Saint Paul's was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981.[3][4] In 1981, it was designated a Municipal Registered Heritage Property by the former City of Halifax, and in 1983 it was designated a Provincially Registered Heritage Property both under the provincial Heritage Property Act.[1]
History
St. Paul's Church was founded in 1749 (the same year as the Halifax colony). The construction was begun in 1750 and is based on the ground plan of Gibbs'Marybone Chapel (later St. Peter's, Vere Street) in London, with later additions such as a larger tower. The Reverend William Tutty (1715–1754) opened the church on 2 September 1750.[5] Rev. William Tutty was the first minister (1750–54); followed by Rev. John Breynton (1754–91) and Rev. Thomas Wood (1752–64), who served at the same time.[6] The church also served as the site for the initial congregation of St. Matthew's United Church (Halifax) until this church was built.
After the American Revolution, with the creation of the Diocese of Nova Scotia in 1787, St. Paul's was given the Bishop's seat, making it the first Anglican cathedral outside of Great Britain. It served as the cathedral from 1787 to 1864.[7] The diocese included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, St. Johns (now Prince Edward Island), and across Quebec and Ontario to Windsor, and Bermuda. For many decades it was one of the few places of worship in Halifax, and other denominations would thus hold services in the building.
During the Halifax Explosion of 1917, a piece of wooden window frame from another building was lodged into the wall of St. Paul's Church, where it remains today.
The service originally consisted of five pieces: four pieces have the mark of King George I (2 flagons, a Chalice and an alms receiver[10]). Two of these pieces also have the mark of Queen Anne (a flagon and the alms receiver), which are dated 1713. The fifth piece – the paten – was damaged and melted down around 1819.[11] All the pieces are made from Britannia silver. In 1783, Governor Parr had the service given to St. Paul's.[12][13]
There is a sculpture in St. Paul's Church by John Gibson (for Richard John Uniacke, Jr.) and a monument by William F. Woodington (Henry Hezekiah Cogswell's monument to his children). Woodington's work includes statues on Westminster Bridge, Nelson's Column (Trafalgar Square), St. Paul's Cathedral, and the House of Lords.
Rev. William Cogswell, St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Rev. Robert Willis, St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia
The crypt and commemorations
The crypt contains the remains of 20 congregants which are listed below.[28] Also indicated below are those that have been commemorated in the church through a plaque, a hatchment or a window.
John George Deware (Dewar), HMS Rose, died 1830 (plaque; also gravestone in St. Paul's cemetery, and commemorative headstone in Borthwick Churchyard, Borthwick, Midlothian.)[35]
Second Boer War
Stanley Banfield, d., 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles (plaque)
Capt. John Halliburton Laurie, died 1901, son of John Wimburn Laurie (plaque)
WW1 Doorway Arch - engraved with names of Nova Scotians who died (also commemorating William James Armitage who gathered the names of the war dead)[36]
Other
Lt. Gov. of Nova Scotia Peregrine Maitland's infant son George Bertie Maitland, (crypt) died 1831
Captain John Oakes Hardy (Okes)'s, of HMS Assistance, wife Susan (Woodcock) Hardy, daughter of Dr. Edward Woodcock rector at Watford (member of Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge);[39][40][41][42] married at Edmonton, Middlesex, England, m. 1794, died 1799; Hardy commanding HMS St. Albans was part of the capture of l'Elizabeth French frigate, under Vice-Admiral George Murray, Aug, 28, 1796; Hardy commanding HMS Courageux for reduction of St. Lucia, 22 June 1803.[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]
Window for Jane Tremaine, Sunday school Teacher for 65 years; only memorial Window destroyed in the explosion[53]
Prominent families
Uniacke Family
The family of Richard John Uniacke dominates the plaques and monuments in St. Paul's Church. On separate occasions, two Uniacke family members stood trial for murder.[citation needed]
The memorials to the family of Dr. William James Almon also dominant the church. There were four generations of doctors in the family that had a significant impact on the field of medicine in the province.
Amelia Rebecca (Almon) Ritchie – daughter of William Bruce Almon – memorial plaque
John Egan Almon, died 1917 (plaque)
William Bruce Almon (1875–1940) (plaque)
Cogswell Family
The memorials to the family of Henry Hezekiah Cogswell also dominate the church. There are monuments placed to four of his children, three of which died while Henry was alive. His son Rev. William became a celebrated orator and author.
The memorials to the family of Hon. John William Ritchie also dominant the church. There are memorial windows placed for a son and five of his daughters. His twelve children donated money for the memorial window on the south side of the church.
Saint Paul's has a royal pew, and many royal guests have visited, including the father of Queen Victoria, Prince Edward, and Princesses Michael (1984), Margaret, Alexandra, and Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth II), and Prince Edward in 1987. However, HRH Prince George, later to become King George V of the United Kingdom, declined to use the royal pew during his visits to Halifax as the commander of HMS Thrush (1891).[64]
Prince William Henry - later King William IV attended (1786)
St. Paul's Church played a significant role in the Halifax Explosion. Doctors used the church as an emergency hospital, using the two vestries to tend to the wounded, while the bodies of the dead were stacked on top of each other around the walls of the nave.[65][66] Only one stained glass window was broken in the church; however, most of the other windows were smashed, and there were wide cracks in the roof. It was the only church in the city considered safe enough to conduct a service the following day. All the congregations used the church to conduct funerals.
There remains two artifacts in the church from this disaster: the "Explosion Window", which shattered to form a silhouette of a man's head and shoulders. The congregation concluded that the silhouette is the likeness of Abbe Moreau, who arrived with Cornwallis. There is also a piece of a steel window frame that remains embedded in the wall of the vestibule above the inside doors to the church.
History of St. Paul's Church. PART 1. Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society
History of St. Paul's Church. PART 2. Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society
C.E. Thomas. St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Revisited. Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. 1961. Vol. 33, pp. 26–27.
Harris, V, The Church of St Paul, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1749–1949 (Toronto: 1949)
The Chancel of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Form Follows Convenience by J. PHILIP McALEER RACAR: revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1990), pp. 46–53, 99–101
^Tinker McKay. Francis Garthorne. Lent 2014. St. Paul's Journal, pp. 5–6
^"Chapel Plate for Nova Scotia" by Lauretta Harris and Tinker McKay is in the British magazine "Silver Studies" No. 28 published in 2012.
^Samuel Nixon. Obituary. Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. 42, p. 406
^A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660–1851
^Harris, V, The Church of St Paul, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1749–1949 (Toronto: 1949)
^p. 81
^"Biography – BREYNTON, JOHN – Volume IV (1771–1800) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography".
^A sermon
^Loyalist from Salem
^Collections of the Society, Volume 2. Protestant Episcopal Historical Society. 1853. p. 315. Retrieved 19 July 2019. rev. wingate weeks. St. Michael's church, marblehead, mass.
^"Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society". Halifax, Nova Scotia Historical Society. 1880.
^The Church of England in Nova Scotia and the Tory Clergy of the Revolution By Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, p. 184
^"A sermon, preached in St. Paul's Church, Halifax: on the occasion of the death of the Revd. William Cogswell, A.M., curate of said parish, on Sunday, 13th June, 1847" / by Robert Willis.
^Nova Scotia and Nova Scotians [microform] : A lecture delivered before the Literary and Debating Society of Windsor, N.S. And afterward at the Temperance Hall, Halifax, in behalf of the Athenæum. 1858. ISBN 9780665227394.
^"Biography – WILLIS, ROBERT – Volume IX (1861–1870) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography".
^For the list see J. Philip McAleer. A pictorial history of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1 edition Appendix 2, 1993. pp.142–143
^While a display inside the church states that Buckeley is buried in the crypt, according to J. Philip McAleer, the evidence that Bulkeley was buried in the church is circumstantial. This circumstantial evidence rests on the fact that he helped establish the church and was an active member in it for 51 years. Also Buckeley is reported to have had the largest funeral ceremony ever to be in Halifax up to that date. Further, his wife Mary Rous has a headstone in the St Paul's Church Cemetery, while Buckeley does not. Rev Hill, however reports that Bulkeley's grave is marked by a rude stone in St. Paul's Church cemetery, presumably close to the gravestone of his wife Mary Rous. (See Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 2, p. 69)
^p. 289
^Colonel of the Hesse Cassel Garrison Regiment Von Seitz - see Hessian (soldiers). The Baron fought in the American Revolution, particularly on 16 November 1776, he captured Fort Washington; 1776–1778, Garrisoned New York; 1778–1783, Garrisoned Halifax. See "The Hessians of Nova Scotia" by John H Merz and Winthrop P. Bell entitled, "A Hessian conscript's account of life in garrison at Halifax at the time of the American Revolution". Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Volume 27, 1947
^"Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society". Halifax. 1878.
^Barry Cahill, "The Career of Chief Justice Bryan Finucane," Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 42 (1986), pp. 153-69.
^Harris, V, The Church of St Paul, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1749–1949 (Toronto: 1949), p. 288, 291
^A Sort of Conscience: The Wakefields By Philip Temple
^5 Mar 1813, Halifax, arrived the Sylph, Capt. Douglas, from Bermuda, having lost her boats and anchors in bad weather after parting from the Childers, and reports the Britannia, with whom she separated on 20 Feb, now arrived Halifax 11 Mar.
^Captain John Mudge b. 1792 d. 1872 m. Sarah Jessie Henrietta Colton b. 1796 d. 1818. Dolphin, about October 1777, captured the 100-ton brigantine Salisbury (John Mudge). Dolphin was sent into Massachusetts, where she was libeled in the Massachusetts Court of the Middle District on 6 November 1777, with trial set for 27 November.46
^Could also be wife of Captain Thomas Hardy of HMS Quirrel and HMS Greyhound (St. Paul's History, 1949, p. 295
^Will of Reverend, Doctor Edward Woodcock, Doctor of Laws, Vicar of Watford, Rector of the United Parishes of Saint Michael Wood Street and Saint Mary Steyning in the City of London of Watford, Hertfordshire
^p. 45
^p.117
^[Capt. John Okes Hardy halifax saint albans p.1075]
^"John Oakes Hardy".
^"Calendar of wills on file and recorded in the offices of the clerk of the Court of appeals". New York [The Knickerbocker press]. 1896.
^p.146
^"The Naval chronicle : Containing a general and biographical history of the royal navy of the United kingdom with a variety of original papers on nautical subjects". 1799.
^p.212
^p.145
^Susan Woodcock, p. 399
^marriage to Susan Woodcock, p.404
^p.383
^"St. Paul's Church (Halifax) – Sunday School – MemoryNS".
^Canadian Biography
^[• http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Cogswell%2C%20William%2C%201810-1847 Online Books by William Cogswell]
^p. 343
^Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Vol. 1, p. 44
^Winslow's tombstone is inscribed in part "his fortune suffered shipwreck in the storm of civil war", the "civil war" being the American Revolution, American Patriots fighting American Loyalists.
^p. 786
^"Winslow memorial : Family records of the Winslows and their descendants in America, with the English ancestry as far as known. Kenelm Winslow". 1877.
^"Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society". 1792.
^"Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society". 1880.
^Baxter Emsley, Sarah (1999). St. Paul's in the Grand Parade. Halifax: Formac Publishing Company Ltd. pp. 47–48. ISBN 0-88780-487-X.
^C.E. Thomas. St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Revisited. Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. 1961. Vol. 33, pp. 26–27.