A
detailed history, 1882 - 1990. 
This
document has been compiled for the Web Server in 2004 from several source
documents held in the church files. (See “references”)
The early years
1882:
Visiting Chaplains held services in a room loaned by a local hotel or in new
shop sites offered by the municipality, according to details established by
Capt. G. C. Frederick, R.N. in his paper of 1930 and by the regularly appointed
Chaplain, the Rev. A. F. Dyce 1880-1897.
The season
was always from October until April when unbelievably the church was closed for
the summer. British ships calling at the
harbour loading bauxite and porphyry stone, etc. were always visited and
invited to our church services.
Collections were made for the Gibraltar Mission to Seamen.
1901: The
Chaplain received a telegram authorising purchase of a temporary church for
U.S.P.G and this was proceeded with on a minimum land site, at a price of
around £400 by donations from important British Visitors for the forthcoming
winter season at St Raphaël, Valescure and Boulouris.
1902: A
bell and turret was presented to the little temporary church in memory of the
late Rev. A.F. Dyce by his friends and the church
land was enclosed.
Stained
Glass Windows were presented by a member and an exterior church clock mounted
below the bell turret complete with an iron ladder.
1905: A new
Harmonium was presented to the church. The old one was sold for £40.
1906: The
temporary church dismantled for demolition in order to erect the new church for
the following season.
1907: A
simple little church was consecrated by the Bishop of Gibraltar,
among others Lord Amherst (of Hackney) was present in the congregation.
1909: Valescure (all Saints) church (erected -1900) not being
reopened for the Season, the numbers in St. John’s church for Easter were 116
Communicants along with a Congregation of 203 (15 new chairs had to be
purchased). For the next 6 months there
was a total congregation of 2178 and the collection totalled 3300FF enabling
all U.S.P.G. expenses to be paid.
1911:
Further land was purchased on the east side as far as the main road for fear of
commercial development, again by public subscription, in particular by the
Duchess of Marlborough. The completed site was then handed over to the S.P.G.
London. “A sweet and powerful” harmonium was procured by the Chaplain from Argelès (Midi-Pyrénées) and presented by Mr. Percy Crohan
for Christmas Day, the Chaplain being the Archdeacon of Dunedin, N.Z. (retired)
with Capt. Grimes acting as churchwarden.
1913: Capt.
G. C. Frederick, R.N. of Boulouris replaced Capt.
H.E. Grimes as Churchwarden.
1914: In
January the Bishop Montgomery of S.P.G. visited the church and in February the
Bishop of Gibraltar celebrated and addressed the visitors from Valescure & St. Raphaël. The British ship 'Baron Blantyre'
came into Port followed by the 'S.S. Fife' of
Between the Wars
1919-20 At this time a Chaplain had not been appointed but the Rev.
G.F. Heslop from Valescure
volunteered his services. The church was
opened on
1920-21:
The Church was crowded for Easter week, the Rev. George Edmundson,
Rural Dean of Chelsea officiated as Chaplain, residing at Hotel Beau Rivage, where Admiral Sir G. Powe
died on 4th April, and the service was held in the church.
1921-22:The Bishop of Gibraltar, Dr. Gregg, visited St. Raphaël
10th-13th February, and a meeting was held at Col. Brooke's house in Valescure for the British colony with celebration at
In March,
Donald Gill, a mining engineer (Manager?) of Oil-Shale Mines, Bozon (a village destroyed in the 1959 Malpassat
dam disaster) was confirmed at Cannes.
Sir John Nixon, K.C.B., died suddenly at Villa Marie in December.
1922-23: Rev. George Edmundson
returned to
1923-24:
Chaplain, Rev. George Edmundson staying at Villa Nicette, gave Armistice Day service on 11th November with
collection for British Legion, Paris. On
Christmas Day 89 were at service and the Collection was for the poor of St.
Raphaël.
1924-25:
Bishop John of
1925-26: The
Rev. Tupper Carey, Chaplain.
January 24th; baptism of Carol Evelyn McNaught from Boulouris;
2nd March, funeral of Mrs. Calthorp;
October 19th, funeral of Miss Anne
Chance.
1926-27:
The Rev. Tupper Carey. Chaplain
1927-28:
The Rev. Somers, Chaplain.
1928-29:
The Rev. Canon Jordan, Chaplain
1929-30:
The Rev. J. Nelson Blaliston, Chaplain.
1930-31:
The Rev. Theodore Lunt of Melksham,
Wilts, Chaplain.
Armistice Day offering given to Earl Haig Fund;
4th March, Bishop of Gibraltar- confirmed 4 children
at
21st March Funeral of George Bealby Gerrard from Golf Hotel, Valescure.
1932-34:The Rev. F. H. G. Knight, Chaplain.
1935-36:The Rev. C. Lister
James, Chaplain.
Due to very reduced numbers of British visitors and residents the
church found that they could not support a Chaplain of their own so they
proposed to have a joint Chaplain with All Saints', Valescure.
Church
Council records show that there were 'no funds in hand’
1937-38:
The Rev. Curtis, chaplain, for the season. The average Congregation was then
only 10 or 12. When the chaplain was sick a special bus was made available to
take the worshippers to the Valescure church and
bring them back to St. Raphaël.
As one
would expect, the church was closed for Anglican worship following the outbreak
of war in 1939 – a state that existed until 1948. After the fall of
The Post War Years
1948: Mr.
Cyril Maplethorp, still resident in the Ave. Paul Doumer, opposite the church, wrote to the S.P.G. advising
them that he was prepared to arrange for the repair of the church and to
supervise the whole work. This was
agreed and subsequently he contacted the S.P.G.'s
representative in Menton to deal with the War Damage
claims, etc. Thereafter, it is recorded
that the Bishop of Gibraltar, in a moving ceremony, re-consecrated
The bishop wrote in the logbook: -
‘This church was closed
throughout the war period--1939-45--and no Anglican services were held there as
far as is known, until today. Agence
'In preparation for my visit
the sanctuary partition was removed and the church cleaned. It presented a somewhat unkempt appearance as
it had been used by the German
·
The chalice bent and misshapen. This will be sent to a silversmith. (no
paten)
·
Vestments etc. in fairly good order.
·
Ch. Linen – a certain amount (in good order).
·
Prayer and Hymn books – 3 boxes (in S.P.G.
boxes) in good order.’
Certain articles were borrowed
for the service from All Saints, Valescure. I gave instructions for the wine fence to be refixed, doors and windows oiled and painted, and a new
rope (wire) for the bell.’
At the
service of rehallowing appropriate psalms were
recited in procession from the West Door, and before the altar, and the General
Thanksgiving said, Mr. Maplethorp acting as Bishop's
Warden. There were only nine communicants present at this service and it would
seem that the chaplaincy had to begin all over again.
The Rev.
Donald Macnaughton, in his book “In a Fair Ground – A
Chaplaincy in
“Significant
changes took place in the post-war years, the first of which was that St.
Raphaël became a summer seasonal chaplaincy, which subsequently has grown into
an all the year round church. Winter
visitors rarely come to the town nowadays but the church of St. John the
Evangelist is fortunate in having a considerable number of regular migrants at
various times of the year in addition to a committed group of permanent
residents. There was a time when people
staying in hotels worshipped in the English church. Today a large proportion of the summer
congregation spend their holidays in caravans, mobile homes or apartments. For a number of: years the Marseille Chaplain
came over to St. Raphaël once a month and in addition the S.P.G. supplied
chaplains for the Summer season. For a short time in the 1950’s St. Raphaël was served by the
chaplain of
“More
recently St. Raphaël has been administered to mostly by retired clergy. One priest, much loved by those who knew him
well was Father Douglas Lockhart, who before coming to France had been Rector
of Old St. Paul's church in Edinburgh.
Somewhat eccentric, he lived the life of a hermit sharing with his dog a
small house at Les Arcs, part of which he used as a chapel for his daily
Mass. Hilarious stories are told of how
in stormy weather when, his house became flooded, he and the dog had to move
upstairs to the first floor. Father
Lockhart made a deep impression by reason of his Spirituality and his ancient
car and bad driving were a cause for constant concern. Some people complained that he gabbled the
service inaudibly and advocated the reading at least of the lessons by
articulate laymen.
“A
character who became well known and appreciated in the post-war period was the
late Rear Admiral Bob Morris, a distinguished American naval officer, who
played a leading part in the Allied landing at Dramont
in August 1944. Year by year he came to
stay in a house overlooking the sea at Agay. Very much 'a persona grata’
at the church he was quick to break down any reserve or starchiness among
church members. A deeply religious man,
he belonged to International Christian Leadership, an organisation made up
largely of businessmen of the Jimmy Carter type. When invited to read a lesson in church, he
always felt impelled to add a message of his own.
“In
the autumn of 1975, when there was a staffing problem, he volunteered to open
the church on Sundays when no service had been arranged, to welcome visitors,
but was told that while his offer was accepted in principle, there was to be no
question of his giving an address, because it would really be too
American! Bob Morris took it all in
characteristic good humour, although nothing came of his offer because the
church was closed to enable new electric heaters to be installed, which by 1987
had become too expensive to operate!
“Today
[mid 1980’s] St. Raphaël relies heavily on visiting priests and licensed
readers in the summer months on the Sundays when the chaplain is at Marseille,
and in an emergency there are laypersons able and willing to conduct
Matins. The future of St. John's church
depends on the continued presence of a committed resident community. The story of the chaplaincy
at St. Raphaël, with all its ups and downs. must
be not unlike the story of many other chaplaincies in
In 1958 [IR1]the chapel of All Saints in Valescure was transferred to the catholic diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, leaving St. John’s as the focus for Anglican
worship in the Var.
Modern times
In 1973 Canon Tibbett arrived in St. Raphaël. In a meeting after the service on 22nd July he explained that he had been sent by the Bishop of Gibraltar and Fulham “to look into the affairs of the church in St Raphaël, and that it could not continue unless it was a viable project. The first step would be to appoint a treasurer and secretary. The Canon said he had found in the church safe two sums of money –
- FF950 which was labelled for the church heating.
- FF250, which presumably was the proceeds of church collections,
and that he would hand these sums over to the treasurer who would open a bank account.”
It was also stated (erroneously) that the church had the use
of a sum of £4,000 held by the U.S.P.G. in
A small committee was inaugurated, rather than a church council, which comprised the officers, churchwardens and three members of the congregation. At the September meeting of that committee, Canon Tibbett reported that he had come to the conclusion that the chaplaincy would be viable for the Summer three months, and then for the rest of the year a service one a month would be sufficient.
In 1974 Canon Davies was duly appointed for the summer
season, arriving for the service on 16th June, and taking his last
service 11th August. His
board and lodging were paid for at the Hotel des Templiers. For the winter, the Rev. Peter Goldsmid, chaplain of
1975 was a difficult year for the church, with a number of
priests taking individual services.
Continuity was provided by the Rev. Peter Goldsmid
who continued to visit from
1978 Rev Karl Lutge was appointed
the full-time chaplain of St. Raphaël, breaking the long-standing link to
1979 After the departure of Rev. Karl Lutge
in May, there was no new appointment until November, when the Rev. Ronald Jennison took on the post of chaplain to
In 1980 the Diocese in
In 1981 the roof problem escalated, and eventually repairs were carried out at a cost of FF23,000. Part of this was paid for by the U.S.P.G. and part by private donations. Fund-raising events during the year included a “Royal Wedding Garden Party” near Le Muy, and a concert in the church.
In 1982 Rev Jennison moved to a
new appointment in Nice, and the Rev. Donald Macnaughton
was appointed chaplain of St Raphaël and
In 1983
after a survey carried out, free of charge, by Mr. Michael Edwards, a Quantity
Surveyor and member of the congregation an important restoration of the church
fabric was started. An appeal was
launched with the result that over £10,000 was collected. The work was completed in just over 2 years,
thanks to the enthusiasm of the small group of permanent residents and the
generosity of: many seasonal visitors.
1987: After
the departure of the Rev. Donald Macnaughton, St.
John's had a series of seasonal and temporary chaplains, shared with All
Saints' Marseilles. However it became increasingly difficult to find suitable
retired priests to run both chaplaincies.
Subsequently,
the Bishop agreed to
However,
From
September 1990 the church was served by the Reverend Tom Unsworth. For the first 18 months of their time in the
chaplaincy, he and his wife Joan worked under the great disadvantage of having
no permanent accommodation. In the early
part of 1992, following an appeal amongst church members and friends in France
and the United Kingdom, a chaplaincy house was bought at La Bouverie
in the commune of Roquebrune sur
Argens, some 18 kilometres from the church in St.
Raphaël.
The story
of our church of St. John the Evangelist at St. Raphaël is obviously an
unfinished one. It is a story of many
ups and downs, yet always with the presence of an underlying faith. It is the story of how, through God’s grace and
providence we benefit from the labours, vision, and generosity of those who
have come and gone before us. Let us
safeguard this inheritance that through our faithfulness those who come after
us may be blessed.
References
[1] A Short History of St. John the
Evangelist Church, Avenue Paul Doumer, St.
Raphaël. Dated November 1990, (believed
to have been compiled by Bill Phillips) and including the following
acknowledgements_
- “Additional notes were supplied
by Cyril Maplethorp and Ted Anderson.
- “Quotation from ‘IN A FAIR
GROUND' - A Chaplaincy in Provence Donald Macnaughton,
published by Churchman Publishing Limited 117 Broomfield Avenue. Worthing.
BN14 7SF “
[2] A Short History of St. John the
Evangelist Church, Avenue Paul Doumer, St.
Raphaël Undated, unattributed
but seems to have been prepared in the early 1990’s, possibly by Tom Unsworth as an update to the text in [1]
[3] History of St. John the Evangelist
Church and Service, St. Raphaël.
Undated, unattributed, runs from 1882 to 1931,
much text incorporated in [1]