SMITH Memorial Congregational Church, standing resplendent on the lush green lawns of the parish situated on the southeastern shoulder of Brickdam in Georgetown, will celebrate its 170th year of existence this month with an anniversary service on Sunday, November 24, starting at 9:00 hrs.The church was erected in tribute to the memory of the Rev. John Smith, a London Missionary Society Minister who was sentenced to death by hanging for the role he allegedly played in the notorious East Coast Insurrection of 1823.
He died a prisoner on Death Row on February 6, 1824, and subsequently came to be referred as the “Demerara Martyr” because of the circumstances surrounding his death.
Smith arrived in Demerara in February 1817, to succeed the Reverend John Wray, pioneer Missionary at Bethel Chapel at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara. Like his predecessor Wray, Smith gave instructions to the slaves, teaching them to read the Holy Bible and Catechism. As in the case of John Wray, Smith did much to lay the foundation of schooling and education for those congregations.
Quamina, a slave, was Senior Deacon at Bethel Chapel, then located at Le Ressouvenir, ECD. His son, Jack Gladstone, and other slaves suffered death for the role they had allegedly played during the 1823 Uprising, which had as its goal the freedom of the slaves.
On November 24, 1843, exactly 20 years after the Reverend John Smith had been sentenced to death, Smith Memorial Church was opened as a tribute to the work and suffering Smith had to endure on behalf of his deacons, members and other followers.

(By Shirley Thomas)