St George Church
The popularity of Christendom's St. George is far-reaching, touching the
religious as well as the secular. Churches named after him are found in many
parts of the world, including the historic city of George Town, Penang. St.
George has also served as a fountain of inspiration to writers (like
Shakespeare), artists and musicians.
The most famous depiction of St George Church was his battle with a ferocious
dragon (such as the one shown here from The Catholic Community Forum) and it is
this mortal combat with which the Saint has most often been captured by artists
on canvases, medals and tapestries. The one located here, on the corner of Lebuh
Farquhar and Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling is historically significant in this
part of the world because it is the oldest Anglican Church in Southeast Asia.
With the help of The East India Company, the church was built in 1816 using
convict labor during Colonel J. A. Bannerman's term as British Governor of
Penang. The inspiration behind the formation of St George church, however, was
credited to Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings, a well known educationist and Robert
Smith, an engineer and landscape artist. Rev. Hutchings contributions towards
the development of Penang from an educational perspective are significant.
He founded the Penang Free School and compiled and wrote what were considered
the first books on Malay grammar, in addition to several elementary text-books
and a dictionary mainly for school use. He founded the Auxiliary Bible Society
and translated the New Testament into Malay.
The cost of building the church was 60,000 Spanish Dollars. To give you a rough
idea on the significance of that amount, Singapore was sold to the British
sometime in 1819 for the same price. On 11 May 1819, the Church was consecrated
by The Rt. Rev. Thomas Middleton, Bishop of Calcutta.
The Georgian Palladium architecture of the Church was designed by Captain Robert
N. Smith of Madras Engineers, whose considerable talents also extended to
etchings and oil paintings. His work consisting of an impressive series of
oil-painted landscapes of Penang are now permanent exhibits at the
Penang Museum and Art Gallery.
Contact Information
Address: 1, Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 604 261 2739
Fax: 604 264 2292
Church Services in English are held twice every Sunday, the first at 8.30 am and
second at 10.30 am.
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