History

Early Days

In the 19th century, Dundee was an expanding city, as indeed it still is. There was a rapid growth in the population and many new areas were growing up. By 1870, Stobswell and Maryfield saw many new houses and tenements erected, and it was obvious that there would be many more in the near future.Churches had been built in several of the new expanding districts, such as Lochee, Broughty Ferry, Maxweltown and the Scouring Burn, but nothing had been done for the North East end of the City. However, when Bishop Forbes died in 1875 it was discovered that he had not been unmindful of our district, but had secured a site for a church, where the present chuch now stands. In addtion, he had set aside £100 from his Pious Purposes Find towards the cost of a building.

It was Bishop Forbes' intention that St John the Baptist should first of all, be a Dependant Mission Church from St. Salvador's. This would have been a clumsy arrangement, but it had been forced upon the Bishop by circumstances. However, Bishop Forbes' successor, Bishop Jermyn, who later became Primus, had a better idea. He arranged that that Chaplain of the Sisterhood in King Street should also be Priest-in Charge of St. John The Baptist; an admirable arrangement. It meant that St. John the Baptist would secure the services of a more experienced Priest.

It appears from the records that the Rev. Gilbert Francis Moor was Parish Priest from 1876 to 1881 although there is no record of any services before 28th August 1877 when the first services were held in the temporary Mission Church. Whether services were held somewhere else from 1876 to 1877 is not known.

The temporary Church, later nicknamed 'The Primitive Church', was on the site of the permanent Church in which we now worship, and was formed from two cottages. Originally on the site there was a row of cottages and between 1876 and 1880, these were gutted and transformed into a Church and School. The Episcopal Church in Dundee then had a few schools, none of which now remain, mores the pity.

The Permanent Church

Whilst the temporary Church was still being improved and made more satisfactory for the congregation, much thought was given to a permanent church. A fund was opened by Revd Moor, the then Priest in Charge, who commissioned an architect to produce designs for a permanent church (plans which were dropped by a later Parish Priest, although they had received the Bishop's approval, no one knows what the plans were like or why they were overthrown).

Before Revd Moor resigned from the charge in 1881, a sum of £377 had been gathered but some of this had to be spent on the temporary church. To raise this sum, Revd Moor had to appeal to wealthy friends within and outside Dundee, but the local congregation were asked to give according to their means, this money to be collected each month by the "Clergy Fund Collectors". An appeal also appeared in the "Church Times" but produced only £1.5d from two people!

In 1881, Revd Moor, so dissatisfied with the premises, decided to present no more candidates to the Bishop for Confirmation until new premises were built. However, he resigned that same year. He had appealed for £1,000 by the following Spring, but alas, it was to be seven years before that sum was to hand.

The Second Priest In Charge

After Revd Moor resigned in 1881, the charge of the Parish was given to the Revd J.H. Jenkins, M.A., for two years, assisted by the Revd. J.R. Milne. The Church Log Book and a later Bazaar Book are silent about this period except to say that the plans for the new church, drawn up at the request of Revd Moor, were scrapped.

Third Priest In Charge

In 1884, there was appointed as Parish Priest the Revd James Jennings Dunbar, not a stranger to the Church. He was to stay as parish Priest for twenty years. The Bazaar Book says that during the first 10 of the these years the material consolidation of the work was performed for the most part whilst the second 10 years saw the spiritual building of the "lively Stones" receive ever increasing attention. It is recorded that he built wisely and well on the foundation which he found already laid. We also read that the services were ordered on regular lines and the church was raised to the status of an "Independent Mission".The hope was then expressed that it would become an incumbency before long but over 60 years work and the efforts of 5 priests have not brought that about. It is to be regretted that Eucharistic worship was not so frequent at this period as it had been under Revd Moor, and in spite of extremely large numbers of confirmation candidates, the number of people who made their communion Sunday by Sunday was very low, much lower than today. However the total Membership of the church grew.

Building of the new church

In 1886 it was decided to start building the new church and temporary accommodation found in the old Asylum Buildings

The plans for the church were drawn up by the Revd E. Sugden who also designed the Church of St. Margaret, Lochee, Dundee. The church is a very pleasing building. The nave is almost square in shape. To the east of the square being attached the Chancel and Sanctuary, and to the west of the square nave lies the Baptistery, which until recently also served as part of the nave but is now made into a proper Baptistery.

The cost of the church was only £1,830 but it must be remembered that it was not furnished as it is today, but was very much plainer with much cheaper furnishings altogether. But from the very first there have been the stained glass windows in the Sanctuary of the church such as St. Clement and St. Jerome. The windows were given as memorials to members of the Rankine family and Bishop Forbes. The window depicting St. Augustine cost £16.14-d, the one depicting St. Ambrose and the one depicting Our Lady cost similar sums. A Miss Marshall gave the "Augustine" window and an anonymous donation of £51 helped to pay for the other windows, whilst Mr James Rankine gave £17 to pay for the "Mary" window. These windows deserve a very careful look and are some of the most pleasing of windows put into Dundee churches at that time.

In the late 1990's thieves broke into the Church through one of the stained glass windows, smashing it beyond repair. Revd Jim Forbes took charge of the task of replacing it. The Congregation raised the money to replace it in the year 2000. The window was specially comissioned and is called the 'Millennium Window' .

As has been said, money was collected from the near and far to cover the cost of the church, donations being received from the Kinnaird family who were prominent church people at that time, also from Bishop Forbes'relations, and from as far away as Rangoon given by the brother of Revd Dunbar. A sale of work at the Old Folk's Home (then called the Home for the Incurables) raised £26, and the Priest in Charge was able to subscribe no less than £100. About £120 was collected from members of the congregation to which can be added a donation from a member of £25 for "mercies received"

A glance at the interior of the church as seen on a photograph of 1904 will reveal that much has been done to improve the furnishings since. Then, we did not have the present Reredos, organ or pulpit, chancel rails, or altar rails, carved woodwork, lady Chapel Altar or Font. And until 1893 there was no choir vestry, the Baptistery serving that our windows are rectangular, unlike most church windows which are arched, and that the pillars are made of wood, which with the passing of the years have became as hard as stone

Consecration of the Church

The consecration of the church took place on Thursday, 14th April, 1887 at 11 a.m. The celebrant was the Most Revd the Primus, Bishop Jermyn, who was then Bishop of the Diocese. The preacher at the service was the Hon. the Right Revd the Bishop of Aberdeen whilst the preacher at the evening service was the Revd T.I. Ball of St. Michael's, Edinburgh and later, a predecessor of Dean Douglas who at present is Provost of the Cathedral of the Isle and a former parish priest of St. John the Baptist's.

The collections for the day were used to provide furniture for the church. There was a luncheon at the Queen's Hotel at a cost of 5/- per head, far beyond the pockets of all but a very few of the members of the church at the time.

It is interesting to look at the accounts for the first year of the permanent church. The stipend of the priest was (from St. John the Baptist's) £85. A sum £18 was received in envelopes in lieu of Pew Rents. As there had been no Pew Rents before, it seems that F.W.O. envelopes were introduced right away when the new church was opened, instead of charging for seats.

This is most likely the oldest envelope scheme in Dundee. But not for another thirty five years were F.W.O. envelopes used by the majority of the congregation. Coal for 1887 cost only £1.14.6d but Gas £7. People were encouraged to buy their own prayer books and hymn books and these could be bought at the church. St. John the Baptists then received at Augmentation of the £55 from the Central Funds of the Church to help pay the stipend of £85.

The Church Hall

At the end of the last century the Church was responsible for much of the social life of the people and it was very desirable that St. John the Baptist should have a hall. It was decided to build but the cost was beyond the pockets of the people. It was necessary to buy the land adjoining the church from a Mr. Webster and this meant buying the old tenement houses built thereon. For this £800 was asked, a sum which the Bishop considered far too high but considered it so essential to get the ground that he agreed we "must pay fancy price for it ". Bishop Jermyn seems to have been very alert about money matters, working out from rents what the true value of the land should be, and also discussing with Revd Dunbar in letters about bargaining with the Mother Superior of the King Street Home for a loan at a certain rate of interest because "money is cheap at present".

In the end it was agreed to build the Hall and the following loans were received:

From the Diocesan Funds, £100 : Forfarshire Building Society, £40 : King Street Home, £500 (at 3 ½% against 5% for the Building Society Loan) : and a further loan of £135 from the above Building Society.

The loan from the King Street Home was repaid six years later, and the complete debt on the hall was cleared by the 1901, that is 8 years after building. The total cost of the hall, excluding the site, was over £1,100, an expensive and inferior building compared with the church.

Interesting are the rates for hiring the hall when it was first built.

Clubs were charged £10 for 12 months, a considerable sum in those days, compared with today. Parties which had the hall until 3 a.m. (very late when you remember people went to work at 6 a.m.) were charged £1.5.-d plus a late fee of 6/-. To hire the hall for 1 hour cost 5/- and political parties were charged 18/- per meeting. The hall was used a lot for this purpose, both at this time and later. But the above charges did not include heating. However, the surcharge was nominal, 9d an evening for the large stove and 6d for the small stove, as there was no central heating at that time or for several years to come.

It is interesting to note that the valuation on the hall was £10 from the beginning until about 1964 when, although the hall was less desirable for lets with poor amenities, the valuation was doubled.

How was the hall paid for? Before building there was an anonymous donation of £100, the Walker Trustees gave another £100, then there was another anonymous donation of £100, a Sale of Work held in 1893 produced £271, and another Sale Of Work in 1897 produced £150, whilst yet another 2 Sales in 1899 brought in £130 and £180. How they must have worked for the sales in those days when money was so scarce compared with today. Collecting Cards were used and records show that money was collected by people who were members of the Church until recent years, including one of the Misses Boath and Misses Melville.

Many of the hall users of today remember dancing in St. John's Hall during the late 1950's. There were sales of work held in the hall; Girl Guides met there, Esther Clark's Dance Classes are often spoken about and much more.

Sadly, the hall was sold off in the 1970's for a mere £2,000. However, Revd Canon Morrow
brought much needed new life and enthusiasm into St. John's and in the early 1990's had a new hall built at the rear of the Church. This was a welcome addition for the Church and was used for Sunday School, Coffee Mornings, Socials as well as a twice weekly lunch club. Scouts met in the hall and also some local community groups. It soon became apparent that it wass too small for most parish functions and Revd Morrow bagan to look a the possibility of buying back the former Church Hall at 110 Albert Street, now owned by a printing firm.

In 1999 National Lottery Funding was obtained and a Community Project was set up. The hall was purchased for £30,000 and 'The Boomerang Project' (Boomerang because the hall came back) was born, breathing new life into St. John's and Stobswell. ( please see
www.stjohnsboomerang.ik.com) The hall has been completely refurbished through a Scottish Heritage Grant with the additiona of a new kitchen, toilets, offices and lift.


Death of Revd Dunbar

Mr. Dunbar worked at St. Johns the Baptists for 20 years and passed to his rest of 22nd July, 1903. Bishop Robberds, who succeeded Bishop Jermyn as Bishop of the Diocese spoke at special meeting of the St. John the Baptists Committee. He said he had learnt to appreciate and value the many qualities of Mr. Dunbar, his thoroughness and sincerity, his careful business habits, his methodical devotion to duty. He had assiduously he had preached the Christian Faith to his people, and in spite of much physical suffering he had done his work with cheerfulness and a most attractive sense of humour.

Here we had perhaps mention the memorial to Revd Dunbar, although a year was to pass before it was erected. The memorial takes the form of Stained glass windows at the west end of the church. Designed by an old friend of Revd Dunbar, the windows are intended to speak to us of Baptism, located as they are above the Font. In the roundel we see Our Lord being baptised by St. John Baptist, our Patron Saint. The long light window on the left shows Our Lord as a little child with all the love of a human mother lavished upon him. His foster-father St. Joseph stands close at hand. To the right we see Elizabeth with St. John Baptist, her son, our Lords Fore-runner. The other window shows Our Lord as the Good Shepherd.

The fourth Parish Priest

After Revd Dunbar's death the charge remained vacant for nearly a year, during which time Bishop Richardson, lately Bishop of Zanzibar, and now Assistant to the Bishop of Brechin, devoted himself to the service of St. John Baptists assisted by various clergy of the Diocese when he himself was in other parts of the Diocese performing Episcopal duties.

It is most likely that the long vacancy was caused by the financial position of the parish. St. John Baptists shared a priest with the Sisterhood although St John Baptist needed a priest who was free from other duties. But the stipend available was extremely small and the greater part of that came from Central Funds. Besides, there was no parsonage and there was not to be one for another 20 years.

However, the problem was solved in 1904 and the new Bishop (Bishop Robberds, who followed Bishop Jermyn) appointed the Revd H.C.R. Cunnynghame as Parish Priest, and he, like Revd Dunbar, was to remain for a period of 20 although it is quite obvious from Parish Magazines that he would rather have stayed for a shorter spell and going elsewhere. However, he was so valuable to St John Baptist that he was persuaded to stay for a period longer than he considered to be wise. Mr Cunnynghame, although a Scot, had been trained and ordained in England, quite a common practice in those days, and then he had worked in Edinburgh for 12 years and at St. Paul's Church (not then a Cathedral) for 2 years. So he came to St. John Baptists as a mature priest with a definite policy and the church was to develop along certain lines through his direction. Our Loudest thanks are due to him for giving eucharistic worship a greater place in out scheme of worship than had been the case for 20 years. Coupled with this he carried out the beautifying of the church and the raising of the standard of the music. His aim was beauty or worship in beautiful surroundings, thus making it possible for the people to appreciate more the majesty and glory of God.

Parish Magazine

Mr Cunnynghame immediately started a local Parish Magazine and said that the aims of the magazine were 1. to cement ties, to bring us closer to one another and thus closer to the church and God. 2. to reach absentees and thereby give them and others some Church Doctrine, and hope to build up their enthusiasm. This, he hoped, would lead to better attendances at church. Surely this is the aim of a Parish Magazine even today. The Magazine was not expected to pay its way. And indeed, it did not but made a 70% loss for some years. But there was much that was instructive in its pages, although for a time, possible because of the loss, it became very brief.

Choir and organ

Most people maintain that Mr. Cunnynghame's main interest was the choir and organ. Be that as it may, we have to thank him for this great interest, even if we believe that through it the music became rather too involved for the congregation as a whole. His desire was to improve the church services. He believed singing to be an art but thought that the state of the singing at St. Johns Baptists at that time had more "heart" than "art", and that the Choir had a definite tendency to shout and hurry. So he set to work. A holiday Choir School was the first try-out. Boys were asked to give up about three or four mornings of the summer holidays, every week, and have their voices trained by him, and we still have in the congregation, one of those poorer days. However, for all his undoubted skill, Mr. Cunnynghame's efforts were not quickly rewarded and for over a year he was still appealing for choir men and boys. In his early days he had to borrow members from the Cathedral for special occasions. Gradually effort was rewarded with success and three settings of the Mass were in use.

The Organ was also a problem and was to remain so for some time and must have caused some rather bitter feelings. The response to an appeal was slow but gradually £550 was raised (including some large donations) and the organ was purchased. But within 4 years it was past repair and another firm Messrs. Norman & Beard, were paid £250 to rebuild it. These 2 sums represented a large expenditure in those days and the people must have regretted the first £550.

St. John Baptist gradually built up perhaps one of the finest choirs of the district and many of the members joined the Dundee Choral Union, under the leadership of Mr Cowe, the Cathedral Organist. Some of the choir also studied singing, and others the organ under Mr. Cowe. My Cowe, in turn, had studied under Mr Collinson, the Edinburgh Cathedral Organist, who again, in turn, was a student of J.B. Dykes, the famous Priest, Organist and Hymn Tune writer of the last century. So the organists at St John B?s have a hard act to follow.

Sunday School

But just as much effort went into other things as into the music and the Sunday School is a good example of this. Families were large and more houses surrounded the Church, so there was a fairly large Sunday School. Mr Cunnynghame introduced the course of instruction arranged by the Church's Education Board and the children took the annual examinations set by that body. Perhaps only a half of the children submitted themselves for examination at first, but we have people in the Church today who seem to be sound in their faith because of the regular instruction and examinations. In this respect, examinations, the Episcopal Church was well ahead of the times and it is a pity that the scheme came to an end.

Music claimed the attention of the Sunday School as well and there was formed a "Juvenile Musical Society" which produced cantatas in the Forrester's Hall. Sunday School Picnics became a rather elaborate affair and were run at a vast loss, equivalent to about £40 today, but the congregation seemed to regard Mr Cunnynghame as a goose to lay golden eggs. Although prepared to be generous he did complain about this in the Parish Magazine, and who can blame him.

About this time, the Boys' Brigade was attracting some of our boys away from the Episcopal Church and there was a formed the Episcopal Church Battalion (Dundee 8th) and out boys were able to join. The Subscription was 6d per annum and the hat cost 7d. Unfortunately these were the days when the Brigade still carried rifles and these cost £18 each and the church had to raise money for these.

Spiritual Condition of the Parish

Mr Cunnynghame had followed as parish priest one who been dearly loved by the people and he found his task to be a very difficult one for some years, and he constantly published in the magazine the numbers of those attending services, and these showed decline for some years after 1903. This Mr Cunnynghame worked hard to arrest, but it took 4 years before the tide began to flow in the other direction, and by this time he felt the need for a prolonged holiday. However, in the earlier part of the year there was held a Mission by Canon Winter of St. Andrews. This had some effect but seems to have attracted more of the faithful than the unconverted, which is always the case but the "lesser brethren" were no doubt encouraged by the loyal support of the "regulars".

Buildings

Alas, Mr Cunnynghame found problems ready-made for him at St. John Baptists soon after his arrival. The buildings, although very young, were suffering very much from dry rot. The rot had extended to all the flooring and the supporting beams, through bad ventilation. The church and hall were in a dangerous condition. Thus another Sale of Work had to be resorted to. Coupled with the dry rot, there was the need of a Parsonage and the renewal of the organ, and the establishment of an Endowment Fund. The aim of the Sale Of Work was to raise £250, but at the end of the day there was a balance of £446. So the repairs were done, electric light was installed, a parsonage fund and an Endowment Fund were started. There are still in existence, a few plates with a picture of the church that were sold at this sale and it is hoped that members with them will preserve them. To run the Sale, a committee of 25 was elected and helpers, including stall-holders and assistants, numbered 100, including the youth people and a few well-wishers. The Sale was opened on the first day by the Earl of Strathmore, with whom Mr Cunnynghame had some connection through his other. It is interesting and amusing to read that Mr Cunnynghame strongly forbade raffles, perhaps to the annoyance of some of the Committee. But at the same time, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had just won a large prize in a similar Sale of Work in Dundee, and this seems to have been held by some of the people as an argument against Mr Cunnynghame's decision.

Social Activities

These were the days when the church was expected to provide a lot of the social life of the community and St John Baptists did not lag behind. There was a Mothers Meeting under the leadership or Mrs Cunnynghame, which met on Tuesday evenings and the membership exceeded 40.

A Girls Sewing Class was held by Mrs Gravill on Thursday and this seems t have provided also for recreation and an interest in the overseas missionary work of the church. Guilds had played some part in the spiritual life of the church but now the Guild of the Cross proposed to extend its interest to the social side of the church's work. So a Social Evening was held once a month, on Wednesdays from 7:30 until 10 p.m. It was agreed that the admission be not less than 1d. Dances were more expensive at 6d!

Some time previously there had been a St. Johns club. This was now revived and met on Saturday evenings, but on rather different lines. Activities are listed as Singlesticks, Indian Clubs, Rope-Climbing, Dominoes (matches with other clubs), Lectures and reading, for which there was supplied reading matter, including the Evening Telegraph, the Graphic and the Illustrated London News

In addition there was an Annual Social Gathering sometime just before Lent. This was held in the Church Hall and the attendance was around 300. This number of course filled the hall and allowed for no easy movement, and thus the Social Gathering took the form of a concert and the inevitable speeches of those days. Always three at least, and sometimes four people had their say, but of course, those occasions were used then, as sometimes now, as opportunities for pep-talks and exhortation.

Church Adornment

St John Baptists, although quite well-designed in many ways, must have lacked something in appearance for the first 20 years of its life and early photographs show improvement was necessary. Mr Cunnynghame set to work to beautify the building and provide more dignified and worthy furniture and fittings. We owe him the lead that he gave and also quite a heavy load of gratitude for the very handsome donations he gave towards the costs of the work he undertook.

The magazine for 1908 gives us details of the work undertaken at that time, and a fine description of the finished work, which is still there for us to enjoy today. A considerable improvement has been effected in the Chancel by the introduction of the new choir Stalls, Wall Panelling and Organ Front, in richly carved Austrian Oak. The style of the work is Late Gothic, in harmony with the architecture of the Church, and is sumptuously treated with a profusion of delicate tracery and carving.

The wall panelling is divided into bays with face buttresses between, which are carried up through the coved cornice to form pinnacles. The buttresses and pinnacles are decorated with crockets, and the cornice is surmounted by a traceried cresting.

The Choir Stalls are of the usual type, but have especially handsome ends, the arms being in the shape of carved nondescript winged animals, mostly based on the lion, but all varied. The finals of the bench ends are especially noteworthy, being very boldly carved in conventional treatments of floral forms and foliage. The Priest's chairs resemble the choir-stalls in detail.

The details of the panelling were partly suggested by the magnificent woodwork of the Chapel of Kings College, Aberdeen. There is a double row canopied stalls in Aberdeen but, of course, we have no canopies. Note that the Thistle, our National emblem, has been included in the carving. The Choir Stalls were also, to a degree, inspired by those of Old St Paul's Church Edinburgh.

Mr Cunnynghame, when Priest in Charge, used to take the Sunday School up to the Chancel and point out the 20 shields carrying carved symbols and was able to instruct the children thereby about the Passion and Death of Our Lord. There are 14 small shields and 6 large ones, and in addition, there are a few small shields with as yet, no symbols on them.

The 14 small shields have the following symbols:

1. The 30 pieces of silver
2. Sword and Staff
3. The Kiss of Judas
4. Lantern
5. Pillar and cord
6. Scourge
7. Crown of Thorns
8. Seamless Robe and Dice
9. Ladder
10. Hammer and Pincers
11. Nails
12. Spear and Sponge on Reed
13. Pierced Heart
14. Chalice

The Larger Shields contain the following:

1. I.H.S
2. The Orb and Cross
3. The Crown and Crossed Palms
4. The Sceptre
5. The Empty Tomb
6. Alpha & Omega with crossed keys

You can find out why these things have been placed on the shields by reading the story of the Passion and Death of Our Lord in the four gospels

In 1914 there was added to the church a series of pictures, 10 in numbers, known as "The Stations of the Cross", description of scenes in the Way of Sorrows, what happened to Our Lord on the way from Jerusalem to Calvary to be crucified. The traditional number is 14, but we only have the 10 Scriptural Stations, which of course, is much better than introducing non-scriptural legends. The pictures represent Our Lord condemned by Pilate, Our Lord receiving his cross, falling under the weight of the cross, the cross laid on Simon of Cyrene, Chris speaking to the daughters of Jerusalem, the Lord stripped of his raiment, Nailed to the Cross, Dead of the cross, Taken down from the cross and finally buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Again you can see all these come from the story of Our Lord?s Passion, from the four gospels.

At this time also, the picture of the crucifixion that hung behind the High Altar was removed and in its place we now have the most beautiful triptych, the central picture of which depicts the Epiphany of Our Lord, his being shown to the Wise Men and receiving their gifts of Gold and Frankincense and Myrrh. The other two pictures represent St. John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist.

In 1914 the old font which had stood, at least at first, near the door was replaced by the beautiful one we have today, which is placed right at the back of the church, a part of the church which later in 1967 was made into a proper Baptistery

The font is made of marble, known as Hopton Wood. Later the font was raised another 10 inches but alas with inferior stone. The font is covered with an oak canopy 10 feet in height, a very delicate but beautiful piece of work of carving. It is completely carved and has no panels. The font is a memorial to Mr David Maurice, a devoted son of the church and a lifelong member of St John Baptists

Other improvements should also be mentioned here. Originally there were very high railings at the Chancel and they were not beautiful, far from it. However, they were removed and were replaced by a lower wall, very attractive, and made of the stone used for the font, Hopton Wood. A new pulpit was placed at the south end of the chancel wall. It is carved with varied scenes.

You will see from above that the church was intensely beautified. Costs included, Font Cover, £100; Stations of the Cross £30; Font £43; Triptych Pictures £210. You can imagine what these things would cost today, and we should be extremely grateful that we have them at St Johns Baptists. A War Memorial, costing over £200 was added in 1921.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs