charlottetown, PEI. She was christened on 9 Feb 1851 in Charlottetown Trinity (First Methodist), PEI.
Rev. Frederick William Moore was a Methodist Minister. The name of Rev. F. W. Moore, 1851, apppeared on a list of "Methodist Ministers who have gone out from Prince Edward Island". It is recorded in 1888 that he had "retired from the active work of the ministry some years ago on account of failing health". In 1881 and 1891 he was living in Charlottetown. He gave his occupation in 1881 as Minister and Accountant.
Fredrick William2 Moore (James1) was born June 07, 1826 in Charlottetown, PEI, and died 1893 in
Charlottetown, PEI. He married Mary Helen Davies June 22, 1855, daughter of Nathan Davies and Amelia Mcnutt. She was born 1829.
Children of Fredrick Moore and Mary Davies are:
57 i. Daniel Davis3 Moore, born Abt. 1850 in Western Australia. He married Emma Lutterel; born Abt. 1850.
58 ii. Sidney Moore, born Abt. 1850. He married Bessie Mitchell; born Abt. 1850.
59 iii. Edith S. Moore, born Abt. 1850.
60 iv. Stewart Collings Moore, born May 1862.
61 v. Fretz W. L. Moore, born 1866; died in Maritzburg, Natal, South Africa.
62 vi. Amy Moore, born 1869; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
63 vii. Minnie Moore, born 1874; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She married Herbert Arthur Webb; born Abt.
Wife
Daniel married (1) Emma Luttrell on 5 Jul 1888 in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. Emma was born in 1867. She died on 14 Mar 1889 in Cornwall Parsonage, Cornwall, PEI. She was buried in Sherwood Cemetery, Brackley , PEI. At the time of her death, Rev DD Moore was still in PEI, but left for Singapore in the same year.
Daniel married(2) Marie H . Marie was born on 19 Dec 1861 in China. The 1901 census for Canada records that she settled in Canada in 1899. Rev Moore re-married while in Penang as their first child was born in 1894, and he left Penang in 1895.
Daniel and Marie had the following children:
i. Fritz Davies Moore was born on 22 Dec 1894 in "Str. Settlement". The 1901 census for Canada records that he settled in Canada in 1899. His place of birth is probably short for Straits Settlement which I would interpret as Malaya.
Another finding:-
i. DANIEL DAVIS3 MOORE, REV., b. 1856, Nova Scotian, Canada1; d. Western Australia1; m. EMMA LUTTEREL; b. 18671; d. Mar 14, 1889, Cornwall Parsonage, Cornwall, PEI1.
Notes for DANIEL DAVIS MOORE, REV.:
1881 Census: Daniel 25 born in Nova Scotia, occupation Probationer.
More About EMMA LUTTEREL:
Burial: Sherwood Cemetery, Brackley Lot 33-4 Stone 5591
(http://www.islandregister.com/davies.html)
Any one know Rev DANIEL DAVIS3 MOORE or Rev DD Moore, MA? Is the above information reliable on his background? Please help.....
Related articles:
1. I Was There - An AUTOBIOGRAPHY Frank Proctor, Edited by William N Tindall & Pamela Proctor, published by tmi Publications, Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada; http://www.soldierstory.com/latest_news.html( A autobiography of a soldier, lived in Mission City, Frank's adopted hometown of Mission in the beautiful Fraser Valley of British Columbia. where he raised his family and operated his own business until retirement to the beauty of his art. When Frank Proctor died earlier this year one of the pews in All Saints Anglican Church was left vacant during his funeral. That pew was for Frank's angels who had looked after him during his long life. The book mention about All Saints Anglican Church in Mission city. Did they know Rev DD Moore?)
2. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15077003850
3. Old church could find new role, http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/cowichannewsleader/news/99287394.html
Brief history of Auld Kirk:
• Built as All Saints Church in 1913 on a hill overlooking the lake’s north end by the son of the first clergyman, Rev. Jack Aitken. Parishioners climbed a trail up the slope for services.
• Cut into sections and moved to Shawnigan village in 1938, where a belfry was added.
• Later, when the congregation joined the Cobble Hill church, All Saints was put up for sale with the stipulation it could be used for arts, antiques or books but not food services or housing.
• In 1983, Frank and Nancy Roseborough of Victoria and Shawnigan bought the property.
• After renovations and installation of a new bell from Ontario, the former church opened as a gallery for local work.
Is it the same old All Saints Anglican Church that Rev DD Moore ministered in 1902?.
4. From mission to church: the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore(2008),by Earnest Lau, published by Genesis Book, Singapore. Pg 18.
Rev. B. H. Balderstone - Founder of ACS(MBS) Penang
Rev. B. H. Balderstone
1889-1890 Rev. B. H. Balderston was in Singapore for 2 years
1891 MBS, Penang opened by Rev. B. H. Balderston on 28th May 1891 at Carnarvon St, in July Rev. D. D. Moore join the school. Rev. D.D. Moore conducted the first English Evening Service at the Penang Town Hall in July. the Wesley church started with 3 members.
1892 Rev. D. D. Moore open MGS
1893 Rev. B. H. Balderston Return to Canada due to illness
1895 - On 19Feb 1895, it was reported B Hedley Baldereton interred for the deceased Blakeney. in Saint Patrick Parish , Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada(source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbstpatr/index.htm)
1896 - It was in either late 1895 December or early 1896, Rev. B. H. Balderston was the priest that officiated the marriage of MARY ALICE McCOUBREY & JAMES "HERBERT Simpson
The extract of the report was as follow:
"MARY ALICE McCOUBREY 1873: Married JAMES "HERBERT Simpson on 27 Dec 1895 - Jan 1896 by Rev. B. H. Balderston in Prince Edward Island. Buried in Cavendish Presbyterian United Cemetery".
There is another extract:
“Following Dr. Ebenezer Robson, one of the pioneers of Methodism in British Columbia, and those who assisted him, Rev. B.H. Balderstone of Sixth Street Church, North Vancouver held services on Sunday afternoons".
1897 - September 22 1897 Rev B Hedley Baldereton interred for the late John Johnston at in Saint Patrick Parish , Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada(http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbstpatr/stpa4b2.htm)
That is the last time we hear of him.....
After 1896, there is no news of him in Canada, where did he go? still in the mission work or ministry a local church?....the 6th Street Church in North Vancouver?
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI or P.E.I.; French: Île-du-Prince-Édouard, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean a' Phrionnsa) is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population (excluding the territories). The island has a few other names: "Garden of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation", referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not join the confederation itself until 1873 when it became the seventh Canadian province
Charlottetown is a Canadian city. It is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County.
1925 - The United Church was founded in 1925 as a merger of four Protestant denominations: the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, two-thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches
Penang - Strait Settlement
1891-1893(Anglo Chinese School Penang)
Rev. B. H. Balderston is the pioneer of Methodist Mission who started the ACS(Anglo Chinese School) in Penang; yet we know very little of him. He started the school at a shop house at Carnarvon Street, just opposite the Carnarvon Lane. The school later expanded to 5 shop houses. I believed it must be between Li Teik Siah and the Police Station at Carnarvon Street. It was a tough time, where a white Canadian start a Christian English school at the place which was a Chinese dominated area; a strong traditional Chinese area, and a coffin street. Imagine the cultural conflict and impact on the area....
I do not know whether he can speak the local dialect, Hockkien. If not, There will be communication problem for him.
"The Methodist Boys' School, Penang, known as the Anglo-Chinese School, Penang (ACSP) at its inception, had a humble beginning at a little shop house in Carnavon Street. Its founder, Rev. B. H. Balderstone, a native of Prince Edward Island, came to Penang (then a British Straits Settlement) after nearly two years in Singapore to start on a mission work. Rev. Balderstone opened the school doors on May 28, 1891. Rev. Balderstone was joined by Rev. D. D. Moore, also a Canadian, a few months later to teach in the school. The Moores established the Methodist Girls' School in 1892".
The school started with only one student. What is the name of the student? We really want to know this historical person, who have the courage to take up the challenge, and who is the family?. It was in 1891, still during the Manchu Dynasty or Qing Dynsty, still having pigtail at the back, and the social pressure of accepting the West, their education system of the foreign perils..... what a bold step, and he is the only one, imagine the social pressure he was facing....I am interested to know his name and his background. Anyone can provide the information?....
Due to failing eyesight, Rev. Balderstone was forced to resign on April 10, 1893. The Moores left two years later.
Rev. G. F. Pykett arrived in 1892 to replace Rev. Balderstone. Pykett was born on December 20, 1864 in Lincolnshire, England. He carried out the work of Rev Balderstone, and did it very well. His absolute dedication to the school deservedly earned him the title of founding father of ACSP. He was with ACSP for most of the years from 1892 to 1932.
Anglo Chinese School Penang later moved to Maxwell Road(currently the KOMTAR); and to Air Itam Road(near Suffolk House). It was renamed Methodist Boys' School Penang.
Anyone know more about him? Please help us to complete the missing link about his background and later life in Canada.
This is the words from the web sites of Wesley Church Penang:-
" They will rebuild the ancient ruins and
restore the places long devastated ;they will
renew the ruined cities that have
been devastated for generations "
Isaiah 61:4(NIV)
We will rebuild our history, and let Rev. B. H. Balderstone and many people who have contributed to Penang has a place in Penang history; especially the missionary from the Missionary Schools.
Related articles:
1.125 Years of Methodism on the Malay Peninsula, http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5665
2. Annual report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,Volume 73(1892),Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society
3. From mission to church: the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia, 1885-1976(2008), Armour Publishing Pte Ltd,
1889-1890 Rev. B. H. Balderston was in Singapore for 2 years
1891 MBS, Penang opened by Rev. B. H. Balderston on 28th May 1891 at Carnarvon St, in July Rev. D. D. Moore join the school. Rev. D.D. Moore conducted the first English Evening Service at the Penang Town Hall in July. the Wesley church started with 3 members.
1892 Rev. D. D. Moore open MGS
1893 Rev. B. H. Balderston Return to Canada due to illness
1895 - On 19Feb 1895, it was reported B Hedley Baldereton interred for the deceased Blakeney. in Saint Patrick Parish , Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada(source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbstpatr/index.htm)
1896 - It was in either late 1895 December or early 1896, Rev. B. H. Balderston was the priest that officiated the marriage of MARY ALICE McCOUBREY & JAMES "HERBERT Simpson
The extract of the report was as follow:
"MARY ALICE McCOUBREY 1873: Married JAMES "HERBERT Simpson on 27 Dec 1895 - Jan 1896 by Rev. B. H. Balderston in Prince Edward Island. Buried in Cavendish Presbyterian United Cemetery".
There is another extract:
“Following Dr. Ebenezer Robson, one of the pioneers of Methodism in British Columbia, and those who assisted him, Rev. B.H. Balderstone of Sixth Street Church, North Vancouver held services on Sunday afternoons".
1897 - September 22 1897 Rev B Hedley Baldereton interred for the late John Johnston at in Saint Patrick Parish , Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada(http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbstpatr/stpa4b2.htm)
That is the last time we hear of him.....
After 1896, there is no news of him in Canada, where did he go? still in the mission work or ministry a local church?....the 6th Street Church in North Vancouver?
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI or P.E.I.; French: Île-du-Prince-Édouard, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean a' Phrionnsa) is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population (excluding the territories). The island has a few other names: "Garden of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation", referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not join the confederation itself until 1873 when it became the seventh Canadian province
Charlottetown is a Canadian city. It is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County.
1925 - The United Church was founded in 1925 as a merger of four Protestant denominations: the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, two-thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches
Penang - Strait Settlement
1891-1893(Anglo Chinese School Penang)
Rev. B. H. Balderston is the pioneer of Methodist Mission who started the ACS(Anglo Chinese School) in Penang; yet we know very little of him. He started the school at a shop house at Carnarvon Street, just opposite the Carnarvon Lane. The school later expanded to 5 shop houses. I believed it must be between Li Teik Siah and the Police Station at Carnarvon Street. It was a tough time, where a white Canadian start a Christian English school at the place which was a Chinese dominated area; a strong traditional Chinese area, and a coffin street. Imagine the cultural conflict and impact on the area....
I do not know whether he can speak the local dialect, Hockkien. If not, There will be communication problem for him.
"The Methodist Boys' School, Penang, known as the Anglo-Chinese School, Penang (ACSP) at its inception, had a humble beginning at a little shop house in Carnavon Street. Its founder, Rev. B. H. Balderstone, a native of Prince Edward Island, came to Penang (then a British Straits Settlement) after nearly two years in Singapore to start on a mission work. Rev. Balderstone opened the school doors on May 28, 1891. Rev. Balderstone was joined by Rev. D. D. Moore, also a Canadian, a few months later to teach in the school. The Moores established the Methodist Girls' School in 1892".
The school started with only one student. What is the name of the student? We really want to know this historical person, who have the courage to take up the challenge, and who is the family?. It was in 1891, still during the Manchu Dynasty or Qing Dynsty, still having pigtail at the back, and the social pressure of accepting the West, their education system of the foreign perils..... what a bold step, and he is the only one, imagine the social pressure he was facing....I am interested to know his name and his background. Anyone can provide the information?....
Due to failing eyesight, Rev. Balderstone was forced to resign on April 10, 1893. The Moores left two years later.
Rev. G. F. Pykett arrived in 1892 to replace Rev. Balderstone. Pykett was born on December 20, 1864 in Lincolnshire, England. He carried out the work of Rev Balderstone, and did it very well. His absolute dedication to the school deservedly earned him the title of founding father of ACSP. He was with ACSP for most of the years from 1892 to 1932.
Anglo Chinese School Penang later moved to Maxwell Road(currently the KOMTAR); and to Air Itam Road(near Suffolk House). It was renamed Methodist Boys' School Penang.
Anyone know more about him? Please help us to complete the missing link about his background and later life in Canada.
This is the words from the web sites of Wesley Church Penang:-
" They will rebuild the ancient ruins and
restore the places long devastated ;they will
renew the ruined cities that have
been devastated for generations "
Isaiah 61:4(NIV)
We will rebuild our history, and let Rev. B. H. Balderstone and many people who have contributed to Penang has a place in Penang history; especially the missionary from the Missionary Schools.
Related articles:
1.125 Years of Methodism on the Malay Peninsula, http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5665
2. Annual report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,Volume 73(1892),Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society
3. From mission to church: the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia, 1885-1976(2008), Armour Publishing Pte Ltd,
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Pykett Avenue(拜吉路) & Rev George F Pykett
View Larger Map
Lebuhraya Pykett or Pykett Avenue(拜吉路) is located between Jalan Westlands (Westlands Road) and Jalan Burma(Burmah Road). It is the side road of Burmah Road, just opposite Wesley Methodist Church. The only side road of Pykett Avenue is Lorong Pykett or Pykett Lane, which lead to a housing estate. Pykett Avenue and Pykett Lane were named after the Rev. G. F. Pykett, former headmaster of the Anglo-Chinese School, Penang (1892-1932).
The prominent building in the avenue is Pykett Methodist School(Sekolah Kebangsaan Pykett Methodist).
Wesley Methodist Church is at the junction of Jalan Burma and Jalan Larut, just opposite the entrance of Pykett Avenue at Burma Road. The English-style church building was constructed in 1911-1912. Rev Pykett was from the Methodist Mission, which started Angli Chinese School Penang(now Methodist Boys' School)& Pykett Methodist Schoo in 1891, and Methodist Girls' School(MGS)in 1892. The nearby Union Chinese Primary School(SJK (C) UNION, 协和国民型华文小学) at Burma Road, was also set up by some charitable Christian believers in 1928.
The Mansion of Khaw Sim Bee was formerly located at 20, Pykett Avenue, but it was demolished on 26-7-2010. The area, including Westlands Road, Khaw Sim Bee Road and Union Chinese Primary School nearby, was formerly owned by the family.
The road was a quiet street. Prior to the opening of resident houses at Lorong Pykett, the place was bushes, opposite it is the school field. The only activities was when the Pykett school students going to school in the morning, and leaving the school in the afternoon. Occasionally there may be some boys playing football at the field.
Rev. G. F. Pykett(George Frederick Pykett)
Pykett & MBS(ACS)
The name of Pykett is related to MBS or Methodist Boys' School in Penang. The Methodist Boys' School, Penang, known as the Anglo-Chinese School, Penang (ACSP) at its inception, had a humble beginning at a little shop house in Carnavon Street, opposite Carnavon Lane. Its founder, Rev. B. H. Balderstone, a native of Prince Edward Island, came to Penang (then a British Straits Settlement) after nearly two years in Singapore to start on a mission work. Rev. Balderstone opened the school doors on May 28, 1891. Rev. Balderstone was joined by Rev. D. D. Moore, also a Canadian, a few months later to teach in the school. The Moores established the Methodist Girls' School in 1892.
Due to failing eyesight, Rev. Balderstone was forced to resign on April 10, 1893. The Moores left two years later.
Rev Pykett & MBS(1893 to 1932)
Rev. G. F. Pykett arrived in 1892 to replace Rev. Balderstone. Pykett was born on December 20, 1864 in Lincolnshire, England. His absolute dedication to the school deservedly earned him the title of founding father of ACSP. He was with ACSP for most of the years from 1893 to 1932.
The school had 173 pupils and was housed in three shophouses in Carnavon St. when Pykett came to take over. As a teacher, Rev. Pykett took great interest in his pupils. Despite having to supervise the whole school, he also taught in the Cambridge classes daily.
Under Rev. Pykett's direction, the school grew, it expanded to 5 shophouses. A site at Maxwell Road, now the location of Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (KOMTAR), was purchased in 1895. Two years later, 456 pupils were moved into the new premises, which then became the headquarters of ACSP. The school was opened on 1-1-1897.
The first Junior Cambridge Class (today's equivalent of Form Four) was established during the Pykett era. MBS earned a good reputation among the merchants and Chinese community. The school-leavers were highly praised by prospective employers.
The local Chinese community gave full support to the educational work done by Rev. Pykett. Among those notable for their contributions were Mr Khoo Hun Yeang, Mr Foo Choo Choon and Mr Khoo Cheow Teong.
In 1906, a School Union was organized to promote closer relationships among ex-pupils and teachers, and to render mutual help in various ways. A Cadet Corps was established in the same year, and for many years the pride of ACSP until 1931 when it was abolished by Pykett in line with the mission of peace and harmony. In 1907 the Boarding School was instituted and grew under the management of Mrs Pykett.
At about the same time, the Normal Class was started for promising students who had completed their Cambridge Senior Class (equivalent to today's Form Five). They were to be trained as teachers and eventually sat for the Normal examinations conducted by the Government. The Normal class became an important source of teachers to ACSP in the years to come.
The first school magazine, The Scholar's Own was published in 1909. Publication ceased in 1911 when editors Mr Ung Ban Hoe and Mr Goh Huan Ho left for further studies. Publication resumed in 1924.
The first Scout Troop was organized 1910 but was only registered in 1916, making it the oldest scout troop in Penang.
Due to increasing number of students, ten shophouses along Penang Road were bought and used as classrooms. By 1920, the school building was so congested that it was necessary to obtain another place for pupils. The building at 422 Chulia Street was rented and about 600 of the Primary and Middle School students were housed there.
Pykett and YMCA(1905-1957)
The YMCA in Penang was founded in 1905 by the Reverend G.F. Pykett of England and Principal of the ACS now known as the MBS (Methodist Boys School). In 1907, St. John’s Ambulance classes in First Aid were organized, and in 1910, the first Boy Scouts Troop in Penang was formed by the Penang YMCA. Both movements play an important role in the activities of the State and the Y can proudly claim to have been the moving spirit behind their early establishment respectively.
Unfortunately, this early YMCA was closed down because of World War II. After the war, two attempts to revive it were made in vain due to the lack of a suitable building to house the Association.
Pykett & Medan
In 1905, as District Superintendent of Methodist Church, Pykett sent a Tamil lay preacher Salomon Pakianathan to supervise a private school owned by Hong Teen, a young baba Chinese who have been a student at ACS in Penang. This open a way to open a mission in Medan. Salomon Pakianathan become a pioneer of Methodist Church in Medan, and Pykett was the one that instrumented the founding.
Mrs Pykett(Mrs Amelia Young)
IT WAS in the year 1891 that our Mission Conference decided to extend our work. A Mr Moore almost at once began to visit in wealthy Chinese homes. His desire was that the bright little girls should be taught as well as their brothers. He soon became acquainted with a prominent Chinese citizen, Mr Cheah Teck Soon, whose sister was persuaded to have her little girls taught with their brothers.
So a small private school was begun in No. 1 Penang Road, where the missionaries lived. Mr Moore writes in his first report from Penang:
"We only had two girls, but that seemed to us a great thing after all our labour for it and our discouragements."
Miss Emma Norris was the first teacher. A little later, Mrs Young(Amelia Young), a widowed lady, came into the work of the Penang Mission. She played the organ for the Sunday services that were held in the old Armenian church. Mr Moore, finding how capable Mrs Young was, persuaded her to take charge of the school which was held in the home of Mr Teck Soon in Farquhar Street. Soon after, other children joined.
Mrs Young did all she could in making the school attractive and also in visiting Chinese homes. The school grew to twenty pupils, when the missionaries moved to a large house by the sea named "The Priory". This home meant much to our Penang work in those early days. With the Chinese lady's consent, the girls' school was moved to "The Priory", where it became more stable and continued to grow. Of the religious teaching at this time, Bishop Thoburn remarked, "Everyday is a Sunday School here."
Rev G.F. Pykett came to Penang, where he and Mrs Young were married in January 1894. How much of our Mission work in Penang has revolved round Rev and Mrs Pykett in the thirty years they have lived there! Through the years, Mrs Pykett has held to her first duty in the Mission, playing the organ at English, Tamil and Cantonese services …
1892 Mrs. G. F. Pykett became the first principal of ACGS. There were only 2 pupils and the school was in Northam Road.
Pykett & personal life (1864- 1932)
1864
Pykett, his full name was George Frederick Pykett, born on December 20, 1864 in Brandon village, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway (London-Edinburgh), the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately 26 miles (42 km) south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately 24 miles (39 km) east of Nottingham.
Education
Rev Pykett was educated at Hough, 7 miles away from Grantham. The name Hough is Old English haga, or 'enclosure'. Now it is called Hough-on-the-Hill, It is not clear when the 'le Hill' or 'on the Hill' suffix was added. The quaint village of Hough-on-the-Hill lies approximately seven miles due north of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. The parish is still named Hough Parish.
Teaching- England
He was Asst Master at Rawmarsh Free Grammer School, Rotherham; and All Saints, Plumstead, Woolwich.
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at 6 miles (10 km) from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements. Rawmarsh is a large village at Rotherham.
Plumstead and Woolwich are districts of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.
1889 - He was recruited by William Girdlestone Shellabear in 1889 while he was in England. He resign from British Army Commission. Shellabear was a Commanding Officer with Royal Engineers at Pulau Brani(now Sentosa Island) in 1886, who returned to England in July 1889 to resign from his commission. He accepted the offer to become a printer in setting up Mission press in Singapore.
1891 - Singapore
Come to Singapore as teacher in ACS Singapore on Feb, 1891
1892 - Penang
The year 1892 was wrongly reported by many sources as the year Rev. G. F. Pykett arrived at Penang to replace Rev. BH Balderstone as Head Master of ACSP. But in 1892 Rev. BH Balderstone still working as staff. On 22-3-1893, he was given the Diary as the staff of the school , the name of Rev Pykett was not mentioned as a staff. He was compelled to return to Canada due to illness in 1893. (Ref: The Anglo Chinese School Magazine 1904 No 13 Vol V, Pg xix)
1893 Penang
Rev Pykett was appointed as Principal of ACSP on 10-4-1893(The Strait Times dated 24-9-1932 & The Anglo Chinese School Magazine 1904 No 13 Vol V, Pg xix).
Rev G F Pykett were conversant in Hokkien(The Church as a Multi-racial Community(2004), by Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, pg 67,www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/CS/2004-Aug/Multiracial.pdf).
1894
Rev G.F. Pykett and Mrs Young were married in January 1894.
In 1894 the Tamil work was started in Penang by the Pyketts
1896 - MBS Penang moved to Maxwell Road, Penang(current location of KOMTAR)
1897
1-1-1897, the school moved to Maxwell Road. Rev Pykett went on leave for March 1897
1898- Rev Pykett returned form leave on July 1898
1903
13/2/1903 Rev GF Phykett and Mrs Phykett attended the ME Malaya Conference at Singapore(The Straits Times, 13 February 1903, Page 5)
15/2/1903 Mr Hoover ordination at ME Church yesterday, performed by Bishop FW Warne, assisted by Rev GF Pykett and Rev. H.C Stuntz, B.F. West. H.L.E. Luering (The Straits Times,16/2/1903)
1905
The YMCA in Penang was founded in 1905 by the Reverend G.F. Pykett
1906
NST 1-2-1906, reported Pykett attended Methodist Conference at Singapore and requested the next conference to be held at Penang.
1914 - appointed as Headmaster of Methodist Boys's School, Kuala Lumpur, until 1919( Earnest Lau, 2008).
1919 - Return to ACS Penang(MBS)
1924
Ipohr April 25 1924. The sad and unexpected death has occurred, at Taiping Hill, of Miss Elizabeth Pykett, youngest surviving daughter of the Rev. G. F. Pykett and Mrs. Pykett, of the Wesleyan Mission. She was staying at the Nest on the Hill for holidays. She was suddenly taken ill, and was taken down the hill but died before reaching Taiping Hospital(The Strait Times, 25-4-1924).
1932
Retired in April 1932 after illness and medical check up in Singapore.
Rev. Pykett left for England in 1932 but died on 9th Sept. 1932 at Bedford Park, London. Mrs Pykett died earlier in June(Pg 2 & Pg 31, The Strait Times dated 24-9-1932) . His demise was mourned by all. Rev. Pykett was considered a leading power in the Methodist mission as were his contemporaries. He was recognised as one of the forerunners of education in Malaya. In tribute to his good work, the MBS rightly honours him as the man who "came to blaze the trail.".
He leave 2 sons, George Pykett and Dick Pykett, step daughters Mrs McDonald of ACS Primary School, Mrs Keymer of ACS Continuation School, Mrs JM Hoover of Sibu, Borneo.
Two memorial services in Penang, one in ACS, Maxwell Road for all pupils of Methodist Mission Schools,and old pupils of Rev Pykett. Another in Wesley Church.
1933
Annual Methodist Conference in Singapore conducted a memorial service for both Mr & Mrs Pykett(The Strait Times 7-1-1933)
To remember Rev. G. F. Pykett, a road between Burma Road and Westland Road was named after him. The school located there was also named after him, Pykett Methodist School(Sekolah Kebangsaan Pykett Methodist). Later, a side road from Pykett Avenue was also named Pykett Lane.
Related articles
1. The Anglo Chinese School Magazine 1904, http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/acs1904.pdf
2. ACS Ipoh, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Chinese_School,_Ipoh
3. Methodist Boys' School(MBS), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodist_Boys%27_School_(Penang)
4. Wesley Methodist Church Penang, http://www.wesleypenang.org/
5. http://www.methodistchurch.org.my/
6. From mission to church: the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore(2008),by Earnest Lau, published by Genesis Book, Singapore. Pg 18 & 19 ( A photo of Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings can be seen in Pg 18).
The Repeal of Rent Control
Even the issue has been history; but looking back the repeal of rent control which lead to the arrogant of the former state government, insensitive to the current sentiments of Penang people, were the factors that caused the downfall the former state government. The rent control act was the legal framework that allowed an active social communities in the downtown of Georgetown. It is the main factor for the living museum of old Georgetown to survive.
Penang's architectural heritage has enjoyed a better fate than other Strait Settlement states. Penang has one of the largest collections of pre-war buildings in Southeast Asia. This is for the most part due to the Rent Control Act which froze house rental prices for decades, making redevelopment unprofitable. With the repeal of this act in 2000 however, property prices skyrocketed and development has begun to encroach upon these buildings, many of which are in a regrettable state of disrepair.
The repeal of Rent Control Act, had removed that active community from downtown of Penang. The living museum had therefore disappeared. Today we have seen many cultural heritage disappearing, the culprit is the repeal of Rent Control Act. The political will of the former state government was to please the business community, the land owner, the developer; who were waiting for their opportunity to make profit form the land, deep in the downtown. The arrogant government forgot the masses of the urban poor, the main forces who were behind Gerakan and Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu in 1969. There is no plan for them.......
The result, the political Tsunami of 308 in 2008 election....complete collapse of Gerakan from the state politic. It may be the end of the party in Penang. The 12th Malaysian general election was held on March 8, 2008, the opposition dealt a heavy blow to the Barisan Nasional(Gerakan)coalition government by taking the state of Penang. Although Penang was regarded as a hotly contested state, the outcome unexpectedly turned out to be a landslide win with the opposition, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) gaining the majority of the state seats. Many seats saw the opposition winning over two-thirds of the votes, rather than the usual 50-50 distribution. BN only won 2 of the 13 parliamentary seats and 11 of the 40 state seats, its worst performance in Malaysian history.
Another significant blow was the defeat of Gerakan Acting President, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, who was looking to move up from state politics, decided not to run for his state seat and subsequently gave up his Chief Minister post of 18 years, to challenge the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat. Some speculated this was part of a larger ambition to be a cabinet member, only to lose to newcomer P. Ramasamy of the DAP by a large margin of 9,485 votes.
Below is the article from Aliran, by Dr Khoo Boo Teik. It is an interesting read again despite two years after the fall of the Gerakan state government. The article was on 2000, in 2008 the state government collapse, today is 2010.
The Repeal of Rent Control
Requiem for Gerakan
By Dr Khoo Boo Teik
On Friday, 17 March 2000, the hide-and-seek game that the Chief Minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, had been playing with S.O.S. (Save Ourselves, an ad hoc support group helping tenants affected by the repeal of rent control) resulted in the arrest of S.O.S. secretary, B. K. Ong and one other S.O.S member. (Three days later, the S.O.S. treasurer was also arrested.)
The S.O.S. members had been trying to get Dr Koh to talk to the tenants directly. Dr Koh refused, although he had been quite willing, earlier, to hold discussions with landlords and their representatives over a RM100 million government fund to help them renovate their premises.
The S.O.S. members used the unorthodox but non-violent way of unfurling a banner in front of Dr Koh’s car after the Chief Minister officiated at the opening of Eight Row, Krian Road, newly rehabilitated houses adapted for upmarket commercial purposes.
I used to live in a rent control house round the corner from Eight Row. That house no longer exists. But I’m moved by the incident to write about the repeal of rent control in Georgetown, Penang.
And as I thought about rent control, I was struck that the S.O.S. incident captures the coming end of Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia’s relevance to Penang (and Malaysian) politics.
Rent control: a personal note
I was born and bred in Georgetown. For the first twelve years of my life, my family used to live in a single room. We did that three times, twice in shophouses and once in a house that was partly used for storage. Each was a rent-controlled house leased by an uncle. In this way, I got to know Macalister Road, Penang Road, Macalister Lane and their surrounding areas quite well.
When I was thirteen, my family moved once more to a rent-controlled house at Macalister Road. Unlike other families on our block, we used the house for residential purposes only. We had no subtenants. Looking back, having a whole house was a big improvement for us, but having a family of eight in a two-bedroom house hardly left any space to sublet.
The rent was RM40 a month, always paid on time to a rent collector employed by our landlord, who was no pathetic owner of a single house, but one of the wealthiest property estates which owned whole blocks of rent-controlled premises in Georgetown.
Even so, I suspect RM40 per month is the sort of rental that causes landowners, developers, professionals in the property sector, brokers and bankers to gnash their teeth over ‘prime properties gone to waste’. Others, like politicians, economists and journalists, will be driven half mad by thoughts of low returns on investment, unfair subsidies, and parasites living off exploited landlords.
The true price of tenancy
Hence, I should mention that my father paid RM13,000 to obtain a transfer of tenancy. Not all that money went to the landlord, but some of it did in order that the landlord approved the change of tenancy. ‘Bottom line’ fanatics and market fundamentalists should note that that was RM13,000 ‘in 1968 dollars’, paid in cash, upfront, for the right to rent the house.
In May 1968 the money my father paid could have bought a single-storey terraced house in the new Green Lane suburban estates. But he worked in town. His children studied in nearby schools. And his friends considered it unwise to relocate to the ‘country’ only a few months after certain quarters had turned the Labour Party’s hartal into Penang’s 1967 racial riots.
Rent control and Georgetown's heritage
Up to the ‘depressed 1960s’, however, most families I knew did not own their houses. If they weren’t living in government or employer-provided quarters, they were chief tenants, subtenants, or co-equal tenants (often family members pooling to rent a house). For them housing was rent-controlled premises, a sublet room, a partitioned cubicle, or, in the case of the destitute, the five-foot path.
Thus, many, by no means rich, people, struggled to save dollar after dollar to rent a whole house. It was the norm, both in market and social terms, that he or she who paid for the ‘right of tenancy’ could recoup his or her investment, via business (including the business of subletting), or by ceding the tenancy rights to someone else at market price.
It insults those people’s self-reliance and thrift, and degrades an honoured custom to mock at the ‘subsidised rent’ without considering the high price of the change in tenancy when talking about rent control in these times.
The basis of 'our culture'
I don’t mention any of this out of nostalgia. ‘Our house’ was quite livable. But, from a housing point of view and more, there was nothing charming about the overcrowded, underprovided, dilapidated, unimproved premises that made up much of rent-controlled housing in the oldest and poorest parts of Georgetown.
Yet from these unenviable quarters Georgetown’s common people – merchants, retailers, tradesmen, money changers, craftsmen, coffeeshop proprietors, clerks, schoolteachers, roadside petty traders, itinerant hawkers, temple and association caretakers, (gambling) club ‘managers’, manual labourers, trishaw pedlars and even gangsters – created a vibrant urban culture.
Generations of such George-town people, of all ethnic backgrounds – who have little in common with the politicians who love to identify with them at election time – can be proud of the finer aspects of this culture which suburbia and shopping complexes cannot replicate.
Too often, however, those who package this culture as ‘our heritage’ pander to the tourist dollar, upmarket tastes and yuppie yearnings for gentrification. They speak of ‘our culture’ and ‘our heritage’ as if they are nothing save blood and genes mixed up with a ‘pearl of the orient’.
It never occurs to them that Georgetown’s wonderful hawker food and kuih nyonya, Jual Murah and nasi kandar, or Chingay and dondang saying, for example, had a material basis, one critical part of which was state-imposed rent control.
Subdivided and sublet, converted and multiple-use, tenant-managed and rent-controlled, mostly pre-war housing held down the costs of commerce and services, small and cottage industries, and social reproduction.
Consequently a market in rent control housing flourished. It may not have been the type of housing market that everyone liked. However, every bit of it was a legitimate part of the urban economy and necessary for social and political stability.
Altering the rules of the housing market
That was at least true until the late 1970s. Then Penang’s industrialisation, economic growth, the KOMTAR project, expanding housing credit, and demographic pressures transformed George-town’s housing market.
Those who could afford homeownership moved from the city centre into private suburban housing estates, or the Penang Development Corporation-built housing in Bayan Baru and Seberang Jaya. Those who couldn’t, or waited till it was too late, found that the rules of the housing market had been changed.
A frenzied pace of urban growth brought new developers and speculators who bought rent-controlled houses where they could to redevelop the areas for new types of tenants.
With that, the customary rights of the old tenants were doomed. In market and legal parlance, they were reduced to low-status ‘encumbrances’ – nuisances, if you will – in the calculations of the new landowners who pursued big redevelopment bucks.
Across Georgetown, a new breed of property developers emerged that negotiated the relocation of their tenants, or applied to the law to evict them.
Customs be damned
Henceforth, a cacophony of politicians, bureaucrats, developers, economists, professionals and journalists made sure rent control acquired a bad name. They said rent control was obsolescent, inefficient and unfair. Tenants were unreasonable, undeserving and parasitic. Rent-controlled housing unprofitably sat on scarce and underutilized land.
It was no accident that the intimations of the recent repeal of the Rent Control Act came after 1990, after Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s position had been secured, and privatisation and Malaysia Inc. could proceed unimpeded.
It wasn’t just rent control that was put to the legislative sword. All over Malaysia, customary rights yielded to deregulation, market forces and the full exercise of property rights. Indeed, customary rights be damned: social practices and norms once embodied in Malay reserve land, Muslim wakaf land, Chinese clan holdings, Indian estate labour lines, and Sarawak’s remotest forests were targeted in the same way as rent control.
Ironically people who once had the protection of customary rights and social norms became expendable ‘encumbrances’, also known as parasitic tenants, illegal squatters, superfluous labourers, or anti-development natives.
No Georgetown after dark
The repeal of rent control has paved the way for forms of redevelopment that will replace a thriving historical community with a gutted inner city. Georgetown’s urban culture as we’ve known it will come to an end. There will be no Georgetown after dark.
For that the Barisan Nasional government has a lot to answer.
On the one hand, its Chief Minister has been talking 100 million bucks with the landlords. On the other hand, he announced his government would assist ‘handicapped, single and elderly’ tenants but, of course, not ‘bank managers and professionals’ as if the latter are typical S.O.S. tenants. He said the government must ‘be fair to 96% of Penangites’ who paid market prices for their housing’.
What does that kind of ‘fairness’ mean, if not subsidies for landlords, and market prices for tenants?
Look back on Komtar
I’m not an MCA man who runs down Dr Koh to increase MCA’s chances of taking over the Penang chief minister’s post. Petty squabbles between power grabbers generally nauseate me.
But I think Dr Koh’s idea of ‘fairness’ at this juncture foretells the end of Gerakan’s relevance to Penang (and Malaysian) politics.
Look back upon a time when things were quite different, as, say, when the KOMTAR project was initiated in the 1970s. KOMTAR was mired in controversy, dislocated lots of people from the project vicinity, and was opposed on grounds that it would ruin Georgetown’s heritage, among other things. One can continue to argue these matters.
But in the light of the government’s mismanagement of the rent control crisis, one critical difference stands out. To implement KOMTAR, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu’s government, via the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), and the State Low Cost Housing Committee, compensated, assisted and resettled people who were ‘decanted’ from the area.
In contrast, although the move to repeal rent control was announced ten years ago, the present government has prepared no contingency plan, no supporting fund, and no alternative residential, commercial and industrial premises. Faced with George-town’s most serious development issue, PDC, once the government’s powerful ‘implementation arm’ has no role.
The contrast isn’t to be explained by differences in the personalities or political abilities of Dr Lim and Dr Koh. The difference lies in Gerakan’s changed character as a political party.
A different Gerakan
When it was formed, Gerakan was a coalition of three main groups – Dr Lim’s former United Democratic Party (UDP), a group of ex-Labour Party politicians led by the late Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon, and trade unionists like V. David and the late V. Veerappan. Joining this coalition were intellectuals like Professor Syed Hussein Alatas.
It was a coalition that believed in some measure of social democracy as the way to solve social and political problems. It was Gerakan’s promise to tackle Penang’s economic and other problems that won the party the 1969 state election.
The ex-labourites and unionists fell out with Dr Lim, and left him Gerakan’s rump. That split diluted but didn’t abort Gerakan’s basic plan. Gerakan’s subsequent entry into Barisan Nasional may have been politically opportunistic. Still government then meant planning and implementing socio-economic projects. The interventionist orientation of Dr Lim’s Gerakan fit in with Tun Abdul Razak’s commitment to state planning via the New Economic Policy.
For Penang then PDC implemented a strategy of ‘rural industrialization, rural urbanization, urban redevelopment, tourism promotion, and agro-horticulture’. Not all the PDC plans were realized. Many of their results can also be debated.
But there would not have been Bayan Lepas and Prai free trade zones, the townships of Bayan Baru and Seberang Jaya, and Geogetown’s ‘comprehensive development areas’ at KOMTAR, Macallum Street Ghaut and elsewhere without that basic commitment to the social responsibility of government.
SOS - but for whom?
Gerakan’s present leadership shows no such commitment – not to social democracy, state planning, or ‘proactive’ implementation – even assuming that kind of commitment were practicable under Dr Mahathir’s privatization and Malaysia Inc.
Plans for Penang there are and will be: Penang Strategic Development Plan 1, Penang Into the 21st Century, Penang Strategic Development Plan 2, and so on. But they are ‘public relations’ plans bearing motherhood statements for feelgood effects – ‘post-industrial society’, ‘sustainable development’, ‘cultural vibrancy’, ‘caring society’, ‘quality of life’.
The reality is nothing less than abject surrender to market forces. (If certain rumours about the origins of Lim Chien Aun and Lim Boo Chang’s defections to MCA are to be believed, those are market forces outside Penang at that).
One doesn’t have to covet the chief minister’s seat to conclude that Gerakan, in presiding over the end of rent control in Georgetown, has itself become irrelevant to Penang’s future.
Even if Gerakan can’t face up to it, S.O.S isn’t just the lonely cry of desperate tenants.
(source: www.aliran.com/oldsite/monthly/2000/02c.htm)
Will the Heritage issue become critical, and follow similarly to Rental Control issue for next election? the current state government need to learn the lesson from the issue in 2000.
Meow, meow, meowwwww.......will history repeated?.....
Penang's architectural heritage has enjoyed a better fate than other Strait Settlement states. Penang has one of the largest collections of pre-war buildings in Southeast Asia. This is for the most part due to the Rent Control Act which froze house rental prices for decades, making redevelopment unprofitable. With the repeal of this act in 2000 however, property prices skyrocketed and development has begun to encroach upon these buildings, many of which are in a regrettable state of disrepair.
The repeal of Rent Control Act, had removed that active community from downtown of Penang. The living museum had therefore disappeared. Today we have seen many cultural heritage disappearing, the culprit is the repeal of Rent Control Act. The political will of the former state government was to please the business community, the land owner, the developer; who were waiting for their opportunity to make profit form the land, deep in the downtown. The arrogant government forgot the masses of the urban poor, the main forces who were behind Gerakan and Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu in 1969. There is no plan for them.......
The result, the political Tsunami of 308 in 2008 election....complete collapse of Gerakan from the state politic. It may be the end of the party in Penang. The 12th Malaysian general election was held on March 8, 2008, the opposition dealt a heavy blow to the Barisan Nasional(Gerakan)coalition government by taking the state of Penang. Although Penang was regarded as a hotly contested state, the outcome unexpectedly turned out to be a landslide win with the opposition, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) gaining the majority of the state seats. Many seats saw the opposition winning over two-thirds of the votes, rather than the usual 50-50 distribution. BN only won 2 of the 13 parliamentary seats and 11 of the 40 state seats, its worst performance in Malaysian history.
Another significant blow was the defeat of Gerakan Acting President, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, who was looking to move up from state politics, decided not to run for his state seat and subsequently gave up his Chief Minister post of 18 years, to challenge the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat. Some speculated this was part of a larger ambition to be a cabinet member, only to lose to newcomer P. Ramasamy of the DAP by a large margin of 9,485 votes.
Below is the article from Aliran, by Dr Khoo Boo Teik. It is an interesting read again despite two years after the fall of the Gerakan state government. The article was on 2000, in 2008 the state government collapse, today is 2010.
The Repeal of Rent Control
Requiem for Gerakan
By Dr Khoo Boo Teik
On Friday, 17 March 2000, the hide-and-seek game that the Chief Minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, had been playing with S.O.S. (Save Ourselves, an ad hoc support group helping tenants affected by the repeal of rent control) resulted in the arrest of S.O.S. secretary, B. K. Ong and one other S.O.S member. (Three days later, the S.O.S. treasurer was also arrested.)
The S.O.S. members had been trying to get Dr Koh to talk to the tenants directly. Dr Koh refused, although he had been quite willing, earlier, to hold discussions with landlords and their representatives over a RM100 million government fund to help them renovate their premises.
The S.O.S. members used the unorthodox but non-violent way of unfurling a banner in front of Dr Koh’s car after the Chief Minister officiated at the opening of Eight Row, Krian Road, newly rehabilitated houses adapted for upmarket commercial purposes.
I used to live in a rent control house round the corner from Eight Row. That house no longer exists. But I’m moved by the incident to write about the repeal of rent control in Georgetown, Penang.
And as I thought about rent control, I was struck that the S.O.S. incident captures the coming end of Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia’s relevance to Penang (and Malaysian) politics.
Rent control: a personal note
I was born and bred in Georgetown. For the first twelve years of my life, my family used to live in a single room. We did that three times, twice in shophouses and once in a house that was partly used for storage. Each was a rent-controlled house leased by an uncle. In this way, I got to know Macalister Road, Penang Road, Macalister Lane and their surrounding areas quite well.
When I was thirteen, my family moved once more to a rent-controlled house at Macalister Road. Unlike other families on our block, we used the house for residential purposes only. We had no subtenants. Looking back, having a whole house was a big improvement for us, but having a family of eight in a two-bedroom house hardly left any space to sublet.
The rent was RM40 a month, always paid on time to a rent collector employed by our landlord, who was no pathetic owner of a single house, but one of the wealthiest property estates which owned whole blocks of rent-controlled premises in Georgetown.
Even so, I suspect RM40 per month is the sort of rental that causes landowners, developers, professionals in the property sector, brokers and bankers to gnash their teeth over ‘prime properties gone to waste’. Others, like politicians, economists and journalists, will be driven half mad by thoughts of low returns on investment, unfair subsidies, and parasites living off exploited landlords.
The true price of tenancy
Hence, I should mention that my father paid RM13,000 to obtain a transfer of tenancy. Not all that money went to the landlord, but some of it did in order that the landlord approved the change of tenancy. ‘Bottom line’ fanatics and market fundamentalists should note that that was RM13,000 ‘in 1968 dollars’, paid in cash, upfront, for the right to rent the house.
In May 1968 the money my father paid could have bought a single-storey terraced house in the new Green Lane suburban estates. But he worked in town. His children studied in nearby schools. And his friends considered it unwise to relocate to the ‘country’ only a few months after certain quarters had turned the Labour Party’s hartal into Penang’s 1967 racial riots.
Rent control and Georgetown's heritage
Up to the ‘depressed 1960s’, however, most families I knew did not own their houses. If they weren’t living in government or employer-provided quarters, they were chief tenants, subtenants, or co-equal tenants (often family members pooling to rent a house). For them housing was rent-controlled premises, a sublet room, a partitioned cubicle, or, in the case of the destitute, the five-foot path.
Thus, many, by no means rich, people, struggled to save dollar after dollar to rent a whole house. It was the norm, both in market and social terms, that he or she who paid for the ‘right of tenancy’ could recoup his or her investment, via business (including the business of subletting), or by ceding the tenancy rights to someone else at market price.
It insults those people’s self-reliance and thrift, and degrades an honoured custom to mock at the ‘subsidised rent’ without considering the high price of the change in tenancy when talking about rent control in these times.
The basis of 'our culture'
I don’t mention any of this out of nostalgia. ‘Our house’ was quite livable. But, from a housing point of view and more, there was nothing charming about the overcrowded, underprovided, dilapidated, unimproved premises that made up much of rent-controlled housing in the oldest and poorest parts of Georgetown.
Yet from these unenviable quarters Georgetown’s common people – merchants, retailers, tradesmen, money changers, craftsmen, coffeeshop proprietors, clerks, schoolteachers, roadside petty traders, itinerant hawkers, temple and association caretakers, (gambling) club ‘managers’, manual labourers, trishaw pedlars and even gangsters – created a vibrant urban culture.
Generations of such George-town people, of all ethnic backgrounds – who have little in common with the politicians who love to identify with them at election time – can be proud of the finer aspects of this culture which suburbia and shopping complexes cannot replicate.
Too often, however, those who package this culture as ‘our heritage’ pander to the tourist dollar, upmarket tastes and yuppie yearnings for gentrification. They speak of ‘our culture’ and ‘our heritage’ as if they are nothing save blood and genes mixed up with a ‘pearl of the orient’.
It never occurs to them that Georgetown’s wonderful hawker food and kuih nyonya, Jual Murah and nasi kandar, or Chingay and dondang saying, for example, had a material basis, one critical part of which was state-imposed rent control.
Subdivided and sublet, converted and multiple-use, tenant-managed and rent-controlled, mostly pre-war housing held down the costs of commerce and services, small and cottage industries, and social reproduction.
Consequently a market in rent control housing flourished. It may not have been the type of housing market that everyone liked. However, every bit of it was a legitimate part of the urban economy and necessary for social and political stability.
Altering the rules of the housing market
That was at least true until the late 1970s. Then Penang’s industrialisation, economic growth, the KOMTAR project, expanding housing credit, and demographic pressures transformed George-town’s housing market.
Those who could afford homeownership moved from the city centre into private suburban housing estates, or the Penang Development Corporation-built housing in Bayan Baru and Seberang Jaya. Those who couldn’t, or waited till it was too late, found that the rules of the housing market had been changed.
A frenzied pace of urban growth brought new developers and speculators who bought rent-controlled houses where they could to redevelop the areas for new types of tenants.
With that, the customary rights of the old tenants were doomed. In market and legal parlance, they were reduced to low-status ‘encumbrances’ – nuisances, if you will – in the calculations of the new landowners who pursued big redevelopment bucks.
Across Georgetown, a new breed of property developers emerged that negotiated the relocation of their tenants, or applied to the law to evict them.
Customs be damned
Henceforth, a cacophony of politicians, bureaucrats, developers, economists, professionals and journalists made sure rent control acquired a bad name. They said rent control was obsolescent, inefficient and unfair. Tenants were unreasonable, undeserving and parasitic. Rent-controlled housing unprofitably sat on scarce and underutilized land.
It was no accident that the intimations of the recent repeal of the Rent Control Act came after 1990, after Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s position had been secured, and privatisation and Malaysia Inc. could proceed unimpeded.
It wasn’t just rent control that was put to the legislative sword. All over Malaysia, customary rights yielded to deregulation, market forces and the full exercise of property rights. Indeed, customary rights be damned: social practices and norms once embodied in Malay reserve land, Muslim wakaf land, Chinese clan holdings, Indian estate labour lines, and Sarawak’s remotest forests were targeted in the same way as rent control.
Ironically people who once had the protection of customary rights and social norms became expendable ‘encumbrances’, also known as parasitic tenants, illegal squatters, superfluous labourers, or anti-development natives.
No Georgetown after dark
The repeal of rent control has paved the way for forms of redevelopment that will replace a thriving historical community with a gutted inner city. Georgetown’s urban culture as we’ve known it will come to an end. There will be no Georgetown after dark.
For that the Barisan Nasional government has a lot to answer.
On the one hand, its Chief Minister has been talking 100 million bucks with the landlords. On the other hand, he announced his government would assist ‘handicapped, single and elderly’ tenants but, of course, not ‘bank managers and professionals’ as if the latter are typical S.O.S. tenants. He said the government must ‘be fair to 96% of Penangites’ who paid market prices for their housing’.
What does that kind of ‘fairness’ mean, if not subsidies for landlords, and market prices for tenants?
Look back on Komtar
I’m not an MCA man who runs down Dr Koh to increase MCA’s chances of taking over the Penang chief minister’s post. Petty squabbles between power grabbers generally nauseate me.
But I think Dr Koh’s idea of ‘fairness’ at this juncture foretells the end of Gerakan’s relevance to Penang (and Malaysian) politics.
Look back upon a time when things were quite different, as, say, when the KOMTAR project was initiated in the 1970s. KOMTAR was mired in controversy, dislocated lots of people from the project vicinity, and was opposed on grounds that it would ruin Georgetown’s heritage, among other things. One can continue to argue these matters.
But in the light of the government’s mismanagement of the rent control crisis, one critical difference stands out. To implement KOMTAR, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu’s government, via the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), and the State Low Cost Housing Committee, compensated, assisted and resettled people who were ‘decanted’ from the area.
In contrast, although the move to repeal rent control was announced ten years ago, the present government has prepared no contingency plan, no supporting fund, and no alternative residential, commercial and industrial premises. Faced with George-town’s most serious development issue, PDC, once the government’s powerful ‘implementation arm’ has no role.
The contrast isn’t to be explained by differences in the personalities or political abilities of Dr Lim and Dr Koh. The difference lies in Gerakan’s changed character as a political party.
A different Gerakan
When it was formed, Gerakan was a coalition of three main groups – Dr Lim’s former United Democratic Party (UDP), a group of ex-Labour Party politicians led by the late Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon, and trade unionists like V. David and the late V. Veerappan. Joining this coalition were intellectuals like Professor Syed Hussein Alatas.
It was a coalition that believed in some measure of social democracy as the way to solve social and political problems. It was Gerakan’s promise to tackle Penang’s economic and other problems that won the party the 1969 state election.
The ex-labourites and unionists fell out with Dr Lim, and left him Gerakan’s rump. That split diluted but didn’t abort Gerakan’s basic plan. Gerakan’s subsequent entry into Barisan Nasional may have been politically opportunistic. Still government then meant planning and implementing socio-economic projects. The interventionist orientation of Dr Lim’s Gerakan fit in with Tun Abdul Razak’s commitment to state planning via the New Economic Policy.
For Penang then PDC implemented a strategy of ‘rural industrialization, rural urbanization, urban redevelopment, tourism promotion, and agro-horticulture’. Not all the PDC plans were realized. Many of their results can also be debated.
But there would not have been Bayan Lepas and Prai free trade zones, the townships of Bayan Baru and Seberang Jaya, and Geogetown’s ‘comprehensive development areas’ at KOMTAR, Macallum Street Ghaut and elsewhere without that basic commitment to the social responsibility of government.
SOS - but for whom?
Gerakan’s present leadership shows no such commitment – not to social democracy, state planning, or ‘proactive’ implementation – even assuming that kind of commitment were practicable under Dr Mahathir’s privatization and Malaysia Inc.
Plans for Penang there are and will be: Penang Strategic Development Plan 1, Penang Into the 21st Century, Penang Strategic Development Plan 2, and so on. But they are ‘public relations’ plans bearing motherhood statements for feelgood effects – ‘post-industrial society’, ‘sustainable development’, ‘cultural vibrancy’, ‘caring society’, ‘quality of life’.
The reality is nothing less than abject surrender to market forces. (If certain rumours about the origins of Lim Chien Aun and Lim Boo Chang’s defections to MCA are to be believed, those are market forces outside Penang at that).
One doesn’t have to covet the chief minister’s seat to conclude that Gerakan, in presiding over the end of rent control in Georgetown, has itself become irrelevant to Penang’s future.
Even if Gerakan can’t face up to it, S.O.S isn’t just the lonely cry of desperate tenants.
(source: www.aliran.com/oldsite/monthly/2000/02c.htm)
Will the Heritage issue become critical, and follow similarly to Rental Control issue for next election? the current state government need to learn the lesson from the issue in 2000.
Meow, meow, meowwwww.......will history repeated?.....
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