O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree – December 1856

Miss Ann Bowen, at the age of 44, it seems, wasn’t afraid of a new adventure. She boarded the ‘Charlotte Jane’ – the Canterbury Association’s first ship with her brother and his family to start a new life in Canterbury. She was also determined to lead her own life – taking up her own land …

Chaplin Harper Became Bishop Harper – 25th December 1856

On the 25th December 1856, at the Christmas Day service at Christ’s Church (St Michael and All Angels), Chaplin Henry John Chitty Harper became the first Canterbury Anglican Bishop, ordained by Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, the Bishop of New Zealand. Consecrated by Dr. Henry Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Canterbury Association member, he …