In May 1956, there appeared in The Straits Times, a long article about the St George's Church. As it is rather difficult to read the story from the picture, here it is reproduced below. J.G. at the end of the article would be the initials of the Rev. Jack Griffiths. He was the chaplain of the St George's Church from 1953 to 1956.
THE Great Charter granted by King James I of England in 1609 had commanded the East India Company among other things, that the Company should maintain ministers and schoolmasters for their garrisons and factories in the East Indies.
It was not until two hundred years later that steps were taken to appoint a bishop and three archdeacons in India. Then in 1800, the then Governor Sir George Leith, appointed George Caunter as lay chaplain at Penang, a post equivalent to that of a lay preacher of today. Soon the Governor felt that without a priest there could be no sacramental life for the community and accordingly put up a case for the Court of Directors.
And so, the Rev. Atwill Lake was appointed chaplain, and one Thomas Cullen as clerk and schoolmaster at Penang. Orders had also been given that as soon as convenient work should begin on the erection of a church building.
Unfortunately there was some delay, however, as the seemingly more important projects of a jail, an arsenal and a garrison had to be completed first.
It is presumed that between 1800, and 1818 when the new church was built, church services were held at Fort Cornwallis, in a chapel there or in a 'convenient room.'
The real pioneer of the Anglican church in Penang was the Rev. Robert Hutchings. In October 1816, he opened a small Free School in Love Lane, thus establishing the oldest and one of the most important schools in Malaya.
It was during Robert's ministry in Penang that the foundation stone of the church of St George the Martyr was laid. The church cost the East India Company $60,000. It was built by convict labour.
The unfortunate results of having a church built for and given to the community were mentioned by the Rev. John H. Smith in a lecture during the centenary celebrations of its consecration.
"...she was by her official constitution more or less moribund, her operations were restricted, in a word, she suffered from an accentuated form of establishment," he said.
He observed that the personal activity of several of the chaplains in Penang, as in Singapore and Malacca, had overflowed the official cup.
In his Glimpses Into Life In The Far East, J.T. Thompson makes reference to St George's Church and its parishioners during 1838-41.
"Let us enter the church," he writes, "at Sunday morning service. The interior is in the finest taste fitted for the climate. The pews are not boxed in, but an open railing closes round each.
"The smallest breath of air can flow through the nave. It is fitted up with the most scrupulous care for the comfort of the congregation.
"Two boys pulled long punkahs overhead while another pumped air into the organ up in the gallery. Of the 300-400 seats, only 20 were occupied. A few men had come from the garrison.
"But now the organ peels forth its soul-inspiring strains and the clergyman and his clerk enter....the responses are read by the clerk with flippant air, nor do the congregation join in any way whatsoever.
"His insincere communication of earnest supplicants have no seconders. All is as silent as the sepulchure.
"The Psalms are given out; our clerk does not condescend to sing, nor do the congregation. The sermon is short, dull and impractical, sleepy and unattractive. This over, no charity is asked....the syces bring out conveyances underneath the portico, and we disperse.
"And does this curate of souls visit his people? No. What does he do? He plants nutmegs....He is the burra padre, a great man's priest...."
Many tablets and memorials were put up along the inside walls of the church before and after the erection of the Francis Light monument in the compound.
Amongst those whom they commemorated were Lord Cornwallis, Governor-General of India in 1786, Dr John Ross, one of the earliest private medical practitioners in Penang, and the Rev. L.C. Biggs, who founded the Chinese Mission.
One of the most interesting of these memorials, the Black Memorial, was in the chancel, and marked the only interment to take place in the church itself. It was to "Harriet, wife of Robert Fullerton, Governor of Penang Island."
In the centenary number of the Pinang Gazette, published in 1933, the late Rev. Keppel Garnier writes: "....she died in 1830, aged 48, and the story goes that she was not a kind mistress to the household slaves.
"In fact, they hated her so bitterly that they declared that when she died they would never let her bones rest in peace.
"This threat was taken so seriously that when she came to die, her husband arranged for a mock ceremony in the cemetery, and later, after dark the same night, the real coffin was lowered into a space dug in the chancel floor, and the service was held over the mortal remains by the light of a candle and in the presence of her husband only...."
It was the Bishop of Calcutta, Bishop Middleton, who consecrated St George's Church on May 11, 1819.
In 1858 the old East India Company ceased to exist, and India became subject to the Crown. In 1867 the Straits Settlements were detached from oversight by the Indian Government and became a Crown Colony.
In 1869 Penang severed its ecclesiastical ties with the Indian Government and came under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Bishop of Labuan. In the following year St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, was declared the Peninsular Cathedral of the diocese.
St George's Church was the first Anglican Church in Malaya despite the fact that Christ Church, Malacca, is fifty years older. The latter, however, belonged originally to the Dutch Reformed Church, only later becoming Anglican.
The life of St George's Church went on with little change until its was disestablished in 1916. And as such, it continued for another 25 years....
Then came the dark day when the walls of the church were to stand battered and unused, and pillaged furnishings were to be scattered and lost. From long after that day worshippers came no more to where their predecessors had worshipped God for over 125 years.
But stones and buildings do not make a church. So while the visible structure stood gaunt and ruined, the spirit of the church of St George the Martyr lived on, moving the site of its worship from place to place as necessity commanded.
Its building was looted and defaced, but its soul, vigorous and inspired by adversity, retained its identity. On the day the Japanese arrived, six bombs were dropped into the church compound, but only one hit the church. It was the only church in Malaya to be bombed.
The bomb damage was small, but the church as well as the then completely unharmed parsonage and mission hall were wrecked and pillaged by looters.
Mr Victor Lunberg, who was licensed as a lay reader on Dec 18, 1942, and received his licence, which had to be smuggled to him on Christmas Day, rescued the church records and other articles eventually to be destroyed by the Japanese.
When the war reached Malaya, the then Vicar of Penang, the Rev. R.J. Thompson, who was nearly sixty years of age, left for active service with the Volunteer Corps, to which he was chaplain.
Thereupon the Rev. Eric Scott, Vicar of Butterworth, moved boldly about Penang in company with Mr Lunberg. It was suggested to Mr Scott that he should say he was Irish so that he could enjoy certain freedom of movement as a comparative neutral . He refused. As a result, he was confined to St Nicholas' Home where the church services were held for the next twelve months.
Then services were held at the Chinese parsonage, where now stands the St Paul's Church. Sometimes Japanese soldiers and officers attended these services.
After the liberation, the Government allowed the Anglicans to use the Methodist Church in Burmah Road.
In 1948 the original church building was restored and entirely refurbished. The time of ease and comfort for the church in Penang had ended on the day the Japanese arrived.
But the courage with which its people faced persecution augures (sic) well for the condition of its future. The restored church building is now the people's own church. They remade it with hands ready for love and service as the Jews rebuilt the battered Temple at Jerusalem.
Already a small but not insignificant happening has taken place which shows how its spiritual strength might move into an even more influential position.
In March this year a new aspect of its history was begun when litigation was brought to an end by an oath made upon the Bible in the church.
A newspaper account states: "It is not unusual among certain litigants in the courts to accept a challenge by cutting a cock's head in a temple to settle an issue under dispute, but for the first time an oath taking took place in a church without the decapitation of a rooster.
It was during the hearing of a civil suit in the Penang First Magistrate's court when the defendant challenged the plaintiffs, a trading firm, that if the firm's representative would swear an oath in a church, he would consent to judgment in respect of a claim for $200 being the balance due for cash advanced and for goods supplied.
"When the plaintiff's representative accepted the challenge, the court adjourned and the parties went to St George's Church. In the presence of the court's Chinese interpreter, the firm's representative swore to the validity of the claim.
"On the parties returning to the court, the Magistrate gave judgment for the plaintiffs after being assured by the defendant that he was satisfied with what had taken place."
J.G.
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