The First Light of St John Church Jurong

Illustrated drawing of Rev. William Gomes preaching to the farmers in Sungei Jurong in the 1880s

A special tomb stood in a old disused cemetery scheduled for exhumation to make way for the new Tengah Town. Nearby there is a Hong Kah Flyover, Hong Kah North Community Club, Hong Kah Primary School, and Hong Kah Estate. Few would know that Hong Kah has its roots from 奉教, a phrase that means following or adhering to a religion or religious teachings. In this context , it means a believer of Christian.

The tomb reads :

"首耀安慰" - "The Esteemed and Comforting First Light"

This is likely an honorific title for a respected Christian, In this context, "First Light" would be referring to someone who brought Christianity to a particular area.

"天運乙未七月初二終 - "Passed away on the second day of the seventh month in Heaven's Reign (21 Aug 1895)"

"基督徒豐盛張公墓" - "Tomb of Christian Teo Hong Seng"

"耶穌降生" - 1895 years after the birth of Jesus

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The story begins on how the first light was brough upon Jurong :

St John Church Jurong

History of St John's Church Jurong (SJJ)

1872 Church work in Jurong initiated by Rev. William Gomes, Superintendent of St. Andrew’s Mission
and Mr. Cheok Loi Fatt (headmaster of St Andrew's School)

1874 Congregation consisted mainly of farmers. Back then, the common Chinese dialects used inJurong were Teochew, Hakka and Hokkien. Four Chinese members were baptised.

1876 Mr. Tay Hong Seng, one of the four baptised members donated a piece of land approximately three acres in size to build a church. This was so that he, his family and a large number ofworkers from his farm could attend church regularly.

1884 Completion of the building of St. John’s Church, Jurong (“SJJ”) on the piece of land donated byMr. Tay. On 11th March, Bishop George Frederick Hose, Ven. Thomas Meredith and Rev. WilliamGomes were appointed trustees for the property. A Blessing and Dedication Service was conducted by Bishop Hose.

1902 Rev. Gomes passed away and Rev. R. Richard took over the helm, a post he held till 1934.

Taken from St John’s Chapel 120th Anniversary Newsletter

CHINESE MISSION WORK IN SINGAPORE.

Rev William Henry Gomes born 19 Nov 1827, died 2 Mar 1902

The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 17 July 1886, Page 38

The St. Andrew's Mission, (S. P. G.) was commenced some thirty years ago, by the resident chaplain persuading his English congregation to employ Chinese catechists. This mission is still connected with, and partly supported by St. Andrew's Cathedral. The resident missionary, however, is under the S. P. G. The present occupant of that office, the Rev. W. H. Gomes, has kindly furnished me with the following interesting facts: "It is difficult for me to give statistics as regards my mission, seeing that it is for the Chinese (Chinese-speaking and Malay-speaking) and Tamils. Indeed the work done cannot be calculated numerically, as the people are always removing to other places in search of employment, while there are also fresh accessions from Christians who arrive here from China and India. Besides the Chinese-speaking Chinese, there are several members of our congregation from among the Straits-born Chinese with whom Malay is the language spoken at home. So that we have on a Sunday three services—in Chinese at 9 A.M., Tamil at 11 A.M., and Malay at 7.30 P.M. At the evening service all classes are expected to meet together, but some, who have come to one of the other services, do not come to it. Some Malay-speaking Eurasians also attend the Mission chapel. Our largest congregation at one service during the last year has been 157, and communicants 55, but this does not include the Christians at Jurong.

At the service I held there on Sunday last, the congregation was 30. The Register records 261 baptisms by me since I took charge in September, 1872, but this does not include the Christians, who are members of the congregation, baptised by my predecessors or others. The Tamil members are few, I should say 20 to 25 in all, so that excluding them you may be able to form a fair idea of the Chinese congregation. I may mention one instance of the liberality of our people, disinterested and unexpected, where their own interests were not concerned. They subscribed for the support of the local mission very liberally, but they were asked to contribute in addition towards the building of a church in Taipeng, Perak; and I was surprised to receive $100.25 towards this object, but what is more, it did not materially affect their usual contributions towards the local mission, which was made shortly after. Besides this amount for Perak church, they contributed last year for general purposes, and for the sick and needy $570.70. In addition to the mission work, carried on by the catechists and missionary of this mission in the two pretty little churches at Singapore and Jurong, occasional services are held at the Catechists' house, and a Chinese Boys' school is carried on in the Singapore church, during the week, which about pays all expenses from class fees and grants-in-aid for the forty or more boys in attendance.

The 105 steps leading up to church.

Early maps of St John Church at Jurong

1885 Map

1911 Map

1953 Map of Hong Kah Village and St John Church

Hong Kah Village

Formerly at 12th milestone, Jurong Road

In the mid-19th century, Christian missionaries of various denominations spread their faith among Chinese farmers, agriculturalists and plantation workers in rural areas such as Jurong. Reports from the disturbances of the Anti-Catholic Riots of 1851 indicate that there were villages of Chinese Christians in the area, but their names and exact locations have not survived for posterity.

One village of mainly Chinese Christians abided until the late 1980s, and its legacy remains in the names of schools, a community club, a flyover and a number of housing estates in the area. This was Hong Kah Village, previously located near the 12th milestone of Jurong Road.

The exact date of the village's founding is not known, but Hong Kah traces its roots to missionary activities carried out by Reverend William Henry Gomes and Cheok Loi-FatT from the St Andrew's Church Mission. They began preaching their faith to farmers in the Jurong area in 1872, and by 1876 a Chinese Christian convert, Tay Hong Seng, contributed three acres of land for a church at the 11th milestone.

St John's Church was completed in 1884, and held services in Hokkien, Teochew and Hakka. According to Lim Kwang Boon, who moved to Hong Kah Village in 1916, the village was established when parishioners approached church leaders for a place to live. Some of these parishioners had previously sold their land and returned to their hometowns in China, but came back to Singapore only to find themselves homeless.

The church's pastor applied to the colonial Land Bureau and was granted 60 acres of land. More than 10 families came together to form a village on this land, naming it Hong Kah Choon (in Teochew and Hokkien, Christian Village). Since the 1800s, Hong Kah had been a colloquial name for Chinese Christians.

According to Lim however, an official recording the name of the village mistakenly used the wrong Mandarin characters. Where the name should have read 奉教 ('hong kah', in Mandarin 'feng jiao'), the official wrote 丰加 ('feng jia') instead. This changed the meaning of the village's name to 'increasing abundance'.

"奉教" (pronounced as "hōng-kàu" in Hokkien) is a term that generally refers to following or adhering to a religion or religious teachings. In this context , it means a believer of Christian

Source : Jurong Heritage Trail pg 45 - 47

Who is this mysterious donor Tay Hong Seng who donated 3 acres of land to start the church at 11th mile stone.?

A few months ago, there was a facebook post by the administrator Maidi Lei of old Singapore history in the group 十里之外 posting a set of documents sold on eBay for the administration of Teo Hong Seng's estate after his death in 1895. The names on the documents including the death registry matches Teo Hong Seng tomb in the now endangered St John Cemetery waiting for exhumation shed some light .

Summary of the key information from the documents:

1. First document (Letters of Administration):

- In the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements

- Settlement of Singapore

- Letters of Administration granted to Teo Yong Joo, the natural and lawful child of Teo Hong Seng

- Teo Hong Seng ,died on the 20th day of August 1895 at Sungei Jurong where he stayed . He was mentioned as a Planter and a Teochew

- Gross value of the estate: $3667

- Date of issue: 18th day of November, 1901

- Signed by Sof. C. E. Velge, Registrar

2. Second document (Administration Bond):

- Ecclesiastical No. 213

- Bond amount: $7334

- Date: First day of January 1902

- Administrator: Teo Soon Hee

- Deceased: Teo Hong Seng, late of Sungei Jurong Singapore Planter

- Date of death: 20th day of August 1895

3. Third document (Petition):

- Petitioner: Teo Yong Joo

- Requesting Letters of Administration for the Estate and Effects of Teo Hong Seng

- Sworn on 7th day of November 1901

- Interpreter: Goh Peng Lim

4. Fourth document (Supreme Court Oath):

- In the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements

- Settlement of Singapore

- In the Goods of Teo Hong Seng, Deceased

- Oath to faithfully administer the Estate and Effects of Teo Hong Seng

- Sworn in open Court at Singapore on 18th day of November 1901

- Interpreter: Soh Peng Kim

Fifth document

5. Fifth document

In the goods of Teo Hong Seng deceased

Sureties

1. Teo Soon Hee of 17 Carpenter

St. Singapore Trader worth

$3000

2. Teo Hong Kiam of 50 North

Boat Quay Singapore Gambier

and Pepper Trader worth $10000.

Sum sworn $3667.00.

$7334.

6. Sixth document

Tye Hong Seng died at the age of 77 on 21 Aug 1895 (Note the spelling now is Tye, which may be why the church refer to Teo Hong Seng as Tay Hong Seng

These documents collectively relate to the administration of Teo Hong Seng's estate after his death in 1895, with various legal procedures taking place in 1901-1902.

Tomb of Teo Hong Seng

首耀安慰

天運乙未七月初二終 (21 Aug 1895)

基督徒豐盛張公墓

耶穌降生

子

荣裕 Teo Eng Joo

孫

德欽 Teo Teck Kin

仝祀

However in a news report on the proceedings of the Municipal Commissioners on 29th Dec 1882, it was mentioned that Rev W H Gomes, Superintendent of the St Andrews Church Mission, requested permission to convert into a cemetery, the piece of land situated in the Jurong district, granted by Government to the Mission. The Secretary was then directed to ascertain from the acting Colonial Engineer, at what distance from the Bukit Timah Road the land in question is situated, and if reported to be sufficiently far removed, to inform Mr Gomes that the Commissioners have no objection

The Municipality.

Straits Times Weekly Issue, 15 January 1883, Page 6

There was also info about the land donated by Teo Hong Seng from an interview Mr Lim Kwang Soon did with National Archives of Singapore in 1988., Mr Lim Kwang Boon who was born in 1909 , used to stay in Hong Kah Village. He said that the first pastor there was Gomes, and they came from St Andrew Church Mission . The first converts were all agricultural workers and staying near the church in Jurong and the land was donated by Teo . 3 acres of land he mentioned was rather large, and some part of the land was reserved for a cemetery for the followers, which he estimated to be couple of dozens graves there.

Land vested in the Bishop of Singapore

St John’s Church Jurong was described as Land Lot no 131 at Mukim 10 , freehold grant no 1627 . 12,242 sq m is equal to 3.025 acres

The land was acquired back in Sep 1989

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The First Light of St John Church Jurong

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