St Luke's Church, Abbottabad is an Anglican church dedicated to Saint Luke, now under the jurisdiction of the Peshawar Diocese of the Church of Pakistan. It was founded in the town of Abbottabad, British India, in what used to be part of Punjab, later the North West Frontier ProvinceSee Hazara Gazetteer 1907, the Introductory, p.vii in 1864.JH Pratt, Archdeacon of Rawalpindi, Entry for 25 November 1864, Old Historical Records Register Vol I, 1863-1912, St Luke's, Abbottabad
History The work on the construction of St Luke's commenced in 1854-55, with initial delays due to slow fund-raising and then a brief interruption due to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and it was completed and then consecrated by the Bishop of CalcuttaAt that time, George Cotton in 1864.Pratt, 1864 Its jurisdiction covered most of the Hazara region including Abbottabad itself, Haripur,Which is now a sub-parish with the St John's Church, Haripur Mansehra and the Galyat hill tracts.Including the small seasonal St Matthew's Church, Nathia Gali, St John's Church, Dunga Gali and St Xavier in the Wilderness, Thandiani. See Tarin, O. 'The Chaplains of St Luke's, Abbottabad', in The FIBIS Journal, No 27, Spring 2012, pp.23-29 The Old Christian Cemetery, Abbottabad, was also attached to it.
Before the foundation of this church, the local Christian community did not have recourse to a regular vicar or chaplain, and these services were provided occasionally by chaplains attached to various military regiments in the cantonmentIn particular by the chaplains of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles who had a long association with St Luke's or by officials deputed from time to time from Peshawar or Rawalpindi. From late November 1864, however, the Revd P Kellner was regular Vicar and Chaplain, until April 1866.For a full list of Chaplains at St Luke's Abbottabad, until 1947, see the 'Ecclesiastical Records' at the FIBIS Database http://new.fibis.org/frontis/bin/index.php Retrieved 17 April 2012 Thereafter, some other notable Vicars/Chaplains here included the Revd Henry Fisher Corbyn,G.Weber, Pioneer Biographies of the British Period, to 1947, Appendix A the Revd James GS Syme Crockford's Clerical Directories via http://www.ancestry.com and the Revd T Bomford.See The Bomfords of Ireland and Allied Families, 2005, via http://www.bomford.net
After 1947 From June 1947 to April 1948, as a result of the independence of Pakistan in 1947 disturbances, St Luke's was shut down. Regular services resumed only when the Revd Daniel Rashid, at Peshawar, was given additional visiting charge of Abbottabad and Hazara.Tarin, p.27 He was later replaced by the Revd JH Hewitt in 1951Tarin, p.28 and then by a local curate, ZK Daniels, who was raised to the Chaplaincy in 1965.Tarin, p.29
In 1970, the Church of Pakistan was established via a union of Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians (Church of Scotland), United Methodists and Lutherans and, thereafter, St Luke's was formally placed under its new Peshawar Diocese. Since then, full-time clerics have been appointed regularly to minister to the local congregation.
See also James Abbott (Indian Army officer) Herbert Benjamin Edwardes 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles Christianity in India Christianity in Pakistan
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