Jack Greenwood
17d ago
Jane Deans' Stand for Religious Freedom at Barbadoes Street Cemetery
Transcript
Jane Deans' determination really shaped the early history of this place. Back in 1854, her husband, John Deans I, died, and she wanted his grave to be exempt from the Church of England's plan to consecrate their portion of the Barbadoes Street Cemetery. They told her she could dig him up and move him if she didn't like it.
This was a time when the Church of England insisted only Anglican priests could conduct services in their section of the cemetery. But Jane Deans was Presbyterian, and her stand inspired the local Presbyterians, led by people like the Rev. Charles Fraser, John Craib Angus, William ‘Cabbage’ Wilson, and John Anderson.
Instead of using the small area the Canterbury Association had set aside for Dissenters at Barbadoes Street Cemetery, the Presbyterians bought five acres here in Selwyn Street, part of Rural Section 66. They opened it as a graveyard in 1858, and it was first known as the ‘Scotch Cemetery’.
Even though St. Andrew’s Church owned it, this became the first public graveyard in Christchurch. They advertised it as being "open to all persons of any religious community and to the performance of any religious service at the burial not contrary to public decency and good order." There was no attempt to keep different denominations in separate areas.
They also expected the cemetery to earn money. Any revenue would go towards buying building sites for Presbyterian religious or educational purposes, helping members of the parish in distress, building schools and churches, and establishing bursaries for an Academy or College connected with St. Andrew’s Church, which was an ancestor of Christchurch West High School.
Eventually, like Barbadoes Street Cemetery, this Addington Cemetery was handed over to the Christchurch City Council. You can see it's quite full, and the plot map shows how graves are squeezed into every available space. There are prominent iron railings and many vertical slab headstones, and some yew trees provide shelter.