St David's memorial church

A roll of honour was unveiled in St David’s Presbyterian Church, Khyber Pass Road, on 5 December 1920. The ornately carved wooden tablet listed the names of 107 men from the congregation who had seen active service during the war, and the names of six nurses: C. Campbell, M. Campbell, S. Clarke, D.R. Commons, H. Sutherland and M. Sutherland. A total of 17 men had given their lives.

Plans for a new church building began in 1920. It was soon decided that this should be a soldiers’ memorial church. The foundation stone dedicating the church to the glory of God and the men of St David’s who gave their lives during the Great War was laid on 25 April 1927. The new church was formally opened on 13 October 1927. 

The roll of honour was placed in the foyer. A marble memorial tablet was also unveiled in the nave. This listed the names, ranks and awards of 16 men who had given their lives. (There are three names that are not common to both the roll of honour and the memorial tablet, thus the total number of fallen is eighteen: R.L. Alexander, H.R. Armitage, T.M. Boyd, J. Burgess, R. Clemens, C.W. Coltman, K.W. Commons, A.G. Duncan, R.G. Fordyce, R.G. Gardiner, E.S. Gribble, C. Hall, L.W.B. Hall, R.W. Lambert, R.W. McKenzie, V. Mitchell, James Rankin, and W. Rimmer.)

After the Second World War an additional segment with a further 19 names was added to the marble tablet. This was unveiled on 9 November 1947.

There are a number of other plaques and tablets with wartime associations in the church. These include a memorial tablet unveiled on 3 June 1928 in memory of the 37 members of No. 3 Field Company NZ Engineers who gave their lives in the First World War. This was unveiled on 3 June 1928. A tablet listing the names of the 31 members of 1st Field Company NZ Engineers who gave their lives in the Second World War was later added. The Sappers Memorial Chapel was dedicated alongside on 13 October 2006.

Three plaques relate to the war in the Pacific. One reads: “In memory of / those how made / the supreme sacrifice / whilst serving with / the 2 N.Z.E.F. in the Pacific / during the 1939-45 conflict / Lest we forget”. Two others recall the men of 29th and 30th New Zealand Infantry Battalions who fell in the Solomon Islands campaign. Rev. O.T. Baragwanath and Rev. J. R. Nairn, both sometime incumbents of St David’s, had served as the respective chaplains of these battalions. A three-light stained glass window in the eastern wall of the church commemorates victory and peace in both the world wars. This was unveiled on 6 November 1949.

In September 2014 it was revealed St David’s fell short of meeting new earthquake building standards and could be in line for demolition.

Further information

• Rev. D.J. Albert, The Story of St David’s Presbyterian Church, Auckland, 1921, pp. 78-82
• W.M. Ryburn, St David’s Presbyterian Church, Auckland, 1965, pp. 47, 58-64, 85-7-8, 91-3
• ‘Church Has Shaky Future’, NZ Herald, 11/9/2014, A13.