John S. Bryers
Individual, P098
Biography
The Reverend John S. Bryers, M.A. rector of St. John's Church, 1908-1913The Reverend John Shaw Bryers was rector of St. John’s from 1908 to 1913. He arrived when the major building project was already well under way, which resulted in the building of the transepts, side chapel, great dome, chancel, sanctuary and vestries that are features of St. John’s Church to this day. To date, we have not located any internal documents relating to his life and ministry prior to, and subsequent to, his tenure at St. John’s. The following information, drawn from newspaper articles, gives a small amount of background:
Mercury Sat. 27th May 1905 St. John Baptist
“The patronage council for the southern archdeaconry has resolved to nominate the Rev. John Shaw Bryers, B.A., of Rossall, Fleetwood, Lancashire, to the Bishop for appointment as rector of this parish in succession to the Rev. A. G. Lingley. M.A. Mr. Bryers is a graduate of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and obtained 2nd class, Hist. Tripos., in 1897. He is a man of exceptional ability, holds high rank as a preacher, and is willing to give same of the best years of his life to the service of the church in Tasmania.”
Rossall, in Fleetwood, Lancashire, was, and still is, an independent school, and Revd. Bryers may well have been on the staff, given his Cambridge credentials. Assuming that this is the same person, he may have been receiving the proceeds of a “living” – a very common practice in the English church even into the 20th century. Bryers was inducted to St. John the Baptist Church in October 1905, serving there until his farewell in July 1908. During this time, he also served as domestic chaplain to Bishop Mercer.
By 1909, he was hard at work at St. John’s, Launceston, and initiated a “Parish Council”, which seems to have been somewhat different to present day Anglican parish councils, in that its task seemed to be to work towards social reform. Another newspaper report mentions a history lecture and slides presented by Revd. Bryers at a fundraiser towards the new King’s Memorial Window, one of a number of stained glass windows sponsored in various ways at the time as construction of the new “extension” moved towards completion.
Bryers was farewelled from St. John’s in 1913, with a newspaper report indicating he was heading for England. His address in 1936 was The Rectory, Bowers Gifford, a village near Basildon, east of London. The death of John Shaw Bryers, aged 69, is recorded for Essex, England, the same region, 15th January 1945.