Bishop George StantonPrint Page

The cedar pulpit was presented to the Cathedral by the past and present clergy of the Diocese to commemorate the first Bishop of North Queensland, Bishop George Henry Stanton.

Bishop Stanton was chosen in January 1878 as the first bishop of North Queensland. Consecrated in St Paul's Cathedral, London, on 24 June, by the archbishop of Canterbury, he was enthroned in St James's Pro-cathedral, Townsville, on 21 May 1879. By four years of perseverance and personal contacts, he largely overcame the shortage of clergy and funds, and within ten years erected ten new churches. He planned a permanent cathedral at Townsville and consulted Edmund Blacket about its design. He turned the first sod on the site on 27 June 1887, but the work lagged. His friendly disposition and sincerity won an immediate response, especially from his clergy. It was said of him that 'he was a simple and deeply spiritual soul, marked by utter humility and utter devotion of the whole life to the service of God and of man for God's sake'. He died in 1905.

Townsville October 27. The pulpit, which is manufactured entirely from Queensland woods by Messrs McMahon and Cliffe, is the gift of the clergy of the diocese in memory of Bishop Stanton's episcopate. The brass lectern of the pulpit was turned out by Mr Horn, of the firm of Horn and Petersen. The stalls for the canons are the gift of the Mayor of Townsville, Mr C. F. Sparre. The organ was the gift of Miss Holland, a friend of Bishop Stanton's in England, some years ago, but in the Pro- cathedral it was unable to be allotted such a position as would do it justice.
Excerpt from the Opening of St James Cathedral,
The North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld.)
2 November 1892.

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