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Name: GEORGE, George Frank (Rev.)

Birth Date: 14 Sep 1873 Pancras, London, bapt. 9 Oct

Death Date: 15 Nov 1942 Westminster, London

First Date: 1899

Profession: Joined the UMCA and, after many years of service with them, was appointed Archdeacon of Nyassa. In 1929 he became Canon of Likoma Cathedral of which he was the architect.

Area: Nyassa, Likoma

Book Reference: Gillett

General Information:

https://donaldardensreflections.org/likoma-cathedral/ In 1899 Mr Frank George, an architect, went out and took over the building work of the UMCA Mission in Nyasaland, all amateurs falling into line under him. Under his auspices the whole station has been rebuilt with stone. The native stone is granite – very hard to work; and the mortar is dothi – white ant earth...Early in 1903 Mr George brought his band of masons and carpenters, who had already built Kota Kota and Unangu churches, to Likoma to collect material. That band of workmen, trained and instructed by him and aided by Albert Crabb, is responsible for one of the most notable structures of our time. Such a building would be a credit to England, but on a comparatively desert island it can only be called wonderful....Half way through 1913, Frank George was back again at Likoma after eighteen months’ work in the Diocese of Northern Rhodesia. He had always regarded the parapets at best as a very doubtful experiment and had built them rather under protest. The bishop now gave him a free hand to make the building safe....The parapets were done away with; the roof was extended so as to cover the walls completely and protect them from the weather. The cathedral lost some of its exterior effect, but it was made safe and its interior beauty was unaffected.
In addition to this work, Frank George was also busy with the Chapter House, which had been included in his original design for the Cathedral and was now being built as part of the memorial to Father Douglas.

Archdeacon Frank George first went to Nyasaland in 1899 as a layman. He was a qualified architect and his first services were given in that capacity. His great monument is the Cathedral at Likoma, but he was architect and builder of many other churches, not only in the Diocese of Nyasaland but also in Northern Rhodesia and Zanzibar. In 1916, after training at Bishops’ College, Cheshunt, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Hine in England. In 1917 Bishop Fisher ordained him priest in the cathedral at Likoma which he had designed and built. From that time onwards he worked at Liuli in Tanganyika and in 1928, after the death of Archdeacon Johnson, he became also archdeacon of Niassa. “Under him,” Canon Wilson wrote, “the work grew and grew until Christians were numbered by thousands.”
In 1933 he had so serious a breakdown in health that his life was despaired of. The devoted nursing of Ethel Hall and the skills of Dr Wigan and of Dr Nye of Livingstonia saved his life but he could no longer work in Africa.

He became vicar of St Francis of Assisi church, London
1939 England and Wales Register living with his siblings in Willesden, as clerk in holy orders

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