PENANG06 - STGEORGE

8/14/2019 PENANG06 - STGEORGE

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2.2.5 ST GEORGES CHURCH

2.2.5.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The St George's Anglican Church along Farquhar Street is one of the loveliest heritages

Anglican Church in George Town, Penang. The formation of the St George's Church was

credited to Reverend Robert Sparke Hutchings, the same person who founded the Penang Free

School, the oldest English school in Southeast Asia, and who gave his name to Hutchings

School nearby.

St. George's Church is the oldest Anglican Church in Southeast Asia and is located in

George Town, Penang, Malaysia. The St George's Church was built in 1816 using convict

labours, when Colonel J.A. Bannerman was the Governor of Penang. The cost of building it was

60,000 Spanish dollars. This was a princely sum, considering the British paid only 10,000

Spanish dollars per annum to Kedah for Penang, while they bought Singapore a few years later

for also 60,000 Spanish dollars. It was completed in 1818 on the initiative of the Penang

Colonial Chaplain, Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings (who also went on to found the Penang Free

School) and consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe

Middleton.

On 6 July 2007, the church was declared one of the 50 National Treasures of Malaysia

by the Malaysian government. The services of the church still carried out until now.


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Figure 2.37: The overall view of St. George's Church.

Source: Field study (2008)

2.2.5.2 ARCHITECTURE STYLES AND ELEMENTS

The church was designed by Captain Robert N. Smith of Madras Engineers. (Smith is

also a gifted artist whose oil paintings of Penang landscape still grace the walls of the Penang

State Museum nearby.) The church was designed in the Georgian Palladian styles which are

the combination of the Georgian style and the Palladian style, named after the Grecian

architecture of a Roman called Palladius.

The most striking feature of the church's architecture is without a doubt the huge Grecian

columns lined outside the front entrance (Refer to figure 2.38). They immediately remind one of

classical Greek structures such as The Parthenon, The Propylaia, the Temple to Athene and

The Erechtheion. The pavilion which sits in the lawn also lends a Grecian air to the ambience.

The brick structure has a solid plastered stone base. The aforementioned pavilion was actually

erected in 1886 to commemorate Sir Francis Light. Underneath the dome is found a marble

plaque framed by two columns, dedicated to Light.


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The church was painted in white colour and there is plenty of cornice decoration at the

faade of the building to constitute the impressive of the design (Refer to figure 2.39).When the

occupants realized that the original Madras-style flat roof was unsuitable for the climate in

Penang; a gable shaped roof was built in its place, in 1864. The octagonal-shaped steeple,

visible from afar, forms the apex of the roof (Refer figure 2.40). The mahogany trees in the lawn,

which came from India as seedlings, were planted by A.B.Mackean in 1885. The ones still

remaining today are survivors from the destruction wreaked by WWII.

The war took its toll on the church. Although the structure escaped relatively unscathed,

the interior was another story. Looters carted off plaques, memorials and furnishings. A total of

24 memorials life-size marble figures were ruined during the heavy looting. Pews, the pulpit, the

lectern and the organ had all to be replaced. Work to restore St George church back to its

former self started soon afterwards and was completed in 1948. Sunday services were

immediately resumed.

Figure 2.38: The huge Grecian columns lined outside the front entrance

Sources: Field study (2008)


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Figure 2.39: The side view on the left of the St. George's Church. Cornice decorative was used

in the building design.


Figure 2.40: A gable shaped roof was built in 1864 due to the original Madras-style flat roof was

unsuitable for the climate in Penang.


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2.2.5.3 BUILDING SIGNIFICANT AND ELEMENT OF IMPORTANT

a) Significant Historical Values

The first significant event to take place at the St George's Church was the marriage of

Janet, daughter of Governor Bannerman, to William Edward Philips, in 1818. Incidentally,

Philips was acting Governor of Penang in 1817, when the construction of the church building

was started, and completed in 1818, burring Bannerman's term. Other people like to compare St

Georges Church with St Andrews Cathedral in Singapore due to their similarities of historical

and significant architectural. This calls for graceful Grecian columns along the front of the

building.

Memorial for Francis Light became a significant for this Church because of its historical

value. Francis Light is the person who first established this island as an English settlement and

was many years governor born in the country of Suffolk in England and died 21 st October 1794.

In his capacity as governor, the settlers and natives were greatly attached to him and by his

death had deplore the loss of one who watches over their interests and cares as a father.

Figure 2.41: Memorial of Francis Light located in front of the St George's Church.



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Figure2.42: Engraver from the memorial of Francis Light.

Sources: Field study (2008)

b) Significant Political Values

From the political value, during the Japanese occupation of WWII, services were

somewhat interrupted until church leaders temporarily transferred them first to the MissionHouse and then to the Wesley Church in Burmah Road. After the fall of the Japanese Empire,

church services at the St George church were resumed, much to the relief of everyone. This

event brought about the emancipation of the church an act of Parliament in 1971 which

created a new and independent Diocese of West Malaysia, and the formation of the Province of

Churches in South East Asia in 1996 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since then, the church

has been run by local clergymen. This is the reason for this building becomes so significant due

to its political value.

c) Significant Social and Cultural Values

Under the guidance of Rev. Hutchings, the church grew in popularity first among the

members of the British colonialists, and then slowly among the locals. Rev. Hutchings

contributions towards the development of Penang from an educational perspective are

significant. It becomes the social value as its significant to heritage site. He founded the


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Penang Free School and compiled and wrote what were considered the first books on Malay

grammar, in addition to several elementary text-books and a dictionary mainly for school use.

He founded Auxiliary Bible Society and translated the New Testament into Malay.

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PENANG06 - STGEORGE