Notes on Holy Trinity Church in Shanghai

The original church was built in 1847 as a church for the English business community.  Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries had arrived two years earlier, so it may be assumed that they helped to start the church. Shanghai Missionary District, attached to the Jiangsu Diocese of the American Church Mission received oversight from the American appointed bishop, so Holy Trinity Church remained a British outpost in an American diocese.

The present building (called the “red church”) was built in 1862-1869, a neo-Gothic structure designed by Sir Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) and William Kidner. It was the largest Christian Church in Shanghai at the time. The Masons were involved in the construction of the church and they regarded it as their church. The 50-meter tower added in 1893.

The church was consecrated as a cathedral on 23 May, 1875. At that service, the sermon was delivered by Bishop William Armstrong Russell of the Diocese of North China (administered by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) on the importance of Cathedrals and the unity of the Church.

After the formation of the Diocese of Chekiang in 1909 (since 1879, it was called the Diocese Mid-China), the bishop resided in Ningpo, but his Cathedral was still Holy Trinity. This was highly irregular. The English referred to Holy Trinity as “our cathedral”. The American Episcopal Mission had authority in Jiangsu Diocese, with a pro-Cathedral at St. John’s University Shanghai. This latter building was torn down in the early 1950s. English clergy in Shanghai were under the bishop of Chekiang. This had been the case since the late 19^th century.

In 1948, Geoffrey Fischer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that Holy Trinity could not remain as a cathedral because it was not in Chekiang. The cathedral was to be moved to Centennial Church in Ningpo, the seat of the bishop.

The church register, 1847-1951 is at the Lambeth Palace archives. It is easily accessible. In the 1940s, the stained-glass window facing south in St. John’s Cathedral was donated by the Holy Trinity Church.  Apparently, they saw St. John’s as a sister church for English Anglicans.

In May 1956 the last meeting of the bishops of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui (CHSKH) was held at Holy Trinity Cathedral. It was dedicated on 20 May, 1956 as the national cathedral of the CHSKH. Bishop R. O. Hall of Hong Kong preached there on June 3, 1956. The cathedral was occupied by the government from the late 1950s onward, after the Unification of Worship, and through the Cultural Revolution and the years since.  The exact dates need to be checked.  

The dedication of the new CCC/TSPM offices at Jiujiang Road was in June 2004. Plans were then begun for the renovation and opening of the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Holy Trinity was formally opened on 12 December, 2022. The first service of worship is scheduled for 9:00 am on 18 December, the fourth Sunday in Advent.

The Rev’d Professor Philip L. Wickeri,

HKSKH Archivist

12 December 2022

Appendix:

Cornerstone of adjacent Cathedral School, which is the TSPM/CCC headquarters:

CATHEDRAL SCHOOL

HENRY LESTER ENDOWMENT

FOR BRITISH BOYS

AND CATHEDRAL CHURCH HOUSE AND HALL

THE CORNER STONE WAS LAID BY

C.F. GARSTIN. ESQUIRE. C.B.E.

BRITISH ACTING CONSUL GENERAL AT SHANGHAI

ON THE 19^TH DAY OF DECEMBER 1928

THE VERY REVEREND A.C.S. PRIVETT, M.A., B.D.