Thomas Claude Robson
Encyclopedia
The Very Revd Thomas Claude Robson was the first Anglican Dean of Kimberley, and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
, South Africa
.
, who had been Rector at the time, had gone on to become Dean of Bloemfontein. Robson’s predecessor, Archdeacon H.A. Douglas-Hamilton
, was appointed in 1903, encountering an impatient faction within the congregation who additionally were at odds with the Archdeacon’s churchmanship – specifically with respect to liturgical practices. This faction removed itself from the parish, building its own brick church of St John the Evangelist in Woodley Street – a parish of decidedly low church persuasion. Prospects for the new rector could hardly have seemed less auspicious.
The building up of the Cathedral as a unifying symbol of the diocese was part of Robson’s vision: he believed, as he put it in the Cathedral News in 1916, that “if the Cathedral suffers the whole Diocese suffers, but if the Cathedral prospers the whole Diocese prospers.”
St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It became a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops gave a mandate for the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Background and propects at St Cyprian’s in 1905
Canon Robson came to St Cyprian’s Church in 1905, a Parish still worshiping in a wood and iron church in Jones Street, Kimberley, a structure imported as a prefabricated kit from England in 1879. Grand plans for a new church had been proposed in a public meeting in 1901, but little progress had been made towards their realisation. Archdeacon William Arthur HolbechWilliam Arthur Holbech
The Rt Rev William Arthur Holbech was an Anglican Bishop in the first half of the 20th century. Born on 14 December 1850 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford , he was ordained in 1874...
, who had been Rector at the time, had gone on to become Dean of Bloemfontein. Robson’s predecessor, Archdeacon H.A. Douglas-Hamilton
H.A. Douglas-Hamilton
The Venerable Hamilton Anne Douglas-Hamilton, who was Rector at Marlesford, Suffolk, England, held the office of Honorary Canon of Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral, was Honorary Chaplain to the Bishop of St. Edmundsbury, and had served in South Africa as Archdeacon of Kimberley and the first Rector of...
, was appointed in 1903, encountering an impatient faction within the congregation who additionally were at odds with the Archdeacon’s churchmanship – specifically with respect to liturgical practices. This faction removed itself from the parish, building its own brick church of St John the Evangelist in Woodley Street – a parish of decidedly low church persuasion. Prospects for the new rector could hardly have seemed less auspicious.
Robson’s achievement
And yet Thomas Claude Robson, presiding over the parish for very nearly three decades, would oversee perhaps the greatest transformation in the history of St Cyprian’s: the design of a cathedral; the completion of the first two major phases of this long-term project; and the building up of a mother church for a new and vast diocese. St Cyprian’s would no longer simply be a parish church. A newspaper feature in 1923, on ‘Men in the Public Eye’, pronounced: “He is the Dean of Kimberley and Kimberley loves its Dean.”Milestones of Robson’s Kimberley career
- 5 March 1907 – the foundation stone for what would soon become St Cyprian’s Cathedral was laid by Bishop William Thomas GaulWilliam Thomas GaulWilliam Thomas Gaul was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being elected the second Bishop of Mashonaland, where he styled himself...
of Mashonaland. “Considerable anxiety was expressed by many even unconnected with the Anglican Church,” reported the local press, “that the building to be erected should be worthy of the great place it will in all probability occupy as the future Cathedral of the Diocese of Griqualand West and Bechuanaland.”
- 13 May 1908 – the dedication of the first part of the cathedral building, the nave, by the Vicar General from Bloemfontein, the Ven Archdeacon J. R. VincentJohn Ranulph VincentThe Very Revd John Ranulph Vincent was Dean of Bloemfontein, in South Africa, from 1892, and afterwards of Grahamstown, 1912-1914.-Background and education:Vincent was the son of the Revd R. Vincent, of Crockham Hall in Kent. He took an M.A...
, assisted by Kimberley’s Archdeacon Weekes and the Rector, T.C. Robson. ‘Achieved is the glorious work’, from Haydn’s Creation, was sung as an anthem at Festal Evensong that evening, when an augmented choir was accompanied by an orchestra under direction of St Cyprian’s organist Mr Sidney H. Rees.
- 11 October 1911 – Episcopal Synod, meeting in PietermaritzburgPietermaritzburgPietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
consented to the formation of a Kimberley Diocese.
- 30 June 1912 – Bishop Wilfrid Gore Browne enthroned as 1st Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman at St Cyprian’s Cathedral.
- With the elevation of St Cyprian’s to Cathedral status, its Rector, Canon T.C. Robson, was invited to become the first Dean of Kimberley. Initially he was incapacitated by illness and, by default, Bishop Gore Browne was closely involved in the parish, and for a time kept it going single-handed.
The building up of the Cathedral as a unifying symbol of the diocese was part of Robson’s vision: he believed, as he put it in the Cathedral News in 1916, that “if the Cathedral suffers the whole Diocese suffers, but if the Cathedral prospers the whole Diocese prospers.”
- 22 September 1913 – the second major phase of work towards the completion of the cathedral building was launched when the Governor General laid the Foundation Stone for the Choir and SanctuarySanctuaryA sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
. Looking still further ahead, a tower fund was established in 1914 — though nearly half a century more would elapse before the tower was built.
- 1914 – the outbreak of the Great WarWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
had a profound impact in Kimberley. There was an exodus of young men—too many of them never to return. The Kimberley mines were closed. Then, in 1918, the deadly influenza epidemic devastated the city. When work on the Chancel eventually was taken up again after the war, it came to be dedicated as a memorial to those of the parish who had died in the war. The magnificent soaring windows set high up at the back of the nave, at the west end of the Cathedral, were erected to the memory of one of the parish’s sons, Lieut William Newby, R.A.F., killed in action in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1918, and buried at Rejet-de-BeaulieuRejet-de-BeaulieuRejet-de-Beaulieu is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...
. The high altar bears an inscription to another serviceman, Geoffrey Selwyn Brown, who made it back from the war but died soon after from scarlet fever. An unusual inscription is that on the altar rail (so well polished that it is now barely visible), in memory of Leonard George Sherriff, who died in 1925. Sherriff had won a prestigious scholarship to train as an engineer in the Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and he served in the Great War, becoming involved in pioneering submarineSubmarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
experiments. He caught a chill at GibraltarGibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
in 1924, from which he never recovered, and he died, aged 26, at his parents’ residence in Kimberley.
- 4 December 1926 – the Chancel of the Cathedral was dedicated by the Archbishop of Cape Town, The Most Revd William Marlborough CarterWilliam Marlborough CarterThe Rt Rev William Marlborough Carter, KCMG, DD was an eminent Anglican Bishop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in July 1850 and educated at Eton and Pembroke College, Oxford, he was ordained in 1974...
.
- 15 March 1928 – Bishop Wilfrid Gore Browne died. Three windows in the apse, depicting the Archangels Raphael, Michael and Gabriel, were dedicated to his memory. A window depicting the bishop himself was set above the choir in 1988, with a dedication to all founders and benefactors.
- 1933 – Dean Robson commissioned the carving of a pulpit which would be a memorial to his predecessor as Rector, and later Bishop of Mashonaland, William Thomas GaulWilliam Thomas GaulWilliam Thomas Gaul was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being elected the second Bishop of Mashonaland, where he styled himself...
— who had laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral in 1907.
- 10 September 1934 – Thomas Claude Robson died in Kimberley. More than 2000 people attended the funeral: 300-400 cars went to the cemetery. In one of many tributes, Kimberley’s Rabbi Konviser — who remembered receiving greetings from the Dean “written in most scholarly and correct Hebrew phraseology” — admired Robson as a man “free from cant and prejudice,” to be “remembered by men of all creeds”. His death marked the close of a remarkable era in the history of St Cyprian’s Cathedral.