Chapter XIV

ELECTION of Dr. Hicks to the Bishopric--Church opened at Spring-fontein--The Parish of Bethulie--Dedication of new Church at Jagersfontein--Church extension in the north of the Free State--Churches built at Heilbron, Kroonstad, and Winburg--Rev. A. H. Harcourt Vernon--Establishment of the Deanery--Visit of the Metropolitan to Bloemfontein--Consecration of Bishop Hicks in Capetown Cathedral.

ON August 19th, 1891, letters from the Metropolitan arrived containing His Lordship's mandate for the election of a Bishop, and appointing Archdeacon Crisp, who had been in charge of the Diocese during Bishop Knight-Bruce's two absences, to be Vicar-General for its administration during the vacancy. Wednesday, November nth, was the day fixed by him for the meeting of the Elective Assembly.

It was a matter of regret to us that Canon Balfour and Canon Widdicombe (who was still in England) would necessarily be absent from the Assembly. However, one of the older clergy of the Diocese, the Rev. T. Woodman, returned from England in time to take part in it. Mr. Woodman had been absent for nearly two years, his work at Masite having been undertaken by the Rev. Father Sanderson. During his stay he had studied at King's College, London, and had become a Theological Associate of that College. Before leaving England he had secured Mr. Edgar Lancaster, a student of S. Augustine's College, Canterbury, who reached the Diocese on September 9th, as a fellow-worker at Masite.

The Friday before the Elective Assembly was set apart by a Brief issued by the Vicar-General as a day of special prayer for the guidance of Almighty God.

On the day itself 25 priests holding eight proxies, and 27 lay representatives holding seven proxies, assembled in the Cathedral for the election, the Holy Communion having been celebrated at an earlier hour.

There were among us at the time two distinct opinions as to the course which it would be right to pursue. Some of us held that the truest way would be to choose from among our own number, to elect one who knew the Diocese and its needs, and whom the Diocese knew. Others felt that the time for this had not come; that we were still making the mould; that experience gained in the Diocese had been acquired in too narrow a sphere; that we were still largely dependent on our friends at home, and should strengthen the cords between ourselves and the Mother Church.

Mr. Bevan had recently returned from England. While there he had taken counsel with able Churchmen, and had at their advice placed the circumstances before the Rev. John Wale Hicks, M.A., M.D., Fellow and Dean of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, a clergyman of distinguished scientific attainments, an associate of the mission of twenty years' standing, who in addition to his academical experience had also that of a parish priest, being Vicar of S. Mary-the-Less, at Cambridge. Dr. Hicks, who had long been a personal friend of Mr. Bevan, after consulting the Bishop of Ely, his Diocesan, and the Bishop of Lincoln, whose Examining Chaplain he was, answered that if elected he would accept the Bishopric.

The issue of the Assembly was the election of Dr. Hicks, with the provision that in case of his not accepting, the right of choice should be delegated to the Metropolitan, the Bishop of Grahamstown, and the Bishop of S. John's.

The notification of his election was telegraphed to Dr. Hicks, and on the following morning a reply was received from him accepting the Bishopric. The news of this was received throughout the Province with much congratulation. The Bishop-elect was already the valued friend of both the Metropolitan and the Bishop of Grahamstown. Before entering the University of Cambridge he had graduated in arts and science, and in medicine at London University, had become a member of the Royal College of Physicians, and had held the position of Post-mortem Demonstrator and Lecturer in Botany at S. Thomas' Hospital. Feeling himself called to the priesthood, he had gone to Cambridge by the advice of the then Bishop of London (Dr. Tait), and having taken his degree had remained there, a valued member of the University, assisting in the development of its present excellent school of medicine, and looked upon as one whose influence upon the undergraduates was of foremost importance. In 1881 he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

On Sunday, December 6th, the Vicar-General dedicated a small iron church at Springfontein, a railway-station situate between Philippolis and Bethulie.

We have yet to describe the rise and progress of the Church in Bethulie. It began in 1870 with ministrations from the clergy stationed at Philippolis. In 1874 money was raised by the resident Church people, and a church erected at a cost of some £400. It was built upon a plot of ground given by the Village Board of Management, another portion being sold and its proceeds applied to the building fund. In 1875 the Rev. C. W. H. Reynolds was in charge of Philippolis, which had much decreased in importance. Bethulie, on the other hand, had in its neighbourhood several English farmers. Mr. Reynolds went to live there in 1876, and from that date Philippolis has been served from Bethulie. When Mr. Reynolds returned to England the Rev. W. Winning succeeded him, and during the five years of his ministry a parsonage was purchased and partly paid for. The South African heat was very trying to Mr. Winning, and in 1886 he was obliged to return to England. At this time the Church people at Boshof, as we have said, found themselves unable to support a clergyman, and Mr. Glover took Mr. Winning's place. Mr. Glover has a very skilful pair of hands. Senekal and Boshof churches had already been enriched by him with decorations and carvings. AVhen he went to it, Bethulie parsonage was in a sad state, and the church unadorned and poorly furnished. It was not long before all this was altered, and now the neat rectory, and prettily stencilled church, enlarged and enclosed with an iron railing, are such as the most fastidious Archdeacon can but rejoice in. Springfontein is a railway-station in the heart of the district in which the several English farmers whom we have alluded to reside. While the line was being made, the engineer in charge of that portion of it was a Churchman of great devotion and energy. By his assistance Mr. Glover achieved the erection of the little iron church there, collecting the cost of it partly from his own people, and partly from the contractors and others engaged in the railway construction. Before it was built, for several years periodical services had been held in one or another of the farm-houses, but now the little church not only affords a place of worship for the farmers and their families, but also is a witness for God, and a house of prayer within reach of the resident railway employees.

On Sunday, December 2ist, 1891, the Vicar-General dedicated the new church of S. James, Jagersfontein, which Mr. Thome had succeeded in building. It is a handsome, well-appointed, red-brick church, a striking contrast to the low-roofed inconvenient building which the parish had so long endured. S.P.C.K. very generously gave j£ioo towards the new church, making the wise stipulation that the earlier building should be retained as a church for the resident coloured congregation. In the diamond mine itself a very large number of Basuto and Kafir labourers are employed. The compound system, which we have described in writing of Kimberley, obtains at Jagersfontein also. To enable him to minister to the native miners, Mr. Thorne has, since the beginning of 1890, had an assistant-curate, his present helper being the Rev. F. K. Harbord, who came to him from Ficksburg in December, 1892.

Allusion has been made to the itinerating work which Mr. Glover and Canon Holbech prosecuted in the northern villages of the Free State. Canon Balfour from Harrismith, and Mr. Skinner from Bethlehem had continued this. In 1890, the Rev. J. L. Davids, a young clergyman who had been ordained by Bishop Knight-Bruce, was stationed thereabouts, but the work was too desultory for a young priest to be long engaged in, and Mr. Davids returned to England in 1891. The special difficulty attending the work was its distance from any church centre, and the long and costly journeys which this entailed. But in 1890, the extension of the line of railway from Bloemfontein to the Transvaal was determined upon, and before the next year was over, its construction was well advanced. The railway touched Brandfort, a village thirty-five miles north of Bloemfontein, where a native work, an offshoot of S. Patrick's, had been set on foot, and a large iron church been erected. Passing within twenty-one miles of Winburg, it ran into Kroonstad, and fifty miles higher up reached a point some twenty miles from Heilbron on the one side and Vredefort on the other. Here, at last, was a solution of the difficulty, and the church at once took advantage of it. Archdeacon Crisp sent a circular letter to the Church people in the different villages, promising them regular services if only they would provide small churches in which they could be reverently conducted. The proposal was heartily responded to. First at Heilbron, then at Kroonstad, and again at Winburg, a little church was built and furnished, each provided with a priest's room, and severally costing £350. How great a boon these little houses of God are can only be experienced by those who before their erection were compelled to hold services in Court-rooms or School-houses, with their incongruous appurtenances. The Archdeacon kept his promise. Monthly services were established in each village, the people showing their thankfulness for them by the liberal offerings with which they supported them.

The question whether the consecration of Bishop Hicks should take place in England or in Capetown was happily decided in favour of the Metropolitan Church. But it was a matter of course that one, whose responsibilities in his University, College, and Parish, were so many, could not break with them all at once, and it was found impossible to fix an earlier date than S. Matthew's Day, 1892, for the consecration.

Hitherto a deanery had not been established. Instead, the Archdeacon of Bloemfontein had been ex-officio Provost of the Cathedral and head of its Chapter. The Cathedral Statutes gave the Chapter the cure of souls in the parish of Bloemfontein as Rector. They provided for its ministry by appointing one of their number to take charge of it as their Vicar. As there was no endowment, the choice was made in favour of the Provost, who would otherwise have been without an income. The weak point in this arrangement was, that as the Archdeacon was Provost, he was, by reason of his office, so frequently called away to other parts of the Diocese, and, as he was specially acquainted with them, the needs of outlying pastorless places weighed heavily upon him. So it was that when he was absent on country service, the care of his flock in Bloemfontein was an anxiety to him; and while at home, ministering to them, the outside needs would press upon him.

Methods of relief were from time to time devised. In 1890 the Chapter, at Archdeacon Crisp's request, offered the Vicariate to the Rev. A. H. Harcourt Vernon, M.A., then serving in the parish of Hackney, who accepted it. Mr. Vernon had lived in the neighbourhood of Bloemfontein some years before as a layman, and was glad to return to the Free State. He was so circumstanced and so generous that a provision of stipend was possible which left a portion of the parochial income still at the disposal of the Chapter. He was unable to leave England at once, and at the close of 1890 he arranged with the Rev. G. E. Gardiner, M.A., Rector of Box, near Bath, to come out for a while in his stead. Mr. Gardiner was with us from the end of November, 1890, to the close of April, 1891. His singularly able sermons were a great help to the Cathedral congregation, who retain pleasant memories of his visit. Mr. Vernon reached Bloemfontein during July, 1891. To have the parish in the hands of a priest who could give all his attention to it was a great relief to the Vicar-General, with the oversight of the Diocese and the work of the northern extension upon his hands. But the plan did not prove workable. It was difficult for a parish priest not to have control of the church in which his people worshipped. The summer heat in Bloemfontein also tried Mr. Vernon more than he had expected, and during the following January he resigned the post, though he very kindly stated his willingness to remain at it until the Bishop's arrival. The question was looked at again and again during the next few months, and the more it was considered the more evident it was that the care of the parish and rule over the Cathedral should be in the same hands. The Vicar-General advised the Bishop-elect that the appointment of a Dean was the only true solution of the difficulty. Dr. Hicks was unwilling at first to place a new comer over the head of an old worker, but on being assured that this would be welcomed, he selected the Rev. John Ranulph Vincent, M.A., at the time Chaplain to the Theological College at Ely. The blessing which this appointment has brought has already manifested itself to the great comfort and edification of us all.

During the Easter Octave, the most Rev. the Metropolitan paid us a visit, remaining two Sundays with us, preaching in the Cathedral, administering Confirmation, and cheering us with his help and counsel. His Lordship was the guest of his Honour President Reitz, and much respect for his high office was evidenced by the citizens of Bloemfontein. During his visit the Metropolitan attended a meeting of the Board of Finance, at which he made a statement which greatly relieved us. In 1890 a serious financial crisis occurred in Capetown. Rash speculations, especially in the share market of Johannesburg, had issued in the failure of two of the leading South African Banks. In one of these the Provincial Trustees had placed on deposit £5,000, the moiety of the capital of the endowment of the See, which the Trustees of the Colonial Bishopric's Fund had allowed to be invested in South Africa. During the last few months of his incumbency, the income of Bishop Knight-Bruce had been seriously straitened by the loss of interest which the failure of the Bank entailed. But the Metropolitan now assured us that the ultimate loss to the depositors in the Bank in question would be a small one, and that friends in England had raised a Relief Fund, from which any deficiency would be supplied.

On August 20th, 1892, the Bishop-elect left England, and landed at Capetown on September 10th, together with the future Dean, the Revs. H. H. Oldaker (Chaplain), P. F. J. King, and F. M. Lane, the two last named being Deacons recently ordained for the Diocese by the Bishop of Lincoln. On S. Matthew's Day the consecration of the Bishop took place in Capetown Cathedral, at the hands of the Metropolitan, assisted by the Bishops of Grahamstown (Dr. A. B. Webb), Pretoria (Dr. H. B. Bousfield), S. John's (Dr. Bransby Key), and Bishop G. H. Wilkinson. Bishop Wilkinson, who has since accepted the Bishopric of S. Andrew's, had recently been obliged by ill-health to resign that of Truro. His goodness to the Diocese of Bloemfontein has been more than once referred to in these pages. The Consecration Sermon was preached by Canon Arthur Mason, Vicar of All Hallows, Barking, in the City of London, who, it will be remembered, had been the preacher at Bishop Knight-Bruce's consecration in Whitechapel Church. At the consecration both the Archdeacons of the Diocese were present, and also Mr. Bevan, Bishop Hicks' old and valued friend.

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