Canon William HopcraftPrint Page

The Canon Hopcraft Memorial Vestries commemorate Canon William Hopcraft who was a Reverend of the church from 1895 to 1908.

In June 1895, Canon Slaney-Poole resigned and the Reverend William Hopcraft of Port Augusta was appointed and inducted on September 6. Much of Hopcraft’s incumbency was occupied by the need to reduce the debt incurred by the building program. Canon Hopcraft died on June 9, 1908 and the choir vestries were erected on the west side of the Parish Hall and altar rails were placed in the chancel. 

On Sunday afternoon the Bishop ol Adelaide (Dr. Thomas) unveiled the tablet on the memorial vestries, which have been erected in the grounds of St. John's Church, Halifax-street. Prior to the ceremony a service was conducted in the church by Archdeacon Hornabrook. There was a large congregation. The bishop delivered an address, in which he extolled the labors of Canon Hopcraft in the parish. Dr. Thomas alluded to the fact that it was All Saints' day, a most appropriate occasion for the ceremony. He felt personally proud of performing the ceremony, because when he was consecrated Bishop of Adelaide in London the only Anglican clergyman from South Australia present was Canon Hopcraft, who shook hands with him at the close of the solemnities. Dr. Thomas spoke highly of the earnestness of conviction which characterised Canon Hopcraft, of his devotion to duty, and his self-sacrificing labors for all classes of the community. The canon had done a noble work in the north before he took charge of St. John's, and he believed that much of his success was due to his power as a preacher of the Gospel, his catholicity, and his remarkable power of estimating character. There was nothing which would have pleased Canon Hopcraft better if he had lived than the completion of the vestries, upon which he had always set his mind. A procession of choristers and clergy proceeded at the close of the service in the church to the yard, where the bishop  unveiled the memorial-stone of the vestries. 
Advertiser (Adelaide), 2 November 1908.

Canon Hopcraft Death 1908

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