Story of St John's Forres

The persecution of the Scottish Episcopal Church following the failed Jacobite Risings in 1715, 1719 and 1745 was primarily a political issue rather than a religious one. Episcopalians   were allowed to worship as they chose – but priests were forbidden to minister to more than four people at a time and most Episcopalian buildings were destroyed to avoid them being a focal point for further dissent.  Despite being permitted to worship, severe sanctions were imposed on those that attended the ‘four persons’ meetings and the Scottish Episcopal Church was forced to go underground to survive.  Services were held in private houses and in secret.  The government’s aim was to suppress support for the Jacobean cause – the impact was to reduce the Episcopal Church from serving 70% of the population in 1689 to just 5% in 1792 when the Penal Laws were repealed. 

Not surprisingly, there are few written records appertaining to the church during this period.  There are records of an Episcopal Chapel in Forres prior to 1745, but it is thought to have been one of those destroyed in 1746.  There is also mention in 1765 of “endeavours to get Mr Chambers from Elgin to preach here once in three weeks”.  Despite it not being safe to be openly Episcopalian, by 1774 Dean Buchan of Elgin was ministering to the needs of Episcopalians in Forres on a regular basis.

Clearly a core of devoted Episcopalians survived through all the troubles – and continued to do so for another 50 years – to form the nucleus that decided around 1839 to build a chapel in Forres and dedicate it to St John the Evangelist.  With possession of a building came the ability to store records.  St John’s is fortunate in having a complete set of minutes from 1840 onwards from which one can discern a continuity of dedication and devotion that, despite individuals coming and going over the years, the congregation maintains to the present day. 

A church is just a building; it only becomes a Church (capital 'C') when you add the people.  The history of St John's is full of people, many remembered specifically.  The Record of Church Furnishings catalogues some 23 items given 'In Memoriam', it quotes some 35 artists or manufacturers, lists 18 incumbent priests, and another 75 names also appear,  yet very few names are mentioned.  It is not that those names are not known, the minute books are filled with names of trustees, vestrymen, secretaries and treasurers. The accounts are filled with names of tradesmen and suppliers.  The newsletters are filled with names of teachers, preachers, curates and laymen.  It is because to single out those whose names happen to be known would be to do a great disservice to those thousand or more folk from all walks of life who are part of the history of the Church and whose names are not known.

These include: the little girl reported in the March 1911 Newsletter who wanted to give the three pence she had to the appeal for a cover for the font and who was heard to tell her mother she "was'na to take the pennies, though they had'na any taties for dinner!".  The ladies of the congregation thanked for hand-sewing a complete new set of choir robes.  The cleaners, the flower arrangers, newsletter editors, those who worked as servants in the parsonage (why else the electric bells?) those who washed the linen and polished the brasses.  The choristers, the gardeners, the architects and the surveyors.  The list is endless.  They have no memorial plaque, or recorded entry.  There is no artefact to claim their space within St John's, but what there is, greater than all of these, as a fitting memorial to all of them is, of course, St John's Church itself.