St Mary’s Anglican Church in Vivian Street, New Plymouth, had two parish First World War memorials. Immediately after the war a roll of honour was unveiled in the church itself. This was a brass tablet engraved with the names of 78 former parishioners who had given their lives. Later, St Mary’s Peace Memorial Hall was erected across the road from the church as a thanksgiving for the end of the war. The Mayor of New Plymouth, F.E. Wilson, laid the foundation stone on 1 June 1924. The inscription on the stone read:
This building is erected / by the parishioners of St Mary’s / to the Glory of God / and to commemorate / the termination of the / Great War / 11th November 1918.
On 7 November the same year Bishop Alfred Walter Averill formally opened the new building.
The parish’s Second World War memorial was a new baptistery. This was dedicated by Archdeacon Gavin and unveiled by Governor-General Sir Bernard Freyberg on 23 January 1951. The roll of honour consists of five panels of Mt Somers’ stone set into the baptistery wall and inscribed with a total of 95 names. The font cover was presented anonymously to the church in memory of Lieutenant Norman Roy Mack Jost and Signalman Alison Hall Muir.
St Mary’s Church was consecrated as the Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary on 6 March 2010.
Sources: Unveiling and Dedication of the Memorial, New Plymouth, 1951 (7p.); Poem in Stone: History of St Mary’s Anglican Church New Plymouth, 1846-1971, new ed., New Plymouth, 1978; Margaret H. Alington, Goodly Stones & Timbers: A History of St Mary’s Church, New Plymouth, New Plymouth, 1988, pp. 34-6, 39, 144 passim.
Main photo: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, 1986; Photos of the Hall: Robyn Forryan, 2015; Memorial Photos and text: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2016.