Smith Memorial celebrates 160 years
Stabroek News
November 23, 2003
Today, Smith Memorial Church will be holding a service beginning at 9:00 am to commemorate its 160th anniversary.
Smith Church, situated at Brickdam, Georgetown, was erected in memory of the Rev John Smith who was sentenced to death for allegedly inciting the rising which took place in Demerara in 1823. The epicentre of the revolt was the Bethel Chapel on Plantation Le Resouvenir, where Smith was based.
The evidence suggests that he did have some prior knowledge of the insurrection, information which he did not pass on to the authorities; however, he certainly did not incite it, since he attempted to dissuade certain members of his chapel from going ahead with any action.
Following his conviction by a local military court, he was granted a pardon by the king. Before the pardon arrived, however, he died of tuberculosis in prison, on February 6, 1824.
Rev Smith had arrived in Demerara in February 1817 as successor to the Rev John Wray at the Bethel Chapel. This house of worship had been erected by the former owner of Le Resouvenir, Hermanus Post, who in later life wanted to provide for the Christian instruction of Africans on his cotton plantation.
Despite specific instructions from Governor Murray to the contrary, Smith, like Wray, proceeded to teach the Africans literacy skills, so they could read the Bible for themselves.
Quamina, two of whose descendants sit in the National Assembly, was a senior deacon of Bethel Chapel, and became the official leader of the rising. His son Jack Gladstone, who was subsequently transported out of the colony, was probably its most important active leader.
While the revolt itself had more the characteristic of a modern strike than an uprising, it was put down with great savagery. Some of the participants were hanged in what is now the Promenade Garden, which was at that time part of the Parade Ground.
The case of Smith became a cause celebre in Britain, as a consequence of which he acquired the sobriquet the 'Demerara Martyr.' The 1823 rising itself, as well as the controversy which Smith's trial aroused, gave new impetus to the abolition movement in England.
Smith Memorial Church was opened on November 24, 1843, twenty years after Smith had been sentenced to death, as tribute to his work.
Over the years a long line of ministers and missionaries have served at the church. The first minister was Rev E A Wallbridge of the London Missionary Society who wrote a book on the Rev Smith. He served up to 1875.
The Rev Hawley Bryant arrived here in 1923 and served until March 1950. Rev Bryant, whose remains are buried in the northern end of the churchyard near to the plinth on which the now headless bust of Rev Smith stands, wrote the lyrics for the Song of Guyana's Children and Born in the Land of the Mighty Roraima. (The bronze head of Smith was stolen some years ago.)
Other notable ministers include the Revs George Musgrave (1951-1954) and Conrad Stallan (1954-1962), Henri Sukuakweche of Angola (1970-1978), and Touta Ganga of Papua New Guinea (1993-1994).
A long line of distinguished Guyanese also ministered at Smith Memorial, beginning with Rev Pat Matthews (1964-1968), through Revs Adam T Johnson (1969-1970), Oscar Wharton 1978-1991, Clare Smith (1991-1993), and Pastor Oslen Small, who has been there since 1999.
As part of the anniversary observances, Professor of History at the University of Guyana, Dr Winston McGowan, delivered a presentation on the history of the church last Wednesday.