The congregation that would become the cathedral held its first Sunday service on Sunday, 11 March 1849, as "Hongkong Colonial Chapel", the founding church of the Diocese of Victoria.[2][3] It was consecrated as St John's Cathedral by George Smith, bishop of Victoria, in 1852.[3]
On the morning of 8 December 1941, the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Japanese attacked Hong Kong. On Christmas morning 1941 Alaric Rose took the morning service in St John's with a congregation of one hundred, while shelling continued on the island.[2]
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the cathedral was converted into a club for the Japanese. Many of the original fittings were stripped out, including the original stained glass windows, which had been created by William Morris' firm.[4]
On 9 September 1945, the first service after the arrival of the Royal Navy was held in the cathedral.[5]
In 1981, Peter Kwong became the first Chinesebishop of Hong Kong,[6] who went on to become the first archbishop of Hong Kong when the province was established in 1998.
The site of St John's Cathedral is the only freehold land in Hong Kong, granted in fee simple pursuant to s. 6(1) of the Church of England Trust Ordinance (Cap. 1014) of 1930. All other land tenure in Hong Kong is leasehold in nature.[7]
It is the oldest surviving Western ecclesiastical building in Hong Kong, and the oldest Anglican church in the Far East.[10]
The cathedral's architectural style is a plain, unadorned adaptation of 13th-century English and decorated Gothic, which was the popular revivalist style for churches at the time. Along the north wall is a memorial tablet to William Thornton Bate, who was killed in the battle on Canton in 1857.[11] A similar tablet is found at St Ann's Church in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire.[12]
There were reports that the main doors of the cathedral are made with wood planks salvaged from HMS Tamar, but according to a 2016 article published by the South China Morning Post, that is untrue.[13]
The first pew on the south side of the interior bears the royal arms, as it was formerly reserved for the governor or any member of the royal family visiting Hong Kong before the handover in 1997.[citation needed]
Next to the cathedral is a large memorial cross, unveiled by governor Reginald Edward Stubbs in 1921 in memory of the soldiers killed in the First World War. During the Japanese occupation the cross was reduced to a straight granite column. In 1952 it was replaced by a Celtic cross, with an inscription added to commemorate those who had died in both world wars. The original bronze tablet with the names of the First World War dead is held inside the cathedral, in St Michael's Chapel.
Every year ex-British Army members hold a memorial service at the memorial cross.
^Wang, David; Tsai, Freda (2018). Encountering Twelve of Asia's Greatest Churches (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: China Times Publishing. p. 170. ISBN9789571376875. 聖約翰座堂因為保留和天主教相似的「高派」崇拜儀式，也成為望彌撒的最佳場所。[St John's Cathedral is also the best place to attend a Mass, because the congregation worships in the 'High Church' tradition, which is similar to that of the Catholic Church.]
^ abStuart., Wolfendale (2013). Imperial to international: a history of St. John's Cathedral, Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN978-9882208469. OCLC843532263.
^ abBard, Solomon (2002). Voices from the Past: Hong Kong, 1842-1918. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN9622095747.
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