Open Collections

[between 1875 and 1891?]

1 bookplate : intaglio printing ; 6.1 x 9.1 cm

Hamilton (Ont.)

Prints

image/jpeg

Born on March 29, 1811, John Gamble Geddes was the son of James Geddes and Sarah Hannah Boies Gamble and had fifteen siblings. He married Susan Davidson on September 23, 1841 in the Cathedral of Quebec and the couple had two sons and three daughters. Geddes’s early education occurred at the Grammar School in Kingston. At 17, he was given a scholarship in Divinity under the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts. He studied at the Theological College at Chambly for six years and was ordained Deacon on August 10, 1834. Geddes served as curate to the Archdeacon Stuart in St. George’s Church, Kingston and then was a curate to Three Rivers in what was then Lower Canada. He was appointed Rector of Hamilton, Barton and parts adjacent on March 1835. He began on March 10th and held that position for forty-five years. In 1848, Geddes graduated from King’s College, Toronto under a Statue of the University that allowed clergymen engaged in parochial duties to attend examinations without attending lectures. He then completed a BA and MA at Trinity, which later gave him an Honorary Degree of D.C.L. after he was appointed to the Deanery of Niagara. When Geddes arrived in Hamilton there was no Anglican church so he took up the offer of the Jail and Court House to use it for worship. Geddes then oversaw efforts to build a church. Christ Church was built following the design of architect Robert J. Weatherall and was consecrated by the Bishop of Toronto in 1842. Geddes filled several public offices, including: Chaplain to the Jail and Hospital, Grammar School Trustee, Member of the Council of Trinity College, Chaplain to the forty-seventh Regiment and the Rifle Brigade, Secretary for the Gore and Wellington Church Society, Clerical Secretary of the Synod of Toronto, Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Bethune of Toronto, Prolocutor to the Provincial Synod, and finally, Dean of the Diocese of Niagara. Geddes was the Dean of Niagara between 1875 and 1891. Geddes retired from the parish in 1879 and moved to Tatsfield, Surrey, England. Between 1884 and 1886 he held missions throughout England. Geddes and his wife travelled to England several times before moving to Tatsfield. In 1876 Geddes was invited to attend the Annual Dinner at Lambeth Palace for the Bishops of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Tait. Geddes moved back to Canada at the end of 1886 and spent two years at Chippewa, where he temporarily held the Rectory. He returned to Hamilton in 1888, where he stayed until his death on November 16, 1891. Flags were flown half-mast at the Post Office, Drill Hall, and City Hall out of respect after his death
References:
1) Christ’s Church Anglican Cathedral (Hamilton, Ont.) fonds. (n.d.). Retrieved from <https://www.archeion.ca/christs-church-anglican-cathedral-hamilton-ont-fonds>
2) History. (n.d.). Retrieved from <http://cathedralhamilton.ca/?page_id=22> In memoriam, the Very Rev. John Gamble Geddes, rector of Hamilton, and dean of Niagara : born March 29th, 1811, died November 16th, 1891, in the eighty-first year of his age and fifty-seventh year of his ministry. (1891). Hamilton: Midgley. Retrieved from <http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.26054>

RBSC Bookplates

2017-02-27

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