Latest update April 16th, 2026 12:40 AM
Smith Memorial to celebrate 171st Anniversary next week
The Smith Memorial Congregational Church will be celebrating its “171st Anniversary”
The Smith Memorial Congregational Church
on Sunday at 9:00 hours, with a church service. The public is invited to join the congregation in observance of this occasion.
The Church is situated on the south-eastern shoulder of Brickdam, Georgetown.
It was erected to the memory of Reverend John Smith of the London Missionary Society (LMS), who was sentenced to death by hanging for the role he allegedly played in the notorious East Coast Demerara Slave Insurrection of 1823.
He was exposed to inhumane treatment in prison while awaiting word from the government of England at the time, on the matter of his execution. He died in prison on February 6, 1824 and subsequently came to be referred to in Demerara and internationally, as the Demerara martyr, due to the circumstances surrounding his death.
Smith arrived in Demerara in February 1817, to succeed the Reverend John Wray, the Pioneer Missionary at Bethel Chapel, Le Resouvenir, East Coast Demerara. Smith, like his predecessor, and to the annoyance of the Colonial authorities, gave religious instructions to the slaves. He also taught them the bible and the catechism, thereby laying the foundation for schooling and elementary education of the slaves.
Quamina, a Senior Deacon at Bethel Chapel, his son Jack Gladstone and other slaves, suffered death for the role they allegedly played during the 1823 uprising, which had the freedom of the slaves as its goal.
On November 24, 1843, exactly 20 years after the date on which the Reverend John Smith was sentenced to death, Smith Memorial Church was opened as a tribute to the work and suffering he had to endure on behalf of his deacons, members and other followers.
As a sign of protest it was laid out in a north-south fashion, contrary to the conventional east-west layout of the churches. That design remains to this day.
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