Hakewill (1821), one of the few artists who have ever seen the
cathedral, calls it “an ancient brick structure of no exterior beauty.”
In Roby’s time (1831) the walls were wainscoted, and the roof was coved
and ornamented with circles, ovals, and lozenges. In 1843 the letters
patent creating Aubrey George Spencer second bishop of Jamaica, created
the parish church of St. Catherine the cathedral of the diocese. The
chancel was restored and extended in 1853. A chapter was formed in 1899.
The church, which had fallen into disrepair, was restored in 1901, as is
duly recorded on the tower, “in commemoration of the glorious reign of
her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, 1837–1901.” Considerable
damage was wrought by the earthquake of 1907, and a further restoration
was completed during the year 1908.
On state occasions, such as the burial of the governor, the House of
Assembly was wont to attend in a body; and the church was, from the
taking of the island till the removal of the capital to Kingston in
1866, intimately associated with all the important events in the
island’s history, being near both to the House of Assembly and the
governor’s residence. Nearly all its celebrated personages were at some
time or another within its walls, and many of them are buried within its
precincts.
Of its monuments the most important are those to the Earl and Countess
of Effingham (d. 1791); the wife of Sir Adam Williamson (d. 1794); and
Dr. Brodbelt (d. 1795), all by Bacon; Sir Basil Keith (d. 1777), by J.
Wilton, R.A.; the Countess of Elgin (d. 1842), by Sir John Steell;
Colonel John Colbeck (d. 1682), who came out with Penn and Venables;
William Nedham (d. 1746), four times elected speaker of the Assembly;
William Selwyn (d. 1702), governor; Henry Cunningham (d. 1735–6),
governor; Sir Thomas Modyford (d. 1679), governor; Elizabeth Modyford
(d. 1694), wife successively of Samuel Barry and Sir Nicholas Lawes; Sir
Thomas Lynch (d. 1684), governor; Samuel Long (d. 1683), the patriot
who, with William Beeston, succeeded in maintaining the privileges of
the island as against the restrictions attempted to be imposed by the
Earl of Carlisle, acting on instructions from home; Peter Beckford (d.
1710), lieutenant-governor; Major-General James Bannister (d. 1674), at
one time governor of Surinam.
When Sir William Trelawny died, the Assembly expended 1000 guineas on
his funeral, but no monument or slab marks his last resting-place. Other
governors who have died in the island and are without a monument are,
the Duke of Albemarle, the Duke of Portland, Sir Nicholas Lawes, General
Hunter and General Haldane; the bodies of the two first-named (as was
that of Sir Basil Keith) were sent across the Atlantic for interment;
but portions of Albemarle’s body were buried under the altar. Inchiquin
was buried in the church, but there was no memorial of him until the
present Lord Inchiquin erected a brass tablet in 1912.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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