Latest update January 23rd, 2025 7:40 AM
Smith Memorial Congregational Church will be 176 on Sunday
This Sunday will mark 176 years since the Smith Memorial Congregational Church opened its doors for worship. The occasion will be celebrated by an anniversary service on Sunday, November 24, at 09:00 hrs at the church’s Brickdam location.
Smith Memorial Congregational Church
Reverend John Smith (Photo Credit: Missionaries of the world)
According to a statement by the Pastor, retired Judge Oslen Small, the church was erected as a tribute to the memory of Reverend John Smith. Its north to south construction was intended to eb a protest in support of Rev. Smith.
Smith was 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 Insurrection of 1823.
Smith died as a prisoner on February 6, 1824. He subsequently came to be known as the ‘Demerara Martyr’ as a result of the circumstances surrounding his death.
He had arrived in Demerara in 1817 to succeed the Reverend John Wray, pioneer, missionary Society at Bethel Chapel at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara. Like his predecessor Wray, Smith gave instructions to the slaves.
They taught them to read the Bible and Catechism. Smith, as in the case of John Wray, did much to lay the foundation of schooling and education for their congregation.
Quamina, a slave and senior deacon at Bethel Chapel then located at Le Ressouvenir, his son Jack Gladstone, and other slaves suffered death for the role they allegedly played during the 1823 uprising, which had as its goal, the freedom of the slaves.
On November 24, 1843, exactly 20 years after the date on which Reverend Smith was sentenced to death, Smith Memorial Church was opened as a tribute to the work and suffering that he had to endure on behalf of his deacons, members and other followers.
The Church is situated on the south eastern shoulder of Brickdam, Georgetown. It has been deemed a heritage site since 2010 by the Guyana National Trust.
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