Changes & Chances
Chapter 21 The Garrison Church
Far-called, our navies melt away; on dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of our nations, spare us yet, lest we forget - lest we forget!
Rudyard Kipling
On 15 August 1945 Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, and only two days later in Jakarta the independence leaders, Sukarno and Hatta, unilaterally proclaimed the Republic of Indonesia. The Dutch refused to accept this, but were unable to respond militarily to either this or the Japanese surrender. This fell to the British in Western Indonesia including Java, and the Australians in Eastern Indonesia. A first hand account of these times is Laurens Van der Post’s The Admiral’s Baby, based on his official report to the British government of his time in Java after the Japanese surrender. Van der Post, a POW in Bandung, as the seniormost British officer, received the Japanese surrender in Java. The book was published fifty years after the events when he found a copy when clearing up his papers. It evokes the frustration of having to deal with conflicting Dutch and Indonesian aspirations and also highlights the difference in attitude between the more liberal and enlightened government in the Hague with the less compromising and bristly attitude of the colonial Dutch administration. (On his return to trip to England Raffles had had a similar experience, the Batavia authorities refusing landing rights while, by contrast, the King of the Netherlands feasted and lauded him.)
What made the British occupation of Java even more arduous was that the occupying troops were from South East Asia command, and had just fought the savage Burma campaign which was pointedly nicknamed “the Forgotten War”. Although exhausted after six years of hostilities, they were expected to restore the NEI to the pre-war status quo. However history had moved on, the future lying with the Indonesian independence leaders who had matured under the Japanese occupation and were in no mood to welcome back their former colonial masters. Ricklefs has pointed out that to complicate the situation the revolutionary struggle was carried out by a number of groups with differing methods and aspirations, which were only united by their opposition to the Dutch. The British were attacked from both sides. They were criticised by the Indonesian nationalists for fulfilling their obligations to their Dutch allies, although they had sufficient sympathy with the nationalists to seek to get them to the negotiating table with the Dutch. Meanwhile the Dutch, their wounded pride still recovering from the German occupation of their homeland, were keen to regain the prestige of their colonial possessions and presumed wrongly that they would be welcomed back by their former subjects. So the colonial Dutch pressured the government in the Hague to complain to London about their occupation forces making contact with Indonesian nationalists. The irony was that the British were placing their own troops in danger protecting Dutch citizens who were returning from overseas or from internment camps to reclaim their businesses and property from Indonesians, often under the illusion that they would be welcomed back.
After the Japanese surrender and during the British occupation Indonesian nationalists seized control of parts of the country and carried on a struggle against foreign troops. The British arrived to encounter street fighting between young Republicans on the one hand and Dutch ex-POWs, Ambonese colonial troops, Chinese, Eurasians and Japanese on the other. It was several months before the area around the church was deemed safe.
When the British forces withdrew in November 1946, Roy Randolph (April 1946-April 1947), the army chaplain, sent a five-page report to the Bishop of Singapore and filed a copy in the church archives. It has been a very valuable source for a forgotten era. The following account comes from his report and notes in the church service registers.
On 15 October 1945 Rev. J Good, chaplain to the 15th Indian Corps, inspected the church and was pleased to report that the church and vicarage were in good condition, but did not consider it practical to hold services there. The military chaplain O W Thompson Evans, recorded in the church register of services that:
The English Church was opened for the first time since the Japanese Occupation on Christmas Day 1945. The Church was practically full of Staff officers from Corps H.Q. for both services. March 1st 1942 to Dec. 24th 1945 the church had been closed for C of E services. The Church was in fairly good condition: choir stalls, altar, and organ undamaged. The Church and Library will be restored to its former condition and replenished with suitable furnishings.
Initially the British forces preferred to use their own bases or other churches in the city, partly because the English Church was difficult to find and partly because the different units were scattered around the city and environs. However, when the security situation improved in February 1946 and Sunday became a staff holiday, the church grew in popularity and four Church of England services were held each Sunday, it also becoming the centre of British Forces marriages in the city. In June, when the Indian 23rd Division relocated from Bandung to Jakarta, an Urdu service commenced, attracting congregations of up to 200.
Rev. Kenneth Child (January 1946 - April 1946) was placed in charge of the English Church from January 1946 and a month later welcomed Bishop Harvard of St Asaph who held an Ordination Candidates Selection Board at Brandenburg House. The registers record regular Royal Navy and Hindustani (Urdu) services, the explanation for the latter being that most of the soldiers of the occupation forces were from British Indian regiments, of whom a significant minority were Christian. The Easter Day 1946 attendance was 204 spread over five services. In August the vicarage was the venue for a week-long Christian Leadership Course for Personnel of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF, which involved three chaplains and ten participants. There were some important visitors, such as the Bishop of Colombo, who confirmed five Europeans and eight Indians at Kemayoran Airstrip in September 1946, and F Hughes, the Chaplain-General from the War Office London who dropped by in October 1946.
Poignant legacies of this era are three memorials, all dating from the latter part of 1946. The Second World War memorial is fixed to the eastern transept wall, attractively decorated with the badges of units that were serving in Java and Sumatra. The register records on Trinity Sunday, 16 June 1946, the unveiling of the War Memorial by Lt Gen Sir M Stopford, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia. It reads:
To the glory of God and in proud thanksgiving for those of the British Commonwealth of Nations who gave their lives when the first tide of Japanese aggression came to this land, for those who died as prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation, and for the officers and men who fell in action in the operations for the establishment of peace and justice in these islands.
It was a moment of sad glory and mordant irony as representatives from British military contingents stationed in Sumatra and Java formed up in three sides of a square in front of the church. It was undoubtedly the best attended service in the church's history, with over 1000 present including the Dutch Governor-General, the British Consul-General and representatives from every unit in Java and Sumatra. In the centre was the army column with the Royal Navy formation to the right and the RAF to the left. The Royal Marine Band from HMS Swift-sure, the pipes of the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders and six Gurkha buglers added to the glory of the moment. The glory and sadness of the commemoration was mixed with irony. For many of the Indian troops generations of their families had served loyally under British regimental colours as a matter of honour. Now the British were dismantling the Empire and they were returning to a homeland on the eve of Independence. The infamous Battle of Surabaya had been a particularly unpalatable experience for the Indian troops as they suppressed other Asians who shared their aspirations for freedom from colonial rule. All this was taking place in the presence of Governor-General Van Mook, looking triumphant in all his vice-regal plumage, and barely concealing his impatience to see the British leave.
Another less ironic, but equally moving, commemoration is marked by a memorial stone next to Campbell’s grave. The inscription records, with a mixture of sadness and regimental pride:
The grave of Lt Col William Campbell of the 78th Regiment, now the 2nd Battalion the Seaforth Highlanders, was moved from behind the General Post Office, Batavia to this place on November 11th, 1913. It was discovered here by the 1st Battalion the Seaforth Highlanders while stationed at Cornelis after the Second World War. A Service in memory of all Ranks of the Regiment who gave their lives in Java in the years 1811 to 1816 and in 1945/46 was held here in August 28th 1946. All Ranks of the 1st Battalion were present. This was arranged by Lt-Col E H B Neill who was CO of the 1st Battalion during the 1945-6 operation. The plaque was presented to the church by Col W H Atkins OBE during a service on 25 August 1968.
At the Remembrance Day service, November 1946, the two small, painted windows from St George’s POW chapel were unveiled at the church “as a memorial to the sufferings of a gallant band of men who, in the face of brutal and humiliating treatment, kept their courage high.”
With some satisfaction, the chaplain, Randolph, signed off in the register entry of 27 November 1946:
This closes the period of British military occupation in the Netherlands East Indies…. There are quite a number of Dutch people here in Batavia who have taken a great deal of interest in this church and who have attended services regularly during this last year. If when services are resumed in this church notices are put in Het Dagblad many of them will no doubt come to the services and make themselves known to the chaplain. The Forces in Batavia have very much appreciated having the use of this church during our year here in Batavia. I hope that we have left it in reasonably good condition.
In his departing report to the Bishop of Singapore, Randolph mentioned two other arrangements to help secure the future of the church, a donation of 2748.75 florins to the Java Chaplaincy Fund and the leasing of the church house to a British family, the Twells. He also counselled the bishop that “the future of this church will largely depend on the cooperation of the Dutch.” Randolph's report was not his swan song, as he was to reappear 21 months later as a civilian JCC chaplain.
Far-called, our navies melt away; on dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of our nations, spare us yet, lest we forget - lest we forget!
Rudyard Kipling
On 15 August 1945 Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, and only two days later in Jakarta the independence leaders, Sukarno and Hatta, unilaterally proclaimed the Republic of Indonesia. The Dutch refused to accept this, but were unable to respond militarily to either this or the Japanese surrender. This fell to the British in Western Indonesia including Java, and the Australians in Eastern Indonesia. A first hand account of these times is Laurens Van der Post’s The Admiral’s Baby, based on his official report to the British government of his time in Java after the Japanese surrender. Van der Post, a POW in Bandung, as the seniormost British officer, received the Japanese surrender in Java. The book was published fifty years after the events when he found a copy when clearing up his papers. It evokes the frustration of having to deal with conflicting Dutch and Indonesian aspirations and also highlights the difference in attitude between the more liberal and enlightened government in the Hague with the less compromising and bristly attitude of the colonial Dutch administration. (On his return to trip to England Raffles had had a similar experience, the Batavia authorities refusing landing rights while, by contrast, the King of the Netherlands feasted and lauded him.)
What made the British occupation of Java even more arduous was that the occupying troops were from South East Asia command, and had just fought the savage Burma campaign which was pointedly nicknamed “the Forgotten War”. Although exhausted after six years of hostilities, they were expected to restore the NEI to the pre-war status quo. However history had moved on, the future lying with the Indonesian independence leaders who had matured under the Japanese occupation and were in no mood to welcome back their former colonial masters. Ricklefs has pointed out that to complicate the situation the revolutionary struggle was carried out by a number of groups with differing methods and aspirations, which were only united by their opposition to the Dutch. The British were attacked from both sides. They were criticised by the Indonesian nationalists for fulfilling their obligations to their Dutch allies, although they had sufficient sympathy with the nationalists to seek to get them to the negotiating table with the Dutch. Meanwhile the Dutch, their wounded pride still recovering from the German occupation of their homeland, were keen to regain the prestige of their colonial possessions and presumed wrongly that they would be welcomed back by their former subjects. So the colonial Dutch pressured the government in the Hague to complain to London about their occupation forces making contact with Indonesian nationalists. The irony was that the British were placing their own troops in danger protecting Dutch citizens who were returning from overseas or from internment camps to reclaim their businesses and property from Indonesians, often under the illusion that they would be welcomed back.
After the Japanese surrender and during the British occupation Indonesian nationalists seized control of parts of the country and carried on a struggle against foreign troops. The British arrived to encounter street fighting between young Republicans on the one hand and Dutch ex-POWs, Ambonese colonial troops, Chinese, Eurasians and Japanese on the other. It was several months before the area around the church was deemed safe.
When the British forces withdrew in November 1946, Roy Randolph (April 1946-April 1947), the army chaplain, sent a five-page report to the Bishop of Singapore and filed a copy in the church archives. It has been a very valuable source for a forgotten era. The following account comes from his report and notes in the church service registers.
On 15 October 1945 Rev. J Good, chaplain to the 15th Indian Corps, inspected the church and was pleased to report that the church and vicarage were in good condition, but did not consider it practical to hold services there. The military chaplain O W Thompson Evans, recorded in the church register of services that:
The English Church was opened for the first time since the Japanese Occupation on Christmas Day 1945. The Church was practically full of Staff officers from Corps H.Q. for both services. March 1st 1942 to Dec. 24th 1945 the church had been closed for C of E services. The Church was in fairly good condition: choir stalls, altar, and organ undamaged. The Church and Library will be restored to its former condition and replenished with suitable furnishings.
Initially the British forces preferred to use their own bases or other churches in the city, partly because the English Church was difficult to find and partly because the different units were scattered around the city and environs. However, when the security situation improved in February 1946 and Sunday became a staff holiday, the church grew in popularity and four Church of England services were held each Sunday, it also becoming the centre of British Forces marriages in the city. In June, when the Indian 23rd Division relocated from Bandung to Jakarta, an Urdu service commenced, attracting congregations of up to 200.
Rev. Kenneth Child (January 1946 - April 1946) was placed in charge of the English Church from January 1946 and a month later welcomed Bishop Harvard of St Asaph who held an Ordination Candidates Selection Board at Brandenburg House. The registers record regular Royal Navy and Hindustani (Urdu) services, the explanation for the latter being that most of the soldiers of the occupation forces were from British Indian regiments, of whom a significant minority were Christian. The Easter Day 1946 attendance was 204 spread over five services. In August the vicarage was the venue for a week-long Christian Leadership Course for Personnel of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF, which involved three chaplains and ten participants. There were some important visitors, such as the Bishop of Colombo, who confirmed five Europeans and eight Indians at Kemayoran Airstrip in September 1946, and F Hughes, the Chaplain-General from the War Office London who dropped by in October 1946.
Poignant legacies of this era are three memorials, all dating from the latter part of 1946. The Second World War memorial is fixed to the eastern transept wall, attractively decorated with the badges of units that were serving in Java and Sumatra. The register records on Trinity Sunday, 16 June 1946, the unveiling of the War Memorial by Lt Gen Sir M Stopford, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia. It reads:
To the glory of God and in proud thanksgiving for those of the British Commonwealth of Nations who gave their lives when the first tide of Japanese aggression came to this land, for those who died as prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation, and for the officers and men who fell in action in the operations for the establishment of peace and justice in these islands.
It was a moment of sad glory and mordant irony as representatives from British military contingents stationed in Sumatra and Java formed up in three sides of a square in front of the church. It was undoubtedly the best attended service in the church's history, with over 1000 present including the Dutch Governor-General, the British Consul-General and representatives from every unit in Java and Sumatra. In the centre was the army column with the Royal Navy formation to the right and the RAF to the left. The Royal Marine Band from HMS Swift-sure, the pipes of the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders and six Gurkha buglers added to the glory of the moment. The glory and sadness of the commemoration was mixed with irony. For many of the Indian troops generations of their families had served loyally under British regimental colours as a matter of honour. Now the British were dismantling the Empire and they were returning to a homeland on the eve of Independence. The infamous Battle of Surabaya had been a particularly unpalatable experience for the Indian troops as they suppressed other Asians who shared their aspirations for freedom from colonial rule. All this was taking place in the presence of Governor-General Van Mook, looking triumphant in all his vice-regal plumage, and barely concealing his impatience to see the British leave.
Another less ironic, but equally moving, commemoration is marked by a memorial stone next to Campbell’s grave. The inscription records, with a mixture of sadness and regimental pride:
The grave of Lt Col William Campbell of the 78th Regiment, now the 2nd Battalion the Seaforth Highlanders, was moved from behind the General Post Office, Batavia to this place on November 11th, 1913. It was discovered here by the 1st Battalion the Seaforth Highlanders while stationed at Cornelis after the Second World War. A Service in memory of all Ranks of the Regiment who gave their lives in Java in the years 1811 to 1816 and in 1945/46 was held here in August 28th 1946. All Ranks of the 1st Battalion were present. This was arranged by Lt-Col E H B Neill who was CO of the 1st Battalion during the 1945-6 operation. The plaque was presented to the church by Col W H Atkins OBE during a service on 25 August 1968.
At the Remembrance Day service, November 1946, the two small, painted windows from St George’s POW chapel were unveiled at the church “as a memorial to the sufferings of a gallant band of men who, in the face of brutal and humiliating treatment, kept their courage high.”
With some satisfaction, the chaplain, Randolph, signed off in the register entry of 27 November 1946:
This closes the period of British military occupation in the Netherlands East Indies…. There are quite a number of Dutch people here in Batavia who have taken a great deal of interest in this church and who have attended services regularly during this last year. If when services are resumed in this church notices are put in Het Dagblad many of them will no doubt come to the services and make themselves known to the chaplain. The Forces in Batavia have very much appreciated having the use of this church during our year here in Batavia. I hope that we have left it in reasonably good condition.
In his departing report to the Bishop of Singapore, Randolph mentioned two other arrangements to help secure the future of the church, a donation of 2748.75 florins to the Java Chaplaincy Fund and the leasing of the church house to a British family, the Twells. He also counselled the bishop that “the future of this church will largely depend on the cooperation of the Dutch.” Randolph's report was not his swan song, as he was to reappear 21 months later as a civilian JCC chaplain.
