Missionary’s anniversary marked here and in England
A rural Alberta parish with a congregation of 16 people shares an unlikely link with one of England’s most notable churches, favoured by famous historical figures such as Princess Diana and Sir Isaac Newton.
“I thought it was surprising, to be quite honest,” said Rev. Barry Rose, who heads St. Mary Abbots Anglican Church in Barrhead, about 120 km northwest of Edmonton.
The church, which shares its name with another church in England, was established by Rev. William Loraine Seymour Dallas during a five-year mission to Alberta in 1911. Shortly after leaving the Prairies, the chaplain died in 1917 on the Western Front in Belgium at age 33.
“They are the only two St. Mary Abbots (Anglican) churches in the whole world,” said Steven Atack, founding patron of the Friends of St. Mary Abbots Church, speaking from London.
Both churches held memorial services for Dallas to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death Sept. 20, paying tribute to his contribution to the development of northern Alberta.
“He was a very important person, but nobody knew,” said Rose, adding a hotel named after the priest in Barrhead is slated to be demolished. “His legacy here is a little bit dilapidated.”
But for Atack, who has attended St. Mary Abbots in England for 35 years, remembering Dallas has become a personal quest.
The pastor’s first appointment was at the English church, before he volunteered to travel to Alberta as a member of the Prairie Brotherhood. He built 10 churches over five years in the area, then known by settlers as Paddle River.
“When he wasn’t building churches, he built schools, he built co-operatives in that part of Alberta, which was extremely poor at that time,” Atack said. “He was a visionary man. I think he cared passionately for people.”
Dallas — who relied on his loyal horse, Canterbury — travelled across a vast landscape, often taking days to get to rural communities and conduct services.
“I feel in the last year of research I’ve come to know him,” Atack said, explaining Dallas preached to European immigrants, such as a wave of newly arrived Italians. “It’s quite clear that Seymour saw his role as being to integrate with the local population of all classes, creeds.”
It appears during his five years in Alberta, Dallas wasn’t involved in the residential school system, which included schools run by Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian authorities. Established by the federal government in the 1800s, the residential school system would continue for more than a century.
The churches and community halls that Dallas built are mostly gone — some are marked by rows of gravestones that have weathered the last century.
“He covered an enormous territory,” Rose said. “He did an amazing amount of pioneer work in five years.”