David Hand
Encyclopedia
Grand Chief the Most Reverend Geoffrey David Hand KBE
GCL (11 May 1918- 6 April 2006) was the first Anglican Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
.
Archbishop Hand was born in 1918 at Clermont, Queensland
, Australia
, where his English
father, the Reverend William Thomas Hand, was the Rector
of Clermont
. He had two older brothers, Peter and Eustace, both of whom also became priests. When he was four, the family returned to England
, his father taking up a country parish in Tatterford
, Norfolk
; David Hand grew up there and was educated at Gresham's School
, Holt
(where he was an organ scholar
) from 1932 to 1937, and then at Oriel College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1941, when he took a degree in history before training for the ministry at Ripon Theological College, Cuddesdon
(1941–1942).
at Heckmondwike
in Yorkshire
in the north of England
and was ordained a priest in 1943. He stayed at Heckmondwike until 1946, when he was inspired to go out to Papua New Guinea
by the life and death of the Reverend Vivian Redlich, a missionary killed there during World War II.
He arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1946 and spent sixty of his eighty-seven years there. When he became a bishop in 1950, he was the youngest bishop in the Anglican communion, aged only thirty-two.
An eccentric, his usual outfit was a loose shirt, shorts, sensible shoes, and a wooden cross. On meeting an Australian journalist in 1972, Hand told him "The secret of life in the tropics is Johnson's Baby Powder, lots of it." He could, though, dress more grandly. During a visit, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
took him for a member of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Hand said he was "Church of England
", but Philip asked: "Are you sure?"
Hand was one of the very few bishops of the modern world who had walked through equatorial jungle and climbed mountains to find people who had never before had contact with the outside world. In pursuit of publicity to gain support for his diocese, he employed a press officer, Susan Young, who smoked cheroots and flew a plane.
in September 1975, Hand was the first European to apply for citizenship. He received honours as varied as a knighthood from H.M. the Queen
, the highest rank (Grand Companion) in Papua New Guinea's
Order of the Logohu, and the title of Chief of the Orokaiva
tribe.
Hand ended his time as Archbishop in 1983, at the retirement age of sixty-five,, and was succeeded by George Ambo
. He then spent two years as the parish priest of his childhood village of Tatterford
in Norfolk
, where he was still remembered. However, he missed Papua New Guinea and returned, settling in Port Moresby
, where he wrote his memoirs (and a newspaper column) and headed the local censorship board. He never married, remaining a celibate Anglo-Catholic missionary like Trevor Huddleston
, in the tradition of the Oxford Movement
. When he died in Port Moresby
in 2006, he was buried at the Cathedral of the Resurrection, Popondetta
. His funeral was delayed, as his coffin was found to be too big for his grave.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
GCL (11 May 1918- 6 April 2006) was the first Anglican Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea became a discrete province of the Anglican Communion when the Anglican Province of Papua New Guinea was separated from the Anglican ecclesiastical Province of Queensland, Australia, in 1976 following Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia in 1975. Its...
.
Childhood and education
Clermont, Queensland
Clermont is an agricultural town in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. It is 274 km south-west of Mackay on the junction of the Gregory and Peak Downs highways...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, where his English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
father, the Reverend William Thomas Hand, was the Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Clermont
Clermont, Queensland
Clermont is an agricultural town in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. It is 274 km south-west of Mackay on the junction of the Gregory and Peak Downs highways...
. He had two older brothers, Peter and Eustace, both of whom also became priests. When he was four, the family returned to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, his father taking up a country parish in Tatterford
Tatterford
Tatterford is a village within the civil parish of Tattersett in the English county of Norfolk.. The village is 4.8 miles south west of the town of Fakenham, 30.3 miles north west of Norwich and 112 miles north north east of London. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
; David Hand grew up there and was educated at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, Holt
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...
(where he was an organ scholar
Organ scholar
An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at an institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and administrative experience....
) from 1932 to 1937, and then at Oriel College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1941, when he took a degree in history before training for the ministry at Ripon Theological College, Cuddesdon
Ripon College Cuddesdon
Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England.-History:Ripon College Cuddesdon was formed from an amalgamation in 1975 of Cuddesdon College and Ripon Hall...
(1941–1942).
Career
Ordained a deacon in 1942, Hand became a curateCurate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at Heckmondwike
Heckmondwike
Heckmondwike is a small town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, which is located geographically at the centre of West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge, it is part of Cleckheckmondsedge, a name invented by J.B. Priestley to represent a West Riding...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
in the north of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and was ordained a priest in 1943. He stayed at Heckmondwike until 1946, when he was inspired to go out to Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
by the life and death of the Reverend Vivian Redlich, a missionary killed there during World War II.
He arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1946 and spent sixty of his eighty-seven years there. When he became a bishop in 1950, he was the youngest bishop in the Anglican communion, aged only thirty-two.
An eccentric, his usual outfit was a loose shirt, shorts, sensible shoes, and a wooden cross. On meeting an Australian journalist in 1972, Hand told him "The secret of life in the tropics is Johnson's Baby Powder, lots of it." He could, though, dress more grandly. During a visit, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
took him for a member of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Hand said he was "Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
", but Philip asked: "Are you sure?"
Hand was one of the very few bishops of the modern world who had walked through equatorial jungle and climbed mountains to find people who had never before had contact with the outside world. In pursuit of publicity to gain support for his diocese, he employed a press officer, Susan Young, who smoked cheroots and flew a plane.
Independence
When Papua New Guinea gained its independence from AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in September 1975, Hand was the first European to apply for citizenship. He received honours as varied as a knighthood from H.M. the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, the highest rank (Grand Companion) in Papua New Guinea's
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
Order of the Logohu, and the title of Chief of the Orokaiva
Orokaiva
The Orokaiva are a people indigenous to Papua New Guinea. In 1930, they were reported as being speakers of Binandere and divided into three groups: the Umo-ke ; the Eva-Embo ; and the Pereho ....
tribe.
Hand ended his time as Archbishop in 1983, at the retirement age of sixty-five,, and was succeeded by George Ambo
George Ambo
Bishop Sir George Ambo , originally named Ambo Arukaba after his father and grandfather, was an Anglican archbishop who was "the first South Pacific native to be made a bishop", in 1960...
. He then spent two years as the parish priest of his childhood village of Tatterford
Tatterford
Tatterford is a village within the civil parish of Tattersett in the English county of Norfolk.. The village is 4.8 miles south west of the town of Fakenham, 30.3 miles north west of Norwich and 112 miles north north east of London. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, where he was still remembered. However, he missed Papua New Guinea and returned, settling in Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
, where he wrote his memoirs (and a newspaper column) and headed the local censorship board. He never married, remaining a celibate Anglo-Catholic missionary like Trevor Huddleston
Trevor Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
, in the tradition of the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
. When he died in Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
in 2006, he was buried at the Cathedral of the Resurrection, Popondetta
Popondetta
Popondetta is the capital of Oro Province in Papua New Guinea.In 1951 the town became the focus of relief efforts after nearby Mount Lamington erupted and killed 4,000 people....
. His funeral was delayed, as his coffin was found to be too big for his grave.
Summary of Career
- Ordained deacon 1942
- CurateCurateA curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at HeckmondwikeHeckmondwikeHeckmondwike is a small town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, which is located geographically at the centre of West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge, it is part of Cleckheckmondsedge, a name invented by J.B. Priestley to represent a West Riding...
in YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
1942-1946 - Priest 1943
- Missioner, Diocese of New Guinea 1946-1950
- Priest-in-charge, Sefoa 1947-1948
- Priest-in-charge, SangaraSangara, Papua New GuineaSangara is a settlement in southeastern Papua New Guinea. It is located to the east of Kokoda.-History:During the Second World War the area saw fighting between the Japanese forces and the allies . Missionaries were once active in the area and a mission station was established in Sangara...
1948-1950 - Archdeacon of North New Guinea 1950-1965
- Bishop Coadjutor of New Guinea 1950-1963
- Bishop of New Guinea 1963-1975
- Bishop of Papua New GuineaAnglican Church of Papua New GuineaThe Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea became a discrete province of the Anglican Communion when the Anglican Province of Papua New Guinea was separated from the Anglican ecclesiastical Province of Queensland, Australia, in 1976 following Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia in 1975. Its...
1975-1977 - Bishop of Port MoresbyPort MoresbyPort Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
1977-1983 - Archbishop of Papua New GuineaAnglican Church of Papua New GuineaThe Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea became a discrete province of the Anglican Communion when the Anglican Province of Papua New Guinea was separated from the Anglican ecclesiastical Province of Queensland, Australia, in 1976 following Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia in 1975. Its...
1977-1983 - Priest-in-charge, East with West Rudham, Houghton next Harpley, Syderstone, TatterfordTatterfordTatterford is a village within the civil parish of Tattersett in the English county of Norfolk.. The village is 4.8 miles south west of the town of Fakenham, 30.3 miles north west of Norwich and 112 miles north north east of London. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line...
and Tattersett 1983-1985
Honours
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1975
- Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1984
- Grand Companion of the Order of the Logohu, 2005
- Chief of the Orokaiva tribeOrokaivaThe Orokaiva are a people indigenous to Papua New Guinea. In 1930, they were reported as being speakers of Binandere and divided into three groups: the Umo-ke ; the Eva-Embo ; and the Pereho ....
of Oro ProvinceOro ProvinceOro Province, formerly Northern Province, is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The province covers 22,800 km², and has 133,065 inhabitants ....
Autobiography
- Modawa: Papua New Guinea and Me 1946-2002, by Archbishop David Hand (Salpress, Port Moresby, 2002)