Chapter XIII CANON BALFOUR accompanies the pioneer forces to Mashonaland--Rev. W. W. Sedgwick appointed to Vryburg--Rev. M. A. Reading ordained Priest and stationed at Mohali's Hoek--Opening of S. Saviour's Church, Thlotse Heights--New Mission at Tsikoane--Translation of the Prayer-Book into Sesutho--Seventh Session of the Diocesan Synod--Rev. C. F. Tobias' retirement from Beaconsfield--Ordination of a Native Priest--Dedication of Church at Vrede--Opening of the Railway to Bloemfontein--New Diocese of Mashonaland offered to and accepted by Bishop Knight-Bruce.
CANON BALFOUR did not stay long in Bloemfontein. In 1889, the Imperial Government granted to the British South African Company a Charter, empowering it to open out for commerce and to govern a large tract of country to the north of Bechuanaland. Mashonaland was the part determined upon, but though concessions to individuals permitting its occupation had been given by Lobengula, it was from the first expected that war with the Matabele would sooner or later come about. The Bechuanaland Police Force was strengthened, and camps formed in the country occupied by the Bamangwato tribe under their Christian Chief, Kgama, over which the British Government had proclaimed a Protectorate. Bishop Knight-Bruce was intently watching all this, and endeavouring to provide for the spiritual opportunities it would occasion. In 1890 the Rev. Wilson Trusted, B.A., came from England for this new work. He became Chaplain to the Police Force at Fort Tuli, but on October 23rd following he died from dysentery.
The Chartered Company's Pioneer Force was preparing to leave for the occupation of Mashonaland, and Canon Balfour consented to accompany them.
The Canon left with the first band of Kimberley young men, the Pioneers of Mashonaland, and bore with them the dangers and privations of that long and splendid march through untrodden country.
On his way the Canon spent a short time at Vryburg. When Canon Crisp left Vryburg in February, 1887, Mr. Todd had taken his place, but only for a while. He had next been attached to S. Cyprian's, Kimberley, but soon afterwards went to England and entered the University of Cambridge, where he took his degree. He has since returned to South Africa as Chaplain to the Bishop of Natal. Vryburg had become the seat of government. It was soon to have a Railway. During his English visit Archdeacon Crisp had secured the services of the Rev. W. Walmsley Sedgwick, B.A., and Canon Balfour now took in hand the task of preparing the way for him. Mr. Sedgwick came at the close of 1889, and remained for nearly four years at Vryburg. By his great exertions a pretty stone church was built there (S. Stephen's), which was consecrated by the Metropolitan on December 8th, 1891, during the vacancy of the See. A parsonage has been also provided.
Canon Balfour remained in Mashonaland until October, 1892. Besides ministering to the troops and settlers he travelled on foot over hundreds of miles, once reaching the Zambesi river, visiting the native villages, taking the oversight of some native catechists whom Bishop Knight-Bruce had stationed among the Mashona, and in all ways preparing the way for a future Mission It was a rough time, but the Canon had learnt before this to "endure hardness."
Two new departures were made in Basutoland at the close of 1889 and beginning of 1890.
On Sunday, November iyth, the Rev. M. A. Reading was ordained Priest in the Cathedral, and sent to undertake the work at Mohali's Hoek. Since the destruction of the station during the war it had had no resident Missionary. The Rev. E. W. Stenson had visited it periodically from Wepener, and had built a church at Putsane's village, within easy reach of it. The work in South Basutoland had grown. There was much to do in the villages of the Maluti, where so many Christians of the Church were living. It wanted a young active Priest, who could spend day after day in the saddle and bear the changes of climate, which means now and then getting wet through. This it found in Mr. Reading.
At Thlotse, the new church, the first stone of which had been laid on the Jubilee Day in 1887, was dedicated on January mh, 1890, as "The Church of the All Holy and All Merciful Saviour." It is a very spacious building, sufficiently large to hold the considerable gatherings which on Festivals assemble from the many neighbouring villages. After Mr. Champernowne's death the building of the church had been largely assisted by his generous family, as a memorial of his ministry. A brass lectern in the church was placed there in his memory by his brother clergy and other friends.
The chief, Jonathan Molapo, who during the war had taken up his abode at Thlotse, had, after the peace, removed with his tribe to a spot called Tsikoane, a few miles from it. He had asked for a resident missionary. A chapel had been built at his village with £300 which had been contributed for the purpose by an anonymous donor in England. The Rev. Joseph Deacon, who had been ordained to the Priesthood on Holy Innocents' Day, 1887, had been selected for the work. During a visit paid by Canon Widdicombe to England in 1890-91, Mr. Deacon took charge of the mission, at Thlotse, but in the early part of 1892 he took up his residence at Tsikoane, in a Mission-house built for the most part with money sent by the same anonymous donor whose generosity had provided the chapel.
Canon Widdicombe's visit to England was partly compelled by the necessity of his undergoing surgical treatment. His health had suffered severely from the strain of all that he had passed through during "The Gun War," and the need of rest and change was imperative. But he had another and very important work to do. We have spoken of the Secoana translations. These were available for the greater part of the region between the Free State and Mashonaland, and even further than this. But the language of the Basuto differs as much from it as Portuguese from Spanish. A few of the men in Basutoland might understand a book written in Secoana, but to the majority and to the women it would be practically unintelligible. Mr. Champernowne had devoted himself to the task of translating the Prayer-Book, of which only portions had hitherto been published, but he had died leaving it uncompleted. Canon Widdicombe had taken up the work, and during his stay in England, S.P.C.K. published an edition of the Prayer-Book in Sesutho, together with a sufficient portion of the Psalter. The Canon also passed through the press an entertaining book named "Fourteen years in Basutoland," the record of his experiences in that country with many details as to the tribe and its history.
In 1890 the seventh session of the Diocesan Synod assembled in the Cathedral on Sunday, April 2oth. It was preceded by a session of the Synod of Clergy, which again was introduced by a "Quiet Day," at which the addresses were given by the Rev. Father Sanderson. After this Synod the Bishop held his first visitation of the Diocese in the Cathedral. At the Diocesan Synod, certain necessary changes were made in Cap. II. § 5, which is really the Trust Deed of the Diocese. A chapter providing for a contract between a Rector and an assistant Curate was added to the Acts of the Synod. A proposal was laid before the Synod by the Lay Representatives of Kimberley for the division of the Diocese, and creation of a new See, to comprise the District of Griqualand West and the territory of Bechuana-land; the seat of the new Bishopric to be at Kimberley. A resolution expressing the sympathy of the Synod with the proposal "in so far as it would tend to the furtherance of Church work in the land," was passed by a small majority, but further than this the Synod did not go. The matter was afterwards submitted to the Bishops of the Province at their meeting held preliminary to the Provincial Synod of 1891, but their Lordships did not decide in its favour.
In 1890 the Rev. C. F. Tobias resigned the living of Beaconsfield owing to ill health, and in August of that year the Rev. D. Rees, B.A., became Rector of the parish. Mr. Tobias had served the Church at Rouxville, Smitfield, Kimberley and Beaconsfield for fourteen years. After recovering his health he undertook, in 1891, the charge of Ookiep, the station at the Namaqualand Copper Mine's, one of the distant parishes of the Diocese of Capetown.
The remainder of 1890 had but little calling for special notice. The Bishop was actively engaged in the visitation of the Diocese, and was absent from Bloemfontein until December. While at Thlotse Heights he ordained to the Priesthood in S. Saviour's Church, the Rev. Gabriel David, whose admission to the Diaconate has been already referred to as that of the only clergyman of the native race ordained in the Diocese, and who was still working at S. Patrick's, Bloemfontein, and the Rev. W. H. Ball, Vicar of Bethlehem.
While at Harrismith the Bishop passed on to Vrede, a new district town towards the Transvaal border. There were only a few Church people in the place, and occasional, at the most quarterly, services had been all which the Harrismith clergy could provide. But a resident layman had acted as Reader, a zealous lady had inspired enthusiasm into the hearts of the few around her, and a very pretty little stone church, costing over £900, had been built. This the Bishop dedicated on November 9th, as "All Saints."
On December 17th, 1890, the railway, which for the past eighteen months had been in course of construction, was opened in Bloemfontein, connecting us immediately with Capetown and Port Elizabeth, and a little later on, by a branch line, with East London. How great a gain this has been to our work cannot easily be estimated. The following will perhaps give an idea. In 1869 Bishop Twells had to pay £100 for the wagon which conveyed him and his party to Capetown. In 1883 it took the Diocesan Representatives nine days to travel partly by train and partly by cart from Bloemfontein to the Provincial Synod at Capetown, and the cost there and back to each of them was more than £50. Now one gets from Bloemfontein to Capetown in two days, and the cost to the Diocese of attendance at the Provincial Synod in 1891 was under £8 for each. This really arises from the fact that the railway company allows the clergy (and their families if travelling with them) to make the double journey for a single fare, and allows them twenty-five per cent, off the cost of a single journey. On all ministrations at the railway camps and to its officials, the clergy are allowed a free pass, which the Bishop is empowered to give them. In attendance at Church Synods the laity are allowed the same reduction as the clergy.
On January 24th, 1891, the fourth session of the Provincial Synod commenced in Capetown Cathedral. The representatives who attended from the Diocese were, besides the Bishop, Archdeacons Crisp and Gaul, Canon Holbech, Mr. Bourdillon, and Mr. E. A. Judge. During the Session the Bishops decided to found the new Diocese of Mashonaland, and offered it to Bishop Knight-Bruce. The Bishop had arranged to pay a visit to that country as soon as the summer heat was over, and deferred his decision until he had done so. At the close of the Synod he paid a brief visit to the Diocese, and on Sunday March 5th, his last Sunday in the Cathedral, ordained the Rev. John Weaver to the Priesthood. Mr. Weaver had come to the Diocese in 1882, had been ordained Deacon in 1887, and had been stationed at Dewetsdorp and afterwards at Rouxville. He left the Diocese in 1892, and was placed in charge of Alexandria in the Diocese of Grahamstown. The Bishop left the Diocese for his Mashonaland journey on March 17th, 1891.
During the first fortnight in June the Bishop of Grahams-town gladdened us by a visit, preaching in the Cathedral on the Sunday and administering Confirmation. He was with us on S. Barnabas' Day, the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Sisterhood Chapel, and joined in the services, to the great joy of the community of which he had been the founder.
During his incumbency, Canon Borton had, at his own cost, added a chapel to S. Andrew's College. Through the long vacancies this had got out of repair. Early in 1891, Mr. G. E. Jelf, B.A., who had come to South Africa in search of health, became an Assistant Master at the College. In thankfulness for benefits which the South African climate had brought to him, Mr. Jelf undertook the work of the restoration of the chapel. This, with the help of friends in England, of "old boys," and of other South African well-wishers, he completed in July, 1891. Mr. Jelf remained at the College till the end of 1892, and during his residence took great delight in the care of the chapel and its services.
On August 7th news reached Bloemfontein that Bishop Knight-Bruce had decided to accept the See of Mashonaland, thereby rendering our own diocese vacant. Later on, a letter from the Bishop reached us, bidding farewell to the clergy and laity, and asking for their prayers for God's blessing on his new work.
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