Chapter X

FAILURE of Delegation--Exaggerated reports as to the Diocesan debt--Father Douglas sent to England to explain matters--Dedication of Nave of the Cathedral and the history of its building--The brothers Haworth--Mr. Holbech and Mr. Widdicombe elected Canons--Resumption of the Epiphany Mission, Sekubu--Mr. Woodman founds the Masite Mission--Serious illness of Archdeacon Croghan.

FIFTEEN months had now passed away since the Delegation to the three Prelates, and no appointment to the Bishopric had been made. In accordance with clause ix. of Canon 3 of the Provincial Canons, the responsibility of choice now devolved upon the Bishops of the Province. Reports, considerably exaggerated, had reached England as to the financial responsibilities of the Diocese, and of the cost of the Bishop's living. It was therefore determined to send one of the Cations to England, who would be able to give more accurate information, and during May, 1885, Father Douglas left for that purpose.

Certainly, the financial obligations of the Diocese vvere a serious matter. The depression of which we have spoken had come upon the country all at once. Not only the Church but the shipping and trading companies and every corporation in the land, the Government included, were greatly embarrassed. To friends at a distance our debts seemed unwarrantable. Statements which were published showing what a considerable plant had been secured for the future, and explaining the circumstances under which debt had been incurred, seemed to be of little avail- The magnitude of the debt was the only point which seemed impressive. It was not easy for well-wishers in England to understand, what we saw plainly, that the reaction to prosperity would be as sudden and was well-nigh as sure as the decline to adversity had been. Those of us who had come into the country during the sixties, when in the Free State a paper currency had prevailed, and little-cards with "good for 6d." printed on them had taken the place of the silver coin; and who then had experienced the sudden leap with which, the Basuto War over and the Diamond Fields opened, even the paper money had been exchanged at par, could expect with certainty the silver lining to the cloud. But all this was by no means apparent to the mother Church, and it was not surprising that priest after priest to whom the see had been offered had shrunk from accepting. It was also a mistake to suppose that the oversight of the Diocese could only be accomplished by one possessed of large private fortune. A frugal episcopate, unattended by display, was quite possible even with only the scanty income which the endowment provided.

On the first Sunday after Trinity, June 7th, 1885, the new and spacious Nave which had been added to the Cathedral was dedicated by the Bishop of Grahamstown. We have purposely deferred till now all mention of the many efforts of which this was the result, that we may tell the story by itself.

From the beginning of his Episcopate, Bishop Webb had been convinced of the importance of providing for the Diocese a Mother Church of sufficient dignity, which should be the centre of its worship, the common home of its people. While providing for other needs he had never lost sight of this. In 1880 the circumstances of the Cathedral parish alone made a larger church a necessity. The population had greatly increased. The church boarding-schools were crowded. The number of Church-workers in the different Institutions was of itself a considerable item. At first a proposal was entertained of leaving the building of 1866 as it was, considering it as the Cathedral proper, in which the daily Eucharist should be celebrated and Offices said, and to which the Synods would he gathered, and of building in a more central position a large Pro-Cathedral which would especially be the home of the resident parishioners, to which the choir would be attached and where solemn Lord's Day and certain week-clay services would be celebrated. But this plan was, unfortunately as some still think, abandoned in favour of the addition of a nave to the original building, which should then be arranged as a choir and chancel. To do this a considerable foundation would, from the nature of the ground, be required, and at least £7,000 would be needed. £1,000 could certainly be raised in Bloemfontein without endangering the necessary current income for the support of the clergy, &c., but where would the rest come from?

During Bishop Webb's visit to England in 1881, he had spent a Sunday at Brighton, during which he had undertaken to preach the sermon at the evening service at S. Bartholomew's. It was winter time, and the day was marked by heavy falls of sleet and rain. Towards evening the weather became more inclement, and great difficulty was found in reaching the church. But the Bishop had promised to be there, and thither he went. Only a very few had come together. The circumstances were not such as to encourage a speaker, and when the Bishop had finished his address he felt that he had acquitted himself somewhat lamely. However, on the following morning one of the clergy of the parish, the Rev. C. Parnell, came to see the Bishop, and said, "I followed your words last night with great interest. Have I rightly gathered from them that in your judgment the building of a Cathedral Church would be the best way in which at this juncture the work of the Diocese could be advanced?" The Bishop answered in the affirmative, and Mr. Parnell went on to say that a sum of money was at his disposal to be bestowed as a memorial of Miss Walker, a Brighton lady then deceased; that the conditions described by the Bishop were such as would meet the expressed wishes of the testatrix, and that he was willing to give £3,000 of it towards the new Cathedral. Our readers may imagine for themselves the delight with which the dear Bishop listened to such a generous offer.

The work was soon set in hand. Mr. A. Byrd, an architect associated with the church of S. Margaret's, Liverpool, came from England to superintend it. Designs had some years before been prepared by Mr. Hilder, and his arrangement was adhered to as much as possible. On Sunday, February 5th, 1882, the first stone of the new building was laid by His Honour President Brand. The work proceeded with much rapidity. Because of the great cost of stone the pillars to support the four arches on either side were planned to be of brick. In July the "Diocesan Magazine" of that time describes its progress as follows:--"The arches are now being turned, and by August 1st it is hoped that the nave will be twenty-one feet high. A tender of £2,200 has been accepted for completing the walls to the height of the roof." Alas, a footnote to the same paragraph describes a catastrophe which since it had been written had taken place. On June 27th, while a marriage was taking place in the old Cathedral building, the middle pillar of the north side gave way, and the whole of the arches on that side fell with a crash. No one, not even of the workmen who were engaged in laying bricks upon the top of the wall, was seriously injured. The loss fell upon the Church. About £1,000 had to be found to rebuild the fallen portion, substituting stone pillars for brick. Just afterwards, while the Building Committee were weighed down with discouragement because of this loss, news came from England of an anonymous gift of £1,000 towards the building fund!

During the time of depression which we have described, many months passed by in which the work of building was suspended. This did not interrupt the Services; for the iron annexe put up in 1876 had not been interfered with, the new work being built over it. The top courses of the new building were covered with waterproof to prevent injury through rain, but it need hardly be said that too long exposure would have caused serious damage. Ultimately it was determined to curtail the original design by reducing the proposed height of the clerestory. A new start was made; and on the date given above the church was ready for use, with only a debt of £120 or so upon it, for which the Building Committee made themselves personally liable.

Despite the curtailment of design, the result was that of a noble church, spacious and of great dignity. The old Cathedral, which was approached from the nave by seven stone steps, formed a choir and chancel sufficiently large, it is thought for years to come, to contain all the clergy of the Diocese when gathered together in Synod. In addition to the former furniture a gift of oak choir-stalls from the Rev. Dr. Bourne, now Sub-Dean of Salisbury Cathedral, Bishop Webb's brother-in-law, supplied the new fittings necessary. Several stained-glass windows were presented by members of the congregation. One of these, in the south wall of the chancel, had been given by two leading officials of the National Bank, Mr. Parsons and Mr. Fisher (the latter of whom was since deceased) in memory of Mr. G. A. White--the subject, David playing before Saul, fittingly referring to Mr. White's long connection with the Cathedral as its first organist. A second window in the same wall was erected in memory of the brothers Haworth, by their mother. Charles Herbert and Reginald Haworth had come from England in 1881. They had gone to live at S. Cyprian's College, where Charles prepared for Holy Orders, and was ordained a Deacon. He was in delicate health, but he gave all the help he could in the Cathedral services and parish until the Christmas of that year, when he went to Modderpoort. There he grew rapidly worse and died on February 23rd, 1882. Reginald, though not in robust health, was not looked upon as an invalid. He was musical and gave much assistance as a lay-clerk and licensed Reader in the Cathedral, and for some time worked zealously and lovingly with Canon Gaul at Dutoitspan as schoolmaster and organist. While still an inmate of the College he became ill, and died there somewhat unexpectedly on April 28th, 1882. Of three stained-glass windows in the north aisle of the nave, one was also in memory of the brothers Haworth, placed there by some friends in the Diocese; another was the gift of Mr. A. W. Beck, in memory of his father and infant daughter; while a third, in memory of "Two Maries," was given by another leading Churchman in memory of his mother and sister.

The Service of Dedication was attended by all the leading officials of the Government. The organ was assisted in its accompaniments by an orchestra of stringed and brass instruments. Altogether the service was very stately and imposing. Bishop Webb preached from a text which many of us knew to be a favourite with him, "Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children." In the afternoon the Bishop administered Confirmation in the Cathedral and also at S. Patrick's Mission Chapel. The sermon in the evening was preached by the Rev. Wharton Smith, the Bishop's chaplain, a former curate of S. Peter's, Eaton Square, in London, who had long taken a warm interest in this Diocese.

On June 8th a Synod of Clergy was held in the Cathedral, at which the Rev. W. A. Holbech and the Rev. John Widdicombe were elected to the stalls rendered vacant by the death of Canon Beckett and the resignation of Canon Borton. On the same day at a meeting of the Chapter, Canon Crisp was appointed Chancellor, and Canon Balfour Precentor of the Cathedral, and a Deed of Association was signed by all the Canons present before a notary public and two other witnesses.

Shortly after this, Canon Balfour came into residence in Blocmfontein, to assist the Archdeacon in the care of the parish, while Mr. Scratchley became Principal of S. Andrew's College.

As soon as the state of the country had permitted it, the mission-work in North Basutoland had again been actively pursued. Mr. Woodman had returned from a visit to England, and had re-occupied Sekubu in June, 1883, having as assistant Mr. W. H. Ball of S. Boniface College, Warminster. Mr. Champernowne and Mr. Reading were again with Canon Widdicombe at Thlotse Heights, where a commodious Clergy-house with enclosed garden had been built.

In August, 1885, Canon Widdicombe and Mr. Woodman came to Bloemfontein to lay before the Vicar-General a proposal for an extension of the work in Basutoland, of which the Canon had now become Rural Dean. This was that Mr. Woodman should undertake the work in Central Basutoland which Canon Balfour had begun two years before, while Mr. Ball should remain at Sekubu, the buildings of which had been restored principally by the assistance of Mr. Woodman's friends in England. This proposition was accepted by the Vicar-General, and soon afterwards Mr. Woodman established himself at Masite, close to the village of a Chief called Bereng, near to which was located a colony of Barolong refugees who, after the annexation of Thabanchu to the Free State in 1884, had come to live in Basutoland. Later on a church, a school, and parsonage were built, and a flourishing Mission established at Masite.

Archdeacon Croghan, during the winter of 1885, had been in a very precarious state of health. He had never fully recovered from a severe cold caught during the previous winter on a journey from Kimberley.

It is so customary to associate Africa with the idea of intense heat, that it is difficult for our friends in England to realise the severe cold which, more especially at night, is so often our lot in the winter. Even during the day a south wind blowing straight from the ice-fields of the Antarctic Ocean finds us out with bitter force, perched as we are nearly 5,000 feet above the sea level. "What clothes must I bring with me?" people who are coming to us often ask. "Bring just what you have, and especially your warm winter clothes," we reply.

In July, 1884, the Archdeacon was travelling with Canon Gaul from Kimberley. A bitterly cold night came on, and they had to lie on the mud floor of a wayside house. The cold seemed to eat into them, and the Archdeacon was shivering all through the rest of the journey. The Canon being younger and stronger bore it better, but he was fresh from extra work caused by the prevalence of small-pox at Kimberley, and when they got to their journey's end both were ill and knocked up. Canon Gaul, through Mrs. Croghan's kind care, soon recovered, but the Archdeacon passed through a severe attack of brain fever. Pulmonary mischief followed, and as has been said, during the winter of 1885 he was again seriously ill, and was for several weeks confined to his house. Canon Crisp came in from Thabanchu to take his place in the Cathedral, and at the end of September the Archdeacon was so far recovered as to be able to pay a visit to the Metropolitan at Capetown.

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