| 1661 |
Establishment of the Church of England in Jamaica and the first governor
given instructions to " encourage ministers that Christianity and the
Protestant religion, according to the Church of England, might have due
reverence and exercise" |
| 1664
|
Establishment
of seven (7) parishes and the appointment of the first ministers. The Church
in Jamaica was under the nominal authority the Bishop of London until the
establishment of the Diocese in 1824. However in practice it was controlled
by the government authorities in Jamaica which was dominated by the planter
class. This meant that the Church was seen as an ally of the slave-owning
interest in the island |
| 1824
|
Establishment
of Diocese of Jamaica (which included Bahamas and British Honduras) by Letters
Patent dated 24 July by King George 1V who appointed the Rev. Dr. Christopher
Lipscombe as the first bishop. The Mission of Christopher Lipscombe: Diocesan
order out of State-subsidized chaos (link) Dr. Lipscombe was consecrated
Bishop of Jamaica on 25 July by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lambeth
Palace Chapel
Bishop Lipscombe sailed aboard Her Majesty's Valor to the Cayman Islands.
|
| 1825 |
Bishop Lipscombe arrived in Jamaica February 11 and was installed as Bishop
on the 15th February in the then Parish Church of St Catherine in Spanish
Town |
| 1825 |
Bishop Lipscombe's first Ordination held in the Parish Church of St Catherine
on 10 April during which 8 deacons and 2 priests were ordained |
| 1826
|
Harewood
Church, the first church built since Bishop Lipscombe 's arrival consecrated |
| 1828 |
Jamaica divided into three rural deaneries under the Revs. L Bowerbank (Middlesex),
A Campbell (Surrey) and J McIntyre (Cornwall) |
| 1832
|
By
this year, thirteen churches had been built and nine were under construction |
| 1843
|
Bishop
Lipscombe died on 4 April and was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew
Parish Church |
| 1843 |
Bishop Aubrey Spencer, Bishop of Newfoundland appointed second Bishop of
Jamaica |
| 1843 |
Parish Church of St Catherine made into the Cathedral of St. Jago de la
Vega |
| 1844
|
Bishop
Spencer founded the 'Jamaica Diocesan Church Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel' |
| 1847 |
Jamaica divided into three Archdeaconries corresponding to the three civil
counties of Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey |
| 1854 |
Bishop Spencer became ill and was forced to retire to England |
| 1856
|
Dr.
Reginald Courtney, Archdeacon of Middlesex consecrated a bishop on 24 March
and appointed Co-adjuntor Bishop of Jamaica as Bishop Spencer continued
to serve as bishop of Jamaica until his death in 1872 |
| 1861 |
The size of the Diocese reduced with the establishment of the Diocese of
Nassau which consisted of the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands |
| 1861 |
Establishment of the Jamaica Home and Foreign Missionary Society to increase
missionary labours in Jamaica, West Africa and on the coast of Central America |
| 1865 |
Morant Bay Rebellion in St Thomas in October. This led to the surrender
by the Jamaican Assembly of self-government in exchange for crown colony
government. Sir John Peter Grant was appointed governor and as a result
of the bankruptcy of the Treasury he had to find ways of reducing expenditure.
One way was to reduce the expenditure on the Church as he hoped to save
over $5000 by not filling clerical vacancies |
| 1868
|
Expiration
of the Clergy Act which was not renewed |
| 1870 |
Disestablishment of the Church and the meeting of the first Synod of the
Church on 13 January. The Governor refused to recognize the legality of
this Synod as he said that the laymen had been selected not elected and
he could not hand over the property of the Church to such a body |
| 1970
|
Passage
of Law 30 of `1870 which provided for the "gradual disendowment of
the Church of England in Jamaica" and the establishment of the Incorporated
Lay Body of the Church |
| 1870
|
First
Synod under Law 30 held between Sept 29 and Oct 10 and a Constitution and
Canons of the Church passed |
| 1877 |
A theological college for the training of priests opened in January with
4 students. Originally located in Spanish Town, the college moved to Hanover
Street in 1882 before relocating to a site beside Bishop's Lodge (now Deaconess
House) in 1888. In 1918 the College was renamed St Peter's College |
| 1879
|
Bishop
Courtenay, who had retained the title of Bishop of Kingston and Co-Adjutor
Bishop after the death of Bishop Spencer in England in 1872 resigned during
the Synod |
| 1879
|
The
Synod failed to elect a new bishop and the English Committee of Reference
composed of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London
selected Bishop William Tozer. He had resigned his appointment as Missionary
Bishop of Central Africa because of ill heath. He arrived in Jamaica in
October but resigned and left the country in April 1980. |
| 1880 |
Rev Enos Nuttall, who had come to Jamaica in 1862 as an unordained missionary
in the Methodist Church and was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church
in 1866, was elected Bishop at a special Synod in July. He was consecrated
in St Paul's Cathedral, London in October of the same year |
| 1883
|
Creation
of the Province of the West Indies and the holding of the first Provincial
Synod in Jamaica in October. Bishop Nuttall played a leading role in drawing
up a Constitution for the Province. Bishop William Austin of Guiana was
elected the first Primate of the West Indies. |
| 1888
|
Archdeacon
Charles Douet elected Assistant Bishop. He was the first bishop to have
been born in Jamaica. |
| 1890 |
The Deaconess Order established with the arrival in Jamaica of Sister Isabel
and Sister Kate Vick |
| 1893 |
Bishop Nuttall elected Primate of the West Indies in May in succession to
Bishop Austin |
| 1896
|
Brotherhood
of St Andrew established to "spread Christ's kingdom among young men"
|
| 1897
|
Bishop
Nuttall became the first Archbishop of the West Indies as the West Indian
Bishops and the Lambeth Conference agreed that the Primate of the West Indies
should be accorded the title of Archbishop |
| 1897 |
Cathedral High School for Girls founded in Spanish Town and was the parent
school of subsequent Deaconesses and Diocesan schools throughout the Diocese |
| 1898 |
The Mothers' Union established to uphold the sanctity of marriage and to
awaken in all mothers a sense of their great responsibility in the training
of their children |
| 1898 |
The Cathedral Chapter, created by a bill passed at the annual Synod, was
formally inaugurated in May at a service in the Cathedral when the first
Canons were installed |
| 1911 |
Ten (10) Churches which had been rebuilt after their destruction in the
1907 Earthquake, consecrated |
| 1916 |
Archbishop Nuttall died on 31 May at Bishop's Lodge after serving as Diocesan
for36 years and was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew Parish Church
|
| 1916
|
Bishop
Cecil deCarteret, who had been Assistant Bishop in the Diocese since 1913,
was elected Bishop of Jamaica at a special Synod held on 10 August |
| 1917
|
A
small girls school in Browns Town, established by the Deaconesses in 1906,
became The Diocesan High School for Girls (later known as St Hilda's) and
became a Diocesan institution |
| 1925 |
Kingston College with Rev. Percival Gibson as headmaster established by
Bishop deCarteret as a boys secondary school. A private venture by the Bishop,
it became a diocesan school in 1933 |
| 1931 |
Bishop deCarteret resigned as bishop of Jamaica in March and on 19 May Bishop
William Hardy who had been Assistant Bishop since 1927 was elected as his
successor |
| 1940 |
The Women's Auxiliary was founded to band together "the women of the
Church in a new spiritual, intellectual, social and financial effort with
the special object of assisting the Bishop with the Diocesan Pastoral Aid
Fund". |
| 1947 |
Canon Percival Gibson, who had been the headmaster of Kingston College since
its establishment in 1925, was elected Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, the
first coloured West Indian to have been elected a bishop. He was also the
first Suffragan Bishop in the history of the Diocese as opposed to Co-adjutor
and Assistant Bishops. |
| 1949
|
Archbishop
Hardie resigned as Diocesan and as a result of the refusal by Bishop Gibson
to accept nomination on the grounds of ill-health, the Rev Basil Dale was
elected Bishop. He was consecrated in January of the following year and
arrived in Jamaica in March |
| 1954
|
The
Queens School, a secondary school for girls opened in St. Andrew on January
11 |
| 1955 |
Bishop Dale resigned as Lord Bishop and was succeeded by Bishop Gibson.
On his enthronement as Diocesan on February 6 1956, he relinquished the
position of headmaster of Kingston College. |
| 1957 |
The Deaconess Order re-established in Jamaica |
| 1958
|
The
Church Army re-established in Jamaica under Captain E.G. Cousins |
| 1961 |
Rev. Benjamin Vaughan consecrated as the first Suffragan Bishop of Mandeville
on 29 June as the Synod in 1957 had approved the appointment or a second
Suffragan Bishop |
| 1964 |
Synod approved the change of the name of the Church from The Church of England
in Jamaica' to 'The Church in Jamaica in the Province of the West Indies'.
|
| 1965 |
Church Teachers College in Mandeville opened in October as an Anglican tertiary
level teaching institution. |
| 1966 |
The training of Anglican clergymen at St. Peter's College came to an end
as the College was merged with training colleges from other denominations
to form the United Theological College of the West Indies affiliated to
the University of the West Indies |
| 1967 |
Bishop Swaby, who had been Suffragan Bishop of Kingston since 1960, elected
Bishop of Jamaica on 5 th. December in succession to Bishop Gibson who had
resigned |
| 1970 |
The Church held island-wide activities to mark the centenary if the disestablishment
of the Church in 1870 |
| 1970 |
Synod recommended to the Provincial Synod (which approved the request at
its meeting in May), that the Cayman Islands be included in the Diocese |
| 1972 |
Rev. Neville deSouza elected the first Suffragan Bishop of Montego Bay and
consecrated in the Parish Church in Montego Bay on 24 February 1973 |
| 1975 |
Bishop Swaby died in April and was succeeded by Bishop Herbert Edmondson
who had been Suffragan Bishop of Mandeville (in succession to Bishop Vaughan)
since 1972 |
| 1979 |
Bishop deSouza elected Bishop of Jamaica in succession to Bishop Edmondson
who resigned |
| 1994 |
Deaconesses Sybil Morris, Patricia Johnson and Judith Daniel on February
6th became the first women in the Diocese to be ordained to the Order of
Deacons, as a result of the passage of a new canon by Synod |
| 1995 |
Revds. Sybil Morris, Patricia Johnson, Judith Daniel, Vivette Jennings on
December 22 became the first women to be ordained priests in a historic
ceremony at the Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega |
| 2000
|
"Anglican
Congress 2000" the first representative gathering of Anglicans throughout
the region held in Kingston in July under the theme "Reclaim, Acclaim
and Proclaim" our Faith |
| 2000 |
Bishop deSouza retired in September after serving as Diocesan for twenty
one years, the longest incumbency since Archbishop Nuttall |
| 2000 |
Bishop Alfred Reid, who had been Suffragan Bishop of Montego Bay since 1980,
elected 13th Bishop of Jamaica at a special Synod held in December. |
| 2001 |
Bishop Reid enthroned as the Lord Bishop of Jamaica in the Cathedral on
January 25 |
| 2001 |
Name of the Diocese changed, as a result of a decision of Synod in April,
to the Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in the Province of the West
Indies |
| 2001 |
Rev. Judith Daniel installed in June as a Canon of the Cathedral, the first
woman to be appointed a canon in the Diocese and in the Province. |
