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Organ music from Holy Trinity Cathedral,
played by
Eugene Lavery,
Assistant Organist |
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The Very Rev'd Percival Ernest James, M.A.
March 1883 - 31 July 1958
Vicar of Parnell 1919 - 1929
Canon of St Mary's Cathedral Church 1922Dean Emeritus (St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin)
 During his address at
the centenary of the consecration of St Mary's (25th August 1998), Bishop Rae Monteith recalled Canon
James as a most gifted speaker and an outstanding preacher.
Mr James graduated from Oxford University with an Honours degree in
Mathematics, and was assistant master at Durham School from 1908 - 1917. He was
ordained by the Bishop of Durham in 1910. From 1917 he was a temporary Chaplain
to the Armed Forces, and was appointed Vicar of Parnell in 1919. He was made a
Canon of St Mary's Cathedral Church in 1922.
His incumbency was marked initially by the need to deal with the after
effects of the World War - to rebuild social structures and recommence work
which had been deferred during those years. Church debt was high, and much
effort was applied to its reduction. Towards the end of his tenure, the first
rumblings of the forthcoming depression were being felt, so funds were conserved
in preparation. The Prince of Wales, later to become (for a brief time) King
Edward VIII, visited in 1921.
Canon James resigned from the Cathedral Church on 30th June 1929 to become
Vicar of St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington, until 1937. He became a Canon in 1929 and Vicar-General in 1934. After postings in Yorkshire, he returned to New Zealand in 1950 to serve briefly as Vicar of St Aidan's before being installed Dean of Dunedin, retiring as Dean Emeritus in 1955.
Canon James died in Dunedin in 1958.
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