Profile
(Continuation of Chapter 5)
The Caymanas Church upto 1839 (Part IV)
Rev'd Nicholas Sykes
Recently a short report of his work in theCaymanas by the Rev'd David Wilson was found in the SPG Archiveof the Rhodes House Library, Oxford, England. The form of DavidWilson's report is similar to those of other SPG missionaries.Evidently David Wilson had supplied his report to the Societyeither directly or through the office of the Bishop. It readsas follows:
The Report of the Rev'd David Wilson StipendiaryCurate of the Island of Grand Caymanas from the 9th of June 1836to the 9th June 1837
Until the Month of November last I had confinedmyself to the discharge of my duties in the church of George Town,but since that period, I performed full Services, with a Sermon,morning and Evening, every alternate Sunday at a place calledProspect
My Congregation at George Town. 280
Ditto Prospect 200
At each place there is a Sunday School theattendants at which I instruct. - The average attendance about30. At the Day School, which I employ a Young Man to keep, thereare 20 Scholars
I also occasionally preach at Bodden Townand the Spotts during the Week. Indisposition prevented my performingthe Evening Service, three Sundays, during the time I was in theCaymanas
Number of Baptisms 38
Ditto Marriages 11
Ditto Burials 9
[signed]David Wilson
Stipendiary Curate 5.38 [COMMENT 35]
The report, though short, is immensely informativeand is up to now the first discovery of complete historical trustworthinessof the actual words or writings of either of the Island Clergymen.From it can be learned many significant points, including thefollowing: -
(1) There was indeed a Rev'd Mr. Wilsonwho served in the Caymanas whose Christian name, however, wasDavid (not Charles as has been surmised 5.39) [COMMENT 36]. Thisis discoverable not only from this document and other SPG recordsrecently uncovered, but also from a long report made around thesame time by a Wesleyan, James Atkins, to a Rev John Buckam ofa Missionary Committee of his Church in London, encouraging themto sponsor missionary work in the Grand Caymanas. 5.40[COMMENT37]
(2) The Rev'd David Wilson reports fromthe 9th June 1836. It may reasonably be assumed that this datemarked the beginning of his work in Grand Caymanas. This timingis reasonably consistent with the local debate and decision aboutthe stipend in January that year. Further correspondence may havebeen necessary between the Bishop and Cayman before the clergymanwas actually sent, and passages to Caymanas from Jamaica werenot frequent at the time.
(3) The Rev'd David Wilson is unambiguouslystated to have been the "Stipendiary Curate of the Islandof Grand Caymanas from the 9th of June 1836 to the 9th June 1837".He was in charge of the pastoral ministry of the Island.
(4) David Wilson's regular ministry includedGeorge Town, Prospect, Spotts and Bodden Town. This was clearlyan Island ministry. He would not have preached in weekdays inBodden Town if someone else had been preaching there on Sundays.It is true that not all of the Island was covered in this report(e.g. West Bay and East End). If the Island had at the time beendivided into two livings, one would have been the western section,with its centre at George Town, and the other would have beenthe rest centred probably at Bodden Town. David Wilson's ministryextended all the way from George Town to Bodden Town includingthem both. This again indicates that he was the only Curate atthe time.
It is notable also that David Wilson's secondregular congregation was not in Bodden Town but in Prospect; andthis raises the question whether the second of the two Churchesreferred to in the 1837/38 Memorial 5.41 [COMMENT38] as havingbeen erected, was not in fact in Prospect, rather than BoddenTown 5.42 [COMMENT 39](whose chief voices in 1835 had soundedagainst supporting the Church). The success of this second churchproject would have certainly formed "a strong contrast"to the previous lack of progress in Bodden Town. 5.43 [COMMENT40]
(5) The Sacrament of Holy Communion is notreferred to. The regular services held were no doubt the Churchof England's Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, and he deliveredSermons with both. He baptised, married and buried. He taughtthe Sunday Schools at George Town and Prospect. He certainly seemsto have ministered as comprehensively as he could, allowing thathe was not a Priest at the time, but a Deacon. The fact of hisbeing a Deacon is learned specifically from James Atkins' report,and his own report of his work is fully consistent with the fact.
(6) He also employed a "Young Man"to keep a private Day School, with 20 scholars. He does not claimto have initiated the school, which since he called it "theDay School" was probably in George Town rather than beingthe same school as the one to which the Bishop himself had appointedMr. T.S. Watler as schoolmaster in 1834. In any case this maybe the first reliable record that we have of a functioning schoolin the Caymanas, and the work of the Rev'd David Wilson must havecontinued to blaze the trail for all later educational initiatives.5.44[COMMENT 41]
The evidence to hand, admittedly only ashort report made by the Curate himself, conveys the distinctimpression of a successful ministry in the short period of oneyear. According to James Atkins, Wilson then returned to Jamaica"for ordination", clearly to the Order of Priest.
COMMENT 35 Author's copy, obtained from the Rhodes HouseLibrary, Oxford, England: a copy of this was provided to the CaymanIslands National Archive.
COMMENT 36 Williams, p. 48 and Ebanksp. 36. Hirst (see p. 238) was unable to find out Wilson's Christianname or any written record of him.
COMMENT 37 See p. 72 below: documententitled " a Wesleyan Missionary in Grand Cayman, 1837"Archive Pack.
COMMENT 38 The Memorial drawn up inthe late 1837 by the Custos, Magistrates and other inhabitantsto the House of Commons (forwarded by the Governor in 1838) states:-Thatyour Petitioners here cannot avoid giving as a proof of theirunnoticed and neglected state that they never had the advantageof the service of a Christian Minister until the year 1831 whenthe Lord Bishop of Jamaica sent a clergyman of the EstablishedChurch among them
That your Petitioners have since that periodcaused to be erected two Churches and a house for the residenceof their Minister
COMMENT 39 As assumed by Williams,p.48.
COMMENT 40 Cf. The Bishop's letterof May 4th 1838 in CO 137/ 228 p.79 below.
COMMENT 41 The link between the Churchand the schoolroom was already longstanding, even if not continuous.In the early years of the Caymanas Church, as "Governor"Bodden advised in 1805, ". There is not, nor has been, Residentin this Island, any person that has taken Holy Orders - Schoolmastershave performed divine service for the benefit of the Rising Generation and of setting forth its doctrine of Christ " (Evans,p. 134, Note 13 to Chapter 4, citing Jamaican Historical Review,Vol. 1, No.2, pp.157/8)