Location: St Mary’s Anglican Church, Church Street, Timaru
Access: Church interior. Visit during open hours, services, or by permission from the parish. Please treat the space as sacred and active, not only as a heritage site.
Associated years: 1915, 1921, 1942, 1944, 1953
Associated people and groups: Lieutenant F. B. H. Guinness, Lieutenant-Colonel C. Ernest Thomas, Dennis Gordon Allwright Ritchie, William Traill Ritchie, Dorothy Cecil Ritchie, St Mary’s parishioners, citizens of Worthing in Sussex, Canterbury Brevet Club, South Canterbury and North Otago airmen
A small plaque below the window was presented by the Canterbury Brevet Club to honour airmen from South Canterbury and North Otago who served during the war.
~ THIS MEMORIAL WINDOW ~
IS ERECTED IN HONOURED MEMORY
OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
~~ IN THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM ~~
IN THE WORLD WARS. 1914-1918, 1939-1945.
~ THE CENTRE LIGHT OF THIS WINDOW ~
IS THE GIFT OF THE CITIZENS OF THE
BOROUGH OF WORTHING, SUSSEX, ENGLAND.
AS AN EXPRESSION OF THEIR GOODWILL
TOWARDS THE CITIZENS OF TIMARU.
St Mary’s is an important war-history stop because it shows how churches became places where families and congregations carried grief. Before Timaru’s larger civic memorials were completed, churches often installed plaques, rolls of honour and memorial furnishings for members of their own communities. St Mary’s records both individual loss and collective parish remembrance.
Two of the earliest memorials at St Mary’s link directly to Gallipoli. On 25 August 1915, Lieutenant F. B. H. Guinness was killed at the Dardanelles. A brass plaque was later installed in St Mary’s in his memory. Three days later, on 28 August 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel C. Ernest Thomas was also killed at the Dardanelles. A brass plaque was later installed in the church for him too. These plaques connect Church Street, Timaru, with the Gallipoli campaign, where New Zealand’s national war memory was profoundly shaped.
After the First World War, parishioners considered several forms of memorial, including a war memorial porch or baptistery. They eventually chose a memorial tablet. On 1 December 1921, St Mary’s First World War Shrine of Remembrance was dedicated. It was a substantial marble and alabaster tablet set into the western wall of the nave. It included a roll of honour naming 73 former members of the congregation who had died in the war.
The Second World War added another layer. In 1942, the parish decided to furnish the Lady Chapel at the south-eastern end of the church as a war memorial and thanks-offering for peace. On 28 November 1944, Dennis Gordon Allwright Ritchie died while serving in the RNZAF. The Ritchie memorial window in the chapel was later dedicated to Dennis and his parents, William Traill Ritchie and Dorothy Cecil Ritchie.
After the Second World War, Timaru supplied food parcels to Worthing, Sussex, during a time of shortage in Britain. This post-war act of support became part of the St Mary’s memorial story. On 29 June 1953, the Lady Chapel, renamed the Chapel of St Michael and All Angels, was dedicated, along with a Shrine of Remembrance and war memorial window. The Second World War Shrine of Remembrance was incorporated into the carved oak screen between the chapel and chancel and included the parish’s Second World War roll of honour, listing 44 names.
The three-light stained glass war memorial window, also dedicated on 29 June 1953, commemorated the fallen of both world wars. A bronze tablet recorded that the central light was a gift from the citizens of the Borough of Worthing, Sussex, as an expression of goodwill towards the citizens of Timaru. A smaller plaque below the window, presented by the Canterbury Brevet Club, honours airmen from South Canterbury and North Otago who served during the war.
Why it matters: St Mary’s shows how war remembrance was held inside parish life. It connects Gallipoli, local families, RNZAF service, parish rolls of honour, post-war international goodwill, and the long work of mourning. It also reminds us that memorials were not only civic monuments. They were placed in churches where families worshipped, married, baptised children, attended funerals, and returned year after year to read familiar names.
Find A WuHoo: Inside the church, look for the brass plaques, the First World War Shrine of Remembrance, the Chapel of St Michael and All Angels, the carved oak screen, the Second World War roll of honour, the stained glass window, the Worthing tablet, and the Canterbury Brevet Club plaque. Ask how one church came to hold so many layers of war memory.
25 August 1915: Lieutenant F. B. H. Guinness was killed at the Dardanelles. A brass plaque was later installed in St Mary’s Anglican Church, Timaru, in his memory.
28 August 1915: Lieutenant-Colonel C. Ernest Thomas was killed at the Dardanelles. A brass plaque was later installed in the church in his memory.
After the First World War: Parishioners of St Mary’s Anglican Church first considered erecting a war memorial porch or war memorial baptistery, but eventually decided to install a memorial tablet.
1 December 1921: The church’s First World War Shrine of Remembrance was dedicated. It was a substantial marble and alabaster tablet set into the western wall of the nave and included a roll of honour naming 73 former members of the congregation who had died in the war.
1942: It was decided to furnish the Lady Chapel, at the south-eastern end of the church, as a war memorial and a thanks-offering for peace.
28 November 1944: Dennis Gordon Allwright Ritchie died while serving in the RNZAF. The Ritchie memorial window in the chapel was later dedicated to the memory of Dennis and his parents, William Traill and Dorothy Cecil Ritchie.
After the Second World War: Timaru supplied food parcels to Worthing, Sussex, England, during a time of shortage.
29 June 1953: The Lady Chapel, renamed the Chapel of St Michael and All Angels, was dedicated, along with a Shrine of Remembrance and war memorial window.
29 June 1953: The Second World War Shrine of Remembrance was incorporated into the carved oak screen between the chapel and the chancel. It included the parish’s Second World War roll of honour, listing 44 names.
29 June 1953: The three-light stained glass war memorial window was dedicated in the chapel. It commemorated the fallen of both world wars.
29 June 1953: A bronze tablet recorded that the central light of the window was a gift from the citizens of the Borough of Worthing, Sussex, England, as an expression of goodwill towards the citizens of Timaru.
Sources: Harold W. Monagan, A Joy for Ever: St Mary’s Parish Church, Timaru, Wellington, 1945, pp. 51, 64; ‘Dedication of Memorial at St Mary’s, Timaru’, Church & People, vol. 8, no. 7, 1 August 1953, p. 11; John Button, Love and Faithfulness: Stories of St Mary’s, Timaru, 1860–2010, Timaru, 2010, pp. 64–65, 70?, 80?, 105–109.