Caledonia Times
March, 2014 The Diocesan Section of the Anglican Journal
St. John the Divine turns 100 in 2014 At a cross-roads about seven miles east of Telkwa lies the tiny and much-loved church of St. John the Divine. The church may be small in size, but it is big in history! It’s a fascinating tale of how it originally came to be built in the now non-existent town of Hubert.
and 2 children, of his plans, they were much pleased. Du Vernet designed the new church himself and gone over the plans with a local contractor endeavouring to keep the cost within bounds, but still get the effect of a very neat little church. The cost of building materials would be high as all the fine lumber would have to come up from the coast. He had engaged Mr. Bonnyman, a local resident, to blow out the stumps on the two lots, and signed a contract with Mr. Neil Svenson to build the church for $650. Inside finishing, painting and pews would cost an additional $325, for a total of $975.
On November 11th, 1911 Mrs. Mary L. Lombe, a clergy widow living in Torquay, England, began correspondence with Archbishop FH Du Vernet, concerning a $500 gift she wished to make to the diocese for the construction of a new church. This church was to be a memorial to her late husband, the Rev Edward Lombe, former Rector of St. John the Divine, Swanton Morley, Norfolk, who died in 1909. Originally Mrs. Lombe had approached the Diocese of Qu’Appelle with her donation, but once she found out that this diocese would soon be independent of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, and therefore they would no longer be able to control the appointment of minister there, she switched her allegiance to Caledonia. Her late husband had been an ardent Protestant and she dare not risk even a distant possibility of erroneous (i.e. ritualistic) doctrine being taught in his memorial church. Qu’Appelle’s loss was Caledonia’s gain. Mr. and Mrs. Lombe had also been good friends of Bishop Ridley, Caledonia’s first Bishop and this perhaps played a part too. The first site chosen for the new church was New Hazelton. because the railway contractors, had made this town their headquarters and much was expected of it. However, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR)themselves were favouring South Hazelton as their town site and, if the Railway Commission agreed with them, there was a fear that New Hazelton would die after the contractor pulled out. Clearly nothing could be done until the Commission gave their decision. There was a long agonizing delay and some rather frustrated correspondence arriving on the Archbishop’s desk from an increasingly impatient Mrs. Lombe, who could not possibly understand the politics and high-stakes real estate dealings which were being played out in the layout of these new towns. She had embarked on an around-theworld cruise and would arrive on the west coast in the fall of 1913. She would be visiting Hazelton and hoped to worship in the new church. But on no account was the Archbishop to delay its consecration by one day. Sadly, construction had not even begun as the Archbishop weighed up the pros and cons of the two communities. Even Smithers was considered as a possible site for this memorial church, to get this delightful response from the irrepressible benefactor: on a
card to the Archbishop’s wife, postmarked Tokyo, Japan, June 27th, 1913: “Tell the Archbishop that if he thinks it better to build the church at any other place, even one rejoicing in such a very plebeian and ridiculous name as “Smithers”!! I am quite agreeable”. By July, 1914 Archbishop Du Vernet had made his decision. Rejecting New Hazelton, South Hazelton and Smithers, he had settled on Hubert, located on the west side of the Bulkley River, 4 miles from Telkwa. The Archbishop had had his eye on Hubert for some time and, looking to the future, had secured two lots there on 4th Avenue. It was the centre of a good farming district, and the firm gravel soils there made it the logical choice for GTPR’s new divisional point, the second after Prince Rupert. In anticipation of this decision a hotel had been built and a small community had developed. The government had also built a fine new road bridge across the Bulkley (later taken out by ice) so that farmers could drive into Hubert to ship their produce by rail. The next logical step was the building of a church. Archbishop Du Vernet himself held the first service in Hubert, on Thursday July 2nd, 1914, in the dining room of the new hotel. Coincidentally this was the day the first mail bag arrived for the new Post Office. Again the Archbishop was not allowing the grass to grow under his feet! When he told his small congregation, of 12 men, 2 women
All this he conveyed to Mrs. Lombe in a letter dated July 9th, 1914, with the appeal that, if she would allow her $500 donation to go to this church, he would be only too thankful to have it dedicated “St. John the Divine” as a memorial for her late husband. Then, leaning on her rather heavily, he suggested that if she could raise another $500, he could have the church finished right away, as presently, with the Great War effort, funds were lacking. The new church would be very conspicuous from the train, (due to start a regular transcontinental railway service on August 15th) after which a stream of people “never to cease” would begin to pour across the continent both ways. He closed his letter with the hope that she would approve his suggestion and adopt Hubert instead of New Hazelton, which was “half dead”. Having waited 3 years for her memorial church, and when presented in such glowing terms, how could the good lady refuse? She agreed by return cable, including the additional funds. Mr. Svenson, completed the church building in a month, topping it off with Red-cedar shingles brought up from the coast. Jimmy Graham, a young Scottish carpenter, did a splendid job of finishing the inside with narrow, tongue-in-groove, Douglas-fir panelling. Archbishop DuVernet personally went up to supervise the installation of the beautifully carved Communion rail which had been shipped out from England in 1912 and had lain in storage in Prince Rupert ever since. This was the memorial gift of Rev. Lombe’s son and daughter. It bore the inscription, in brass, “St. Math. XXV, 21”, a reference to: “Well done thou good and faithful servant”. Also from England, a magnificent lectern, with a great eagle carved in relief. This was carved from English oak by Father Lombe’s old curate, Rev E. D. Poole, out of love of his former Rector. In addition to the eagle, Rev Poole had carved the Coat-of-arms of the County of Norfolk on one side and the Crest of the Diocese of Caledonia on the other. See Divine Church History on p. 4