Chapter II

THE first Mission party--Bishop Twells' first Sunday in the Diocese, at Smithfield--Visit to Basutoland--Arrival at Bloemfontein--The then circumstances of the Free State--Disposition of the Mission party--The Bishop's first Visitation--Arrival and Ordination of Mr. Mitchell--Beginning of the Mission at Thabanchu--The Bishop's visit to Nomansland--The Basuto War--Ordination of Mr. Richardson--Church built at Philippolis--Bloemfontein Cathedral consecrated--Arrival of the Rev. D. G. Croghan--The Bishop's visit to England via Natal--The Mission Brotherhood--Establishment of the Bloemfontein Mission Association--Canon Beckett--Death of Mr. G. Clegg--Thabanchu Church, dedicated--The Brotherhood at Modderpoort--Bishop Twells' departure--The First Provincial Synod.

THE first mission party sailed from Plymouth in the "Cambrian" on July 7th, 1863. Besides the Bishop, it comprised the Rev. E. G. Shapcote (and wife), Rev, A. Field and Rev. C. Clulee, Mr. G. Clegg (and wife), who had served under the Bishop when Vicar of S. Michael's, Wakefield, and Mr. and Mrs. Bell. They reached Capetown on August 14th. After spending a fortnight there with the Metropolitan, they re-embarked and reached Port Elizabeth, August 3ist. The Bishop and Mr. Field started on September 3rd by the passenger-cart for the Free State, passing through Grahamstown, where they made the acquaintance of Bishop Cotterill and Archdeacon Merriman.

On Wednesday morning, September i6th, the Bishop crossed the Orange River at Aliwal North, and stood on the soil of his Diocese. On the following day he reached Smithfield, and on the Sunday held there his first Services in the Free State; in the morning and afternoon for the Europeans, and in the evening, by means of an interpreter, in Dutch for the coloured people. During the voyage out the Bishop had made a great study of Dutch, and on this occasion was able to lead the people in saying the Creed and Lord's Prayer. Smithfield had from the first taken great interest in the establishment of the Diocese, and its inhabitants had sent a gift of £60 towards the expense of the journey of the mission party from the coast.

The Bishop was anxious to visit Basutoland, which had been specially commended to him by the Metropolitan, with as little delay as possible. Accordingly, he left Smithfield on September 22nd, and passing through Beersheba and Morija (French Missionary Stations) reached Thaba Bosigo on September 25th. He had an interview with Moshesh, spent Sunday there, and journeying by way of Maquatling and Thabanchu (where he had met with the chief Moroka), reached Bloemfontein at sunset on .Friday, October 2nd.

It may be well, before proceeding, to say a few words as to the then condition of the Free State. With an area four-fifths of the size of that of Great Britain, it was very sparsely populated, and that principally by Dutch farmers. Besides Bloemfontein, Winburg, Smithfield, Philippolis, Fauresmith and Harrismith, towns already alluded to, in the west the villages of Boshof and Jacobsdal, and in the north those of Kroonstad and Bethlehem, had been founded. In each of these was to be found a sprinkling of European residents, of many different nationalities and creeds. The occupation of the farmers was pastoral, except here and there, where strong fountains gave facilities for irrigation and encouraged agricultural efforts. The vast plains still swarmed with antelopes and gnus, while in the hills lurked numbers of hyenas, which made the rearing of young stock precarious. The herds of wild game seriously destroyed the pasturage, and since an easy hand-to-mouth livelihood was to be obtained by the sale of their skins, hunting supported many who would otherwise have had to earn their bread from the soil. The Republican government had from the first been carried on with order. The Volksraad, its representative body, had assembled with regularity, and although when Bishop Twells arrived the chief magistrate was only an acting President, only four weeks later, Mr. John Brand, an advocate of the highest standing at the Cape Bar, and a Christian gentleman whose worth was recognised throughout South Africa, was elected President. During the years which had passed since 1854 progress and good government had been seriously interfered with by the constant encroachments of the Basuto under Moshesh, and the young Republic was preparing itself for the long struggle which, begun in 1865, ended with the subjugation of the Basuto in 1868, and the annexation to the Free State of a considerable portion of their country.

On Sunday, October 4th, 1863, the Bishop held his first service in Bloemfontein, ministering in a room which had originally been built for a club. On the Monday, at a meeting attended by more than 60 of the principal inhabitants, the sum of £150 was promised towards travelling and other first expenses, and the same amount, in addition to the offertories, guaranteed towards the income of a resident clergyman. The former military schoolroom, in which Mr. Steabler had been wont to minister, was offered by the Landdrost as a Service-room; an income was guaranteed for a schoolmaster; and the first steps taken towards raising a permanent church on the site of the ruined building already referred to.

The rest of the Mission party, who had made their way from Port Elizabeth to the Free State by bullock wagons, travelling via British Kaffraria, having now arrived (they were met by the Bishop at Smithfield on October 2ist) the following disposition of them was made. At Bloemfontein, Rev. A. Field, with Mr. Clegg as schoolmaster; at Smithfield, Rev. E. G. Shapcote, with Mr. Bell as schoolmaster; at Faure-smith (to which place the Bishop had paid a visit on October 8th), Rev. C. Clulee. But before twelve months had passed, Mr. Field took Mr. Shapcote's place for six months at Smith-field, and in October, 1864, returned to England; Mr. Shapcote was removed to Philippolis, from whence he returned to England in 1865.

In November, 1863, the Bishop, in answer to the summons of the Metropolitan, journeyed to Capetown, to sit as one of the assessors in the trial of Bishop Colenso of Natal for false teaching. The journey was attended with much danger. The cart in which he was travelling from Port Elizabeth to Capetown was overturned in a swollen river, but he escaped the peril and arrived safely in Capetown on November 16th, the day before the trial.

On April 27th, 1864, the Bishop held a Confirmation at Fauresmith. On this occasion two of the candidates had come from a distance of 60 miles, and had remained at Fauresmith a month for preparation; one person who had left the English Church for that of Rome four years before, was so moved by the service that he resolved to return to the communion of his Mother Church.

In June, 1864, the Bishop started on his first tour of visitation, leaving Bloemfontein in the care of the Rev. E. C. Oldfield, an English clergyman on a visit to South Africa, who, hearing at Capetown of the pressing need, had volunteered his services. This was the second assistance of the kind which had been afforded, for the Registers show that during October and November, 1863, the Rev. J, Haldane Stewart, Rector of Millbrook, Dio. Winchester, was temporarily assisting in the work.

During this journey, the Bishop visited Winburg, Kroonstad, Bethlehem, and Harrismith, and then crossing over to the Transvaal found his way to Potchefstroom, Pretoria, and Rustenberg, returning to Bloemfontein during September.

On the 26th of the following November, Mr. George Mitchell, a student from St. Augustine's, Canterbury, arrived. Samuel, son of the Barolong chief, Moroka, had been a fellow-student with Mr. Mitchell, and had returned to South Africa with him. Mr. Mitchell had come for the special purpose of commencing a mission at Thabanchu. He was ordained Deacon on December i8th; and on the 10th May, 1865, took up his residence there. Thabanchu was then the largest native town in South Africa. Besides the Barolong, many offshoots of other Bechuana tribes had taken refuge with Moroka. In the town itself some 14,000 people were living, besides the many located in the smaller villages and cattle posts.

Early in March, 1865, the Bishop undertook a long and arduous journey to the country known as Nomansland, in the present district of Griqualand East. In 1861, Adam Kok, the Griqua chief, had sold to the Free State Government the land occupied by his people at Philippolis and around it, and had moved with them to a large and fertile tract of country, given to them by Sir George Grey, between the Drakensberg and the southern parts of the Colony of Natal. A remnant of the tribe had remained at Philippolis, and their accounts of the Griqua settlement in the new country had aroused the Bishop's sympathies. The journey by ox-wagon over the rocky track across the Drakensberg mountains, hindered by heavy rains and consequently swollen streams, was a very trying one; but on March 3oth, the Bishop reached Kokstad, and had an interview with Adam Kok. He spent the Sunday with them, and held service, saying the prayers and reading the lessons in Dutch, and in the evening ministered in English to a number of Europeans living among the Griquas. On April 5th he parted with them, with expressions on the part of the chief and his people of earnest thankfulness for the fatherly interest which had led him to visit them in their far-off country. On the journey back to Bloemfontein the Bishop visited Harrismith, Bethlehem, and Winburg.

The war between the Free State forces and the Basuto, which began in 1865, seriously hindered the progress of the mission. The Rev. C. Clulee attended the head-quarters of the Free State army, as chaplain to the English on "commando." At one time he was the only minister in camp, and held services for the Dutch as well as the English; he also itinerated in the northern districts of the State.

In November, 1865, the Bishop again visited the Transvaal. On returning to Bloemfontein, on Christmas Day, he ordained to the Diaconate, Mr. W. Richardson, who, even before the establishment of the Diocese, had, with Bishop Gray's approval, been acting as Catechist at Philippolis, and sent him to begin a work at Potchefstroom.

In 1866, the Rev. Richard Brooke, from the Diocese of Capetown, became curate-in-charge of Philippolis, where he remained until February, 1868, when his health obliged him to return to the Cape. On S. Paul's Day, 1864, President Brand, on his way to assume office in Bloemfontein, had laid the first stone of a church building at Philippolis, and given a bell to it. The church was now completed, and before Easter, 1867, was licensed for service. The cost of it, £1,200, was mostly raised by the inhabitants of the village and district.

In June, 1866, Mr. Joseph Harris Wills left England, and on arriving in the Diocese was ordained Deacon. The work allotted to him was that of itinerating among the villages of the Free State. In 1869 he was sent to the Transvaal, and after a short time of service there, he left South Africa for Australia.

From the time of his coming to Bloemfontein the Bishop had seen the need of building a permanent church, which might form the choir of the future Cathedral. The resident Church people contributed £800 towards this. Among the contributions made from other well-wishers, perhaps the most interesting was a sum of £6, unexpectedly received from a congregation of Christian Zulus at Dr. Callaway's well-known mission-station at Springvale, Natal, which the Bishop had visited on his journey back from Nomansland. The building, hindered somewhat by the war, was completed by the end of 1866, and on S. Andrew's Day was consecrated, under the dedication of SS. Andrew and Michael. The Metropolitan was represented on this occasion by Archdeacon Merriman, of Grahamstown, who on the following day enthroned the Bishop in the new Cathedral. The Archdeacon was accompanied by the Rev. Bransby Key, then a missionary in British Kaffraria, who in 1886 became Bishop of S. John's. Besides the clergy of the Diocese, the Rev. W. Rossiter, Rector of Aliwal North, in the Diocese of Grahamstown, was present. The whole cost of the new church was £2,000. Close to the Cathedral an Episcopal residence was built, known as Bishop's Lodge, which was ready for occupation early in 1867.

On February 28th, 1867, a clergyman (the Rev. D. G. Croghan) arrived in Bloemfontein as chaplain to the Bishop, who, for more than twenty years, was, by his distinguished ability and admirable gifts, to be a recognised leader, not only in the Diocese of Bloemfontein, but throughout the Province of South Africa. Mr. Croghan, who was then in his 35th year, was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and had for six years been in active service in the Church of Ireland. He went to reside at Bishop's Lodge with Mrs. Croghan, and was licensed as the first Priest-Vicar of the Cathedral.

On March 25th, the Bishop paid another visit to the Transvaal, and laid the foundation-stone of S. Mary's Church, Potchefstroom. On returning to Bloemfontein, he held a meeting of his clergy. It had become evident that a considerable mission-work was to be done among the natives living in Bloemfontein and its neighbourhood, and for this Mr. Mitchell was recalled from Thabanchu; a chapel for their use was built (opened on December 2nd, 1867), and the important mission henceforth known as S. Patrick's commenced.

During May the Bishop paid a first visit to Bethulie, which, in 1859, had, with its neighbouring land, been ceded to the Free State by Lephoi, who with his portion of the Batlhaping tribe had placed themselves under Moshesh, in Basutoland.

On Monday, June 17th, the Bishop left Bloemfontein for England. He had been invited to the first Pan-Anglican Conference, convened by Archbishop Longley, and had been commissioned by the Metropolitan to visit the Diocese of Natal (the cost of the visitation being provided by S. P.G.), the excommunication of Bishop Colenso having left the Church people in that Colony who remained faithful to the Church of the Province without episcopal ministrations. Passing through Winburg and Bethlehem, and spending Sunday, 23rd, at Harrismith, he reached Maritzburg on the 27th, and spent Sunday, June 30th, there. He Confirmed seventy-two persons in Maritzburg, and laid the foundation-stones of two country churches, and on July nth sailed from Durban in the "Dane" for England.

On reaching Algoa Bay, he learnt that a band of workers for his Diocese had landed on the previous day.

In the early part of 1866, the Bishop, dismayed at the greatness of the work before him, and distressed at the unwillingness of clergy from England to come out to help him, had determined upon attempting a new departure in mission work. This was the formation of a Missionary Brotherhood, the members of which should live by a common rule, content with food and clothing, and be willing, if necessary, to work with their hands. In a published letter of extraordinary power, he laid his plan before the mother Church. It was this letter which first attracted Mr. Croghan to the Diocese, and the call for an experienced priest to head the Brotherhood was answered by the Rev. H. F. Beckett, M.A., Canon of Cumbrae, and Assistant-curate to Mr. Paget, at Elford. Canon Beckett was then in his 51st year. The Bishop, as a young man, had been much in his society, and indeed the Canon had only been prevented from joining the Mission at its beginning by his devotion to his aged father, who was then living. Before leaving the Free State, the Bishop had purchased for his Brotherhood two farms in the territory just added to the State by conquest from the Basuto, known as Modderpoort and Modderpoort Spruijt. These were some seventy-five miles distant from Bloemfontein, but only forty from Thabanchu, which lay between the two places. Bishop Twells' letter had attracted attention in Oxford, and three undergraduates there had determined, after taking their degrees, to join it. In March, 1866, Mr. William Crisp, hearing of the great need of men, had offered himself and been accepted, and when, later on, the letter appeared, he threw in his lot with the Brotherhood. Mr. J. E. Williams, son of the much-revered Rev. Isaac Williams, also joined it. A skilled mason, Mr. W. Terry, offered his services for three years. Mr. F. Cheese, a medical student, joined the company, but being in delicate health he had preceded the rest, and was already at Bloemfontein. Canon Beckett had toiled very diligently in raising money in England for the venture, and had sailed from England on Ascension Day, May 3oth, 1867, with six companions. After calling at Capetown, the steamer in which they had sailed reached Port Elizabeth on July 12th, where, as we have said, on the following day the Bishop found them.

After a few hours spent with them, the Bishop re-embarked, and reached England on August 22nd. During this visit to England the Bishop established the Bloemfontein Mission Association, a society the members of which undertook to pray daily for its welfare and to give or collect for its support. [A memorial of the Associates is made daily in the "Chapter Office" said by the Clergy of the Cathedral after Evensong.] In this and in all his other efforts in England he was warmly supported by his Commissary, and by the Rev. Sir Henry Baker, Bart., Vicar of Monkland, Leominster, with whom he had been associated as one of the original editors of Hymns Ancient and Modern, and who, in 1869, succeeded Mr. Cowan as Commissary. Before Bishop Twells left England in 1868, the Roll of Associates contained 300 names, and the Quarterly Paper was commenced as its organ of information.

Canon Beckett and his party left Port Elizabeth on July 30th (1867), and reached Bloemfontein on September 6th. The closing war with the Basuto had just beg:un, and as a settlement at Modderpoort was thought to be imprudent, a farm named Springfield, seven miles from Bloemfontein, was hired for their use. On Sunday, September 8th, Canon Beckett was installed in the Cathedral as the first Canon of Bloemfontein, The Brotherhood had brought from England an organ for the Cathedral, two-thirds of the cost of which had been collected in England by the Rev. H. J. Wardell, Forest School, Walthamstow. What with cost of carriage and erection there were £83 yet to pay on its account, and Mr. G. A. White, manager of the Bloemfontein Bank, for many years the gifted and voluntary organist of the Cathedral, refused to play it until it was free of debt. The money was collected in Bloemfontein, and the organ was first played at the first anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral, on S, Andrew's Day, 1867. Archdeacon Merriman, whom the Bishop had left as his Commissary, had come from Grahamstown to attend this service.

On February nth, 1868, Bishop Twells sailed from Plymouth in the "Celt," bringing with him five young laymen, and among them Mr. F. W. Doxat, B.A., who had been one of the young Oxford men referred to above. The Bishop reached Bloemfontein on April and.

During the following May, since Modderpoort was still inaccessible, Canon Beckett determined to move with the brethren to Thabanchu. Here they settled themselves as best they could, and began, with Mr. Terry's help, the building of a church, which was dedicated by the Bishop on December 3oth. This was followed, in 1869, by the erection of a. mission-house, so that when Canon Beckett and his brethren occupied Modderpoort at Easter of that year, they left Thabanchu provided with the buildings necessary for full mission-work.

During the months of May, June and July, 1868, Mr. Croghan paid a long visit to the northern villages of the Free State, and to the Transvaal, while the Bishop visited the southern part of the Diocese.

On July 31st occurred the first death among the Mission Workers. Mr. George Clegg, who had continued at Bloem-fontein as master of the Grammar School begun in 1863, died of typhoid fever, at the early age of 33. The respect in which Mr. Clegg was held was evidenced by the fact that out of so small a town as Bloemfontein then was, his funeral attended by eighty persons. A little later on Mr.

Clulee left Fauresmith to take charge of the Grammar School, but not before he had built a small church there, which was consecrated on October 7th.

On Sunday, December 2oth, Mr. Doxat, Mr. Bell and Mr. Crisp were ordained Deacons in the Cathedral. Mr. Doxat remained with the Brotherhood till April, 1869, when he undertook the joint care of Philippolis and Fauresmith. Mr. Bell, who had remained from the first at Smithfield, was already known as a school-master of extraordinary ability, and now to his educational was added clerical responsibility. Mr. Crisp had from the first applied himself to native mission-work, and especially to the study of the Secoana language. He had been engaged in this at Thabanchu, and when the rest of the Brotherhood left, remained there to carry on the Mission. On January 5th, 1869, the Bishop left for Capetown to assist in the consecration of Dr. Macrorie, who had been chosen to fill the vacancy in Natal caused by the deposition of Bishop Colenso. The Bishop took with him Mr. Clegg's widow and her family, on their way back to England. He returned to Bloemfontein on March 2nd and left the following week to pay a visit to the Brotherhood in their new home at Modderpoort. On his return he ordained Mr. Mitchell to the Priesthood on Trinity Sunday (the first occasion of the ordering of a Priest in the Diocese) and sent him to assist Canon Beckett.

Shortly after this, in June, 1869, the Rev. W. H. R. Bevan, M.A., arrived from England, with Mr. J. W. Barrow, Mr. S. W. Steven, and Mr. E. Y. Dixon, all of whom made their first home at Modderpoort: Mr. Barrow being another of those who, while undergraduates at Oxford, had been drawn to the work in the Diocese.

Hitherto the story has been one of progress, however laboured and retarded, but now a grievous trial fell upon the young Mission.

At the end of July, Bishop Twells left South Africa and wrote to the Metropolitan resigning the see. The Metropolitan appointed Archdeacon Merriman to be Vicar-General of the Diocese, and on August 4th the Archdeacon arrived in Bloemfontein. The special object of his visit was to encourage Mr. Croghan and Canon Beckett in the difficult task of strengthening the things which remained, and of making such provision for the future as straitened and saddened circumstances permitted. The Archdeacon presided at the first meeting of the Board of Finance, a mixed committee of clergy and laymen appointed to administer the funds of the Diocese. He visited Thabanchu, where he was met by Canon Beckett and Mr. Bevan, and where he spent a Sunday. While still in the Diocese he was invited by both clergy and laity to accept the Bishopric when it should be declared vacant, but though at the time he gave his consent, on his return to Grahamstown he withdrew it. This was the last visit paid by him to Bloemfontein, and though he remained Vicar-General, the conduct of the Diocese was practically left by the Metropolitan in Mr. Croghan's hands.

In January, 1870, the first Provincial Synod was held at Capetown, the Diocese being represented at it by Mr. Croghan. During the session the resignation of Bishop Twells was formally accepted and the see declared to be vacant, no other course being open to the Metropolitan. The constitution of the Church of the Province was determined at this Synod, and Mr. Croghan's clear grasp of questions of ecclesiastical polity caused him henceforth to be ranked among the more distinguished of South African Churchmen, Mr. Croghan returned to Bloemfontein on March 20th.

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