Bells and bell ringers in South Africa, 1835-2000. Part I

• Main Author: Lewis, Colin A
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: The Ringing World 2001
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012352; http://www.ringingworld.co.uk/

Colin Lewis was Professor of Geography at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa from 1989 until his retirement at the end of 2007. In 1990, with the strong support of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Dr Derek Henderson, he instigated the Certificate in Change Ringing (Church Bell Ringing) in the Rhodes University Department of Music and Musicology - the first such course to be offered in Africa. Since that date he has lectured in the basic theory, and taught the practice of change ringing. He is the Ringing Master of the Cathedral of St Michael and St George, Grahamstown, South Africa. === The first ring of bells in Africa was installed in Grahamstown Cathedral in 1879 at the instigation of Frederick Henry Williams. Williams was Dean of Grahamstown from 1865 until his death in 1885. He was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, not far from Enniskillen, where an octave was installed in the Cathedral when Williams was an impressionable 12-year old. Grahamstown's bells were also an octave, cast by John Warner and Sons of London. They were hung in the newly built tower, designed by the English architect, George Gilbert Scott.