St. George's Church is a 19th-century

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church within George Town in the

Malaysian state Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, which form the primary administrative divisions of the country. Eleven states and two territories are part of Peninsular Malaysia, while two states and one territory ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. The oldest purpose-built Anglican church in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, it was elevated by to the status of

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...

in 2023. The church lies within the jurisdiction of the Upper North Archedeaconry of the

Diocese of West Malaysia.

History

After the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

took possession of the island of Penang in 1786, the spiritual care of the colonists was effected by

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

s attached to the EIC. Early religious services were held at the chapel of

Fort Cornwallis , location = George Town, Penang , country = Malaysia , image = Fort Cornwallis, Penang 2023 01.jpg , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Malaysia Penang George Town central , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ge ...

and later at the Court House located opposite the present church building. Proposals for the building of a permanent

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

were submitted as early as 1810 but was only acted upon after the passing of the East India Company Act 1813 (Charter Act) whereby the EIC received a 20-year extension of its charter. Approval was obtained in 1815 to build the church based on the architectural plans drawn up by Major

Thomas Anburey Thomas Anburey (active late 1700s) was a British explorer and writer who wrote a disputed narrative of his travels in North America in the 1770s-1780s. Arnburey sailed from Cork in 1776 in charge of Irish recruits of the 47th Regiment. He serve ...

but the church was eventually built on the plans drawn up by the Governor of Prince of Wales Island (as Penang was known then),

William Petrie William Petrie (1747 – 27 October 1816) was a British officer of the East India Company in Chennai (formerly Madras) during the 1780s, and was Governor of Prince of Wales Island (Penang Island) from 1812 to 1816. An amateur astronomer, Petrie h ...

, and modified by Lieutenant Robert N. Smith of the Madras Engineers. Smith was a colleague of Colonel James Lillyman Caldwell, the chief architect of St. George's Cathedral in Madras, and the architecture of St. George's Church is believed to be based on the cathedral itself. Amongst those consulted on the building of the church was the Rev.

Robert Sparke Hutchings Robert Sparke Hutchings (11 April 1781 – 20 April 1827) was an England, English clergyman who initiated the founding in 1816 of Penang Free School, one of the oldest English-medium schools in Southeast Asia, in Penang in present-day Malaysia ...

, the Colonial Chaplain of Prince of Wales Island. Hutchings would later be instrumental in setting up the

Penang Free School Penang Free School (PFS), located at Green Lane, George Town, Green Lane in George Town, Penang, George Town, Penang, Malaysia, is the oldest English-medium education, English-medium school in Southeast Asia. Founded in 1816, its academic achiev ...

. The building was completed in 1818 while Hutchings was still away in Bengal and church services were officiated by a Rev. Henderson. The church was consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. The first significant event that took place in the church after its completion was the wedding of the Governor, William Edward Philips to Janet Bannerman, the daughter of his predecessor, Colonel John Alexander Bannerman on 30 June 1818. The building was significantly damaged during the

Japanese occupation of Malaya Malaya, then under British administration,, was gradually occupied by Japanese forces between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 15 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allie ...

and a lot of her interior fittings were looted. Services were not to be held in the church until repairs concluded in 1948. Currently Bishop Dr Stephen Soe Chee Cheng is the Suffragan Bishop of the Area Diocese of Northern Peninsula with the Diocese of West Malaysia: Vicar of St. George’s Church Penang, the Oldest Anglican Church in South East Asia.

Architecture

The church is built with a combination of Neo-Classical, Georgian and English Palladian architecture styles. Built entirely by Indian convict labour, it was built of brick on a solid plastered stone base. The Church features a portico of

Doric columns The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

. The original roof was flat but was converted to a gable in 1864 as the original flat roof was found to be unsuitable in the tropical climate. The apex of the roof is topped by an octagonal shaped steeple. A memorial pavilion was erected in 1886 in memory of Captain

Francis Light Francis Light ( – 21 October 1794) was a British sailor and explorer best known for founding the colony of Penang and its capital city of George Town in 1786. Light was the father of William Light, who founded the city of Adelaide in South A ...

during the Centenary Celebrations of the founding of modern Penang. In 2007, the church was declared one of the 50 National Treasures of Malaysia by the

Malaysian federal government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia (; Jawi: ), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is a federation comp ...

. It underwent a major restoration in 2009.

References

Penang Sentral Global Website

Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia: St George's Church, Penang
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Church, Penang Churches completed in 1818 19th-century Anglican church buildings in Malaysia Churches in Penang Palladian Revival architecture Tourist attractions in George Town, Penang 1818 establishments in British Malaya

History

Architecture

See also

References