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Smith Memorial Congregational Church is 170 Years old
This month, Smith Memorial Congregational Church Brickdam will celebrate its 170th Anniversary. The occasion will be marked by an anniversary service on Sunday November 24 at 09:00.
Smith Memorial Congregational Church Brickdam, Georgetown.
Smith Memorial Congregational Church was erected as a tribute to the memory of reverend John Smith, a London Missionary society Minister, who was sentenced to die by hanging, for the role he allegedly played in the notorious East coast Demerara Slave rebellion of 1823.
Smith died as a prisoner on death row on February 6, 1824. He was thereafter referred to as the Demerara Martyr as a result of the circumstances surrounding his death.
Today Smith Memorial Congregational Church stands resplendent on the lush green parish situated at the south eastern shoulder of Brickdam, Georgetown.
The history of the Church reveals that Reverend Smith arrived in Demerara in February 1817 to succeed the reverend John Wray Pioneer, missionary of London Missionary Society at Bethel Chapel Le Resouvenir, East Coast Demerara, like his predecessor Wray; Smith gave instructions to the slaves.
Both missionaries taught the slaves to read the bible and catechism. Smith, as in the case of John Wray, did much to lay the foundation of school and education for their congregation.
Amongst those who suffered death for the 1823 uprising, are Quamina a slave and senior deacon at Bethel Chapel, his son Jack Gladstone and other slaves.
On November 24, 1843 exactly 20 years after the date on which reverend Smith was sentenced to death, Smith Memorial Church opened as a tribute to the work and suffering the priest endured on behalf on his deacons, members and other followers.
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