St James's Church Research Articles

Visit to Southwell and Kariega Baptist Church 20 May 2021

On Thursday 20 May, 43 members set off from the Port Alfred Civic Centre at 9 am sharp to visit the old school and St James church in Southwell, where Moira Stirk kindly addressed us. This was followed by a visit to the historic Baptist Church in Kariega, where we were addressed by Hubert Webber, whose family has long been connected with the area.

General Synod of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui

The Eighth General Synod of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (‘Holy Catholic Church of Hong Kong’) met from 23 to 25 June 2019 at St James's Church in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong. The Synod had been scheduled to meet from 23 to 27 June but concluded its business two days early. It normally meets every three years.

The Difficulty of Reconciliation after the St James Church Attack

Abstract This article is a comparative reading of the autobiography Child of this Soil: My Life as a Freedom Fighter by Letlapa Mphahlele and the memoir by Charl van Wyk, Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defence. The two texts culminate in recounting of the St. James Church attack in 1993 and the two men’s subsequent reconciliatory meetings. Mphahlele ordered the attack as an APLA commander and Van Wyk was the parishioner who fired back at the APLA attackers. Of interest are the conditions of possibility for dialogue between Van Wyk and Mphahlele in the context of the national narrative of reconciliation.

Signing off after two decades at the helm

1993, the year I was appointed Editor of the SAMJ, turned out to be a Dickensian moment in the history of South Africa. As in The Tale of Two Cities, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.' In that year, the diverse parties concluded the political negotiations leading to the adoption of a new democratic constitution. At the same time, senseless political violence continued, typified by the deadly attack on worshippers at the St James Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town. Nelson Mandela and F W de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and activist Chris Hani was assassinated by the right-wing fringe. The Proteas, newly readmitted to international competition after 21 years of the sports boycott of South Africa, walloped Sri Lanka and drew with Australia in test cricket; domestically, the defence force opened fire on a house of an anti-apartheid activist in Umtata, killing five schoolchildren. The atmosphere in the country was thick with trepidation and hope, anxiety and anticipation.

Seismic Assessment of St James Church by Means of Pushover Analysis – Before and After the New Zealand Earthquake

The paper presents a numerical study for the seismic assessment of the St James Church in Christchurch, New Zealand affected by the recent 2011 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. The structural behavior of the Church has been evaluated using the finite element modelling technique, in which the nonlinear behavior of masonry has been taken into account by proper constitutive assumptions. Two numerical models were constructed, one incorporating the existing structural damage and the other considering the intact structure. The validation of the numerical models was achieved by the calibration of the damaged model according to dynamic identification tests carried out in situ after the earthquake. Non-linear pushover analyses were carried out on both principal directions demonstrating that, as a result of the seismic action, the Church can no longer be considered safe. Pushover analysis results of the undamaged model show reasonable agreement with the visual inspection performed in situ, which further validates the model used. Finally, limit analysis us-ing macro-block analysis was also carried out to validate the main local collapse mechanisms of the Church.

A lőcsei Szent János-oltár szárnyas angyalfej-sorozatának előzményeiről

Abstract On the architrave of the altar shrine of the Saints John altarpiece in the St James church in Lőcse (Levoca) there are angel heads; the paper is trying to find their source. The motif was most frequently used in the Quattrocento. The most effective disseminator of the fashion of nude and often wingless youngster and children was Donatello in Italy. Angels without distinct functions had the role to indicate heaven which is why they are usually on the upper part of the altarpiece and later of the tabernacle. When they appear in sepulchral monuments, they refer to the hoped-for celestial dwelling of the deceased. A variant, or abridgment as it were, of the infant angel, the winged angel head already appeared in the 14th century. The popularizer of children angels Donatello also created winged angel heads which spread wide in Italy after his works. The motif arrived in Hungary from Florence. One of its first specimens was probably the white marble tabernacle, an import from Florence, in the chapel of...

Haydn, the engraver Thomas Park, and Maria Hester Park's 'Little Sonat'

HAYDN'S LAST THREE surviving sonatas for keyboard may all be associated with the period of his second visit to England in 1794-5. Two of these sonatas, those in C (H.XVI:50) and E flat (H.XVI:52), were originally written for the pianist Therese Jansen, with whom Haydn was on friendly terms at the time.1 The composer acted as a witness at Miss Jansen's wedding to the picture and print dealer Gaetano Bartolozzi at St James's Church, Piccadilly, on 16 May 1795. The autograph manuscript of the Sonata in E flat only has thus far come to light, dated London 1794, and inscribed 'Sonata composta per la Celebra Signora [sic] Teresa de Janson [sic]'.2 But the evidence of the first English editions of both sonatas (published in or about 1800) clearly indicates that both were composed with Therese Jansen-Bartolozzi in mind, and probably at her instigation. They are both described as 'grand' sonatas, the E flat major 'COMPOSED EXPRESSLY FOR MrS BARTOLOZZI', and the C major 'COMPOSED EXPRESSLY FOR AND DEDICATED TO Mrs BARTOLOZZI'.3 The origin of the third 'English' sonata, in D major (H.XVI:51), has proved more elusive. It was published for the first time by Haydn's Leipzig publishers, Breitkopf & Hartel, as late as December 1804, and designated a 'SONATE POUR LE PIANOFORTE'.4 Haydn apparently let it be known in preparation for this publication that the sonata had been 'composed in England for a lady, who kept the original manuscript and gave Haydn a copy she had written herself'.5 It has often been assumed that this 'lady' must also have been Therese Jansen-Bartolozzi.6 Indeed Albert Christoph Dies, one of Haydn's first biographers, specifically refers to a group of '3 Sonates for Ms. Janson'.7 But another of Haydn's early biographers, Georg August Griesinger, who from 1799 helped for several years to negotiate arrangements

Using past events to construct the present: Voices at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings

This article analyses the discursive thread of interpersonal meanings in several sets of documents: newspaper reports of what became known as the St James Church massacre in Cape Town in July 1993; excerpts from two applicants' and one witness' deposition at the TRC hearing on the same event, in July 1997; newspaper reporting of the hearing; an extract from the TRC Commissioners' decision granting Amnesty in June 1998; and a news report of reactions to that decision. The framework used is Appraisal theory in systemic functional linguistics, which enables a principled analysis of intersubjective strategies around issues of values and judgements. The interaction of appraisal choices made by the various protagonists in the public drama of the TRC hearings, across different texts, shows the different positioning strategies which enable the applicants and their 'hearers' (observers, journalists, the television and reading public) not so much to 'reveal' or 'discover' the past but rather to negotiate a particular present for themselves and their country.

Sir Alexander Fleming in Stained Glass: St James's Church, Sussex Gardens

Sir Alexander Fleming in Stained Glass: St James's Church, Sussex Gardens

Harold King, 1887-1956

Harold King, who died on 20 February 1956, was brought up in Wales, although he had no Welsh blood in him. His father, Herbert King, who, together with his wife, came of Lancashire farming stock, was a schoolmaster by profession; he had received his training at Carmarthen and had hence become specially interested in Welsh education. Harold, the eldest of four children, was born on 24 February 1887 in the village of Llanengan, Carnarvonshire, where his mother was headmistress of the church school, his father being headmaster of the church school at the neighbouring village of Llanbedrog. Soon after Harold’s birth the family moved to Llanystumdwy, where his parents were headteachers of the church school until 1891; in the latter year they moved again, this time to Bangor, the move being dictated by Herbert King’s desire to provide the best education for his children; the parents remained head teachers of the St James Church School in Bangor until their retirement in 1923. It was in this modest and serious-minded environment that Harold King grew to manhood, and the marks of his upbringing remained with him to the end of his life. His earliest education was received at the school where his parents taught; from this he moved to Friars’ Grammar School, Bangor, where he spent about five years, and in 1905 he entered University College,, Bangor, as the holder of two scholarships. King himself has recorded that at this time he had a general interest in science, but was quite undecided as to which particular branch he would pursue. At the end of his intermediate course he was still undecided, but at this stage he was influenced by the advice of a fellow student to choose chemistry as one of the subjects for his final examination. The advice that was given to King was based on the excellence of the teaching of chemistry by the late K. J. P. Orton who held the chair at Bangor; it was a fortunate circumstance that he accepted this advice, for as he himself said, under the inspiration of Orton’s teaching he found chemistry both interesting and easy; his period of indecision was over; he had found the chosen subject for his life’s work, and in 1909 he graduated with first class honours.