Nevill attended the General Synod of the Anglican church in Dunedin in February 1871. The Dunedin diocese, newly established in 1869, was still racked by the controversy over its refusal to accept Henry Jenner as its first bishop. Nevill, when approached, indicated that if Dunedin were to nominate him as its first bishop he would accept. He was duly nominated and accepted, and was consecrated on 4 June 1871. In recogniton of this he was awarded an honorary DD by Cambridge university in 1872.

The diocese of which Nevill found himself bishop was small and scattered, and chronically short of funds, but now had a bishop who was determined, energetic and visionary. Despite difficulties, the Anglican church in Otago and Southland expanded significantly during his time, from 10 clergy and 14 churches in 1871 to 43 clergy and 75 churches in 1919, and the diocese became well organised. It could not at first afford to build a house for the bishop, and when he built his own the diocese was often in arrears on the agreed rent. Nevill built Bishop’s Court in Roslyn, Dunedin (now part of Columba College), and then Bishopsgrove in Leith Valley.

Lack of funds never daunted Nevill. High on his list of priorities was a theological college to produce local clergy. The diocese was very lukewarm about the project, but eventually endorsed it in 1887. While at the Lambeth Conference in 1888 Nevill sought books and money for the college, and on 25 January 1893 Selwyn Theological College was opened as both a theological college and hall of residence for the University of Otago.

Nevill was committed to the church’s role in education, and deplored the confining of teaching to such things ‘as would prove of advantage in mercantile and materialistic concerns’. Having been impressed with the educational work of the Community of the Sisters of the Church in Kilburn, London, he invited them to found a school in Dunedin. St Hilda’s Collegiate School opened on 1 February 1896. It grew rapidly, and until 1904 was the only Anglican school for girls in New Zealand. Nevill was less successful in founding a boys’ school, although he made some attempts.

Another of Nevill’s concerns was the social work of the church. He established the Brotherhood of St Andrew to support the work of the Reverend V. G. B. King as visitor to the public institutions in the diocese, and in 1902 he set up the Deaconess Institute to manage St Mary’s Orphan Home for Girls, which Mary Nevill had begun in 1883 in the grounds of Bishopsgrove. Nevill did not support the contemporary demand for prohibition, regarding drinking as a matter of personal self-control.

The bishop was determined to have a cathedral, and raised the issue in synod in 1876. The diocese was unenthusiastic. Nevill returned to the subject repeatedly, but the various schemes suggested came to nothing until 1894 when it was finally agreed that St Paul’s Church in the Octagon should become the site of the cathedral. A substantial bequest in 1904 from the estate of William Harrop speeded the process of fund raising. Nevill laid the foundation stone of the new cathedral on 8 June 1915, and the building was consecrated on 12 February 1919. Even so, Nevill’s grandiose plans were only one-third completed, and then only after wrangles between the parish of St Paul’s and the bishop and cathedral chapter.

Samuel Nevill was a man of firm opinions vigorously expressed. He wrote a number of pamphlets, mainly on church matters, engaged in debate on contemporary issues in the letters columns of the local newspapers, and retained his scientific interest through membership of the Otago Institute. His relations with his clergy and others were sometimes strained. He strongly defended the autonomous rights of individual national churches of the Anglican communion, but was also committed to the extension of New Zealand’s influence in the Pacific. In this he had little support from his fellow bishops, although the inclusion of the diocese of Polynesia in 1925 as part of the New Zealand Anglican province owes something to him.

On 1 February 1904, already acting primate by virtue of his seniority, Nevill was elected primate of New Zealand. In acknowledgement of this his old college made him an honorary fellow in 1906. In the same year he was created a sub-prelate of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

Nevill’s first wife died on 27 November 1905, and on 25 September 1906, while in England, he married Rosalind Margaret Fynes-Clinton at Blandford, Dorsetshire. Rosalind was his wife’s young companion and daughter of the vicar of Waitaki mission district. There were no children from either marriage, but several nieces and nephews were brought up by the Nevills. At the end of 1919, Nevill, now the senior bishop not only of the Anglican church in New Zealand but of the whole Anglican communion, retired. He died at Bishopsgrove on 29 October 1921, and was buried in accordance with his wishes in the churchyard at Warrington, near Dunedin. Rosalind Nevill died on 23 April 1972.

Information is taken from an article in the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

We have some further memories of Bishop Johnston from the Venerable Bernard Wilkinson and the Rev’d David Crooks

The Venerable Bernard Wilkinson has shared the following memories:  

Allen Howard Johnston 1953 – 1969

Bishop Allen` Johnston came to us from the parish of Whangarei.  At his welcome in Invercargill he said that he had come from the furthest north of NZ to the furthest south. It is worth noting that he was the first student of S. John’s Theological College in Auckland to be elected a Bishop – our first New Zealander.

Aged 40 at the time of his election, the new Bishop faced issues within the diocese with determination. One of his first concerns was the shortage of clergy – at his first Synod he had to report that seven parishes were without vicars. Moreover, there were only two assistant curates in the diocese, which could be looked to to take charge of parishes. Another issue which the new Bishop faced head-on was the abysmally low level of clergy stipends. In the first seven months of his episcopate he visited every parish and vestry, setting before them the simple facts of finances. The response was encouraging – twenty one parishes increased stipends before Synod. The decision of some parishes to employ the Wells Fundraising Organisation undoubtedly helped. He was also instrumental in setting up the Anglican Church Pension Board, and his concern for the care of his clergy was well known.

The 1950s were a time when things were prospering – and so was the Anglican diocese. During Johnston’s episcopate parishes expanded, many new churches were built, and new vicarages or replacement ones built. Macandrew Bay, Heriot, Oturehua, Gore (to replace the church and hall destroyed by an arsonist), North Invercargill, Pine Hill, Waverley, and Halfway Bush , Alexandra, Cromwell, Queenstown, Riverton, Gore. New churches were built at North East Valley, Ranfurly, Lumsden, Balclutha, Clinton. Facilities were built for the construction villages at Roxburgh Hydro, and later at Otematata.

To match the new accession of material wealth there were also clear signs of spiritual progress – for between 1954 and 1966 the number of communicants at Easter rose by 25%. Yet the census figures reveal that Anglicans were becoming a decreasing proportion of the total population of the diocese.

In 1963 what came to be known as the Plan for Union was emerging – the proposal that the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational and Church of Christ should combine. Bishop Johnston was deeply involved in the negotiations, and without a doubt was himself well committed to the concept. His enthusiasm was not shared by all clergy or people, as we shall see in the record of his successor. Equally, he was dedicated to the ordination of women and before he retired he had the satisfaction of ordaining a number of women candidates for the ministry.

When we look back over the three episcopates since the formation of the diocese, it would seem that Bishop Nevill was a visionary bishop. Bishop Richards could be described as a gentle Bishop. Bishop Johnston was without doubt a statesman Bishop. In time he become a world figure in church affairs, being elected as one of the Presidents of the World Council of Churches. In 1968 he attended the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury – and there will be some in the diocese who remember the welcome home accorded to him in the old Town Hall Concert Chamber. In the days before air travel and internet, he was sometimes absent overseas for long periods, yet he always had his finger on the pulse of the diocese.

In 1969 the electoral Synod of the diocese of Waikato chose him to be their new Bishop. The sixteen years of his leadership had seen remarkable growth in all areas of church life. In time he was elected Archbishop of New Zealand, an office he held for eight years till he retired He eventually retired but continued serving the church as locum when needed. The honour of CMG was conferred upon him by H.M. the Queen.

At one stage. after retirement, he served as a commissioner in the Royal Commission into the Arthur Alan Thomas affair.

He died in Hamilton in 2002, a faithful servant of God and His church.

Rev’d David Crooke reflects more on the life of the Right Rev’d Allen Johnston, the fourth Bishop of Dunedin.

On 26 January 1954, H.M. the Queen was welcomed to Dunedin at a Civic Reception. Sitting below the organ above the Town Hall stage, were two young Bishops.

Allen Johnston was only 42 years old and had become our Bishop the previous year. He was the first NZ educated Anglican Priest to become a Bishop in this country.

The Bishop, his wife Joyce and the four daughters came from Whangarei, where Allen Johnston, and a team of clergy, served the largest number of parishioners in any parish in NZ at that time.

The other Bishop in Dunedin at the Civic Reception was John Kavanagh, six months younger in agethan our Bishop. Dr. Kavanagh trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood at Holy Cross seminary in Mosgiel, before achieving two doctorates in theology in Rome.

In 1949, Dr Kavanagh was only 36 years old when he was consecrated to be a “bishop in waiting” to the RC Bishop of Dunedin, Bishop Whyte. The latter spent nine years in hospital care, after suffering a severe stroke. John Kavanagh only succeeded to the RC See of Dunedin in 1957, when Bishop Whyte died.

Allen Johnston and John Kavanagh were similar in temperament, both being reserved rather than outgoing. Both men became extremely able chairmen.

In this respect, in the first Lambeth Conference in 1958, our Bishop, from a Diocese so far from Canterbury, was noticed by Archbishop Fisher. At the next Lambeth Conference in 1968, Bishop Johnston was chosen to chair one of its most important committees.

As the Ven Bernard Wilkinson has pointed out, Allen Johnston played a major part, not only in the National Council of Churches, but also at Assemblies of the World Council of Churches.

As the years passed, the mana of Bishop Johnston (Archbishop from 1972-8) increased, because he actively canvassed the view of others, never made a major decision without consultation and spoke about difficult issues with both clarity and brevity.

HM Queen Elizabeth II made the Archbishop a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, not so much for his service to the Church and nation in New Zealand, but for his role in the Commonwealth (in Melanesia), in the Anglican Communion and beyond.

As chairman and negotiator, Bishop Kavanagh also stood out for his remarkable ability. It was Dr. Kavanagh who steered the R.C. Schools into partnership with the Government’s education system. This became a win for the formerly privately Church run schools like St Hilda’s Collegiate.

For Bishop Kavanagh, the spokesperson for the other RC bishops in NZ, negotiations in Wellington were long and arduous. The outcome was surprisingly favourable for Roman Catholicism in NZ in terms of Government funding for schools. The Roman Catholic Diocese has always remembered its debt to Bishop Kavanagh, and it is good for us to also remember the profound legacy of Archbishop Johnston for the Diocese of Dunedin.

Otago University Connections

Having stolen a march on the Presbyterian establishment in the University of Otago, Bishop Nevill founded Selwyn College as a residential Anglican Theological College in 1893. In 1900 Holy Cross, Mosgiel was founded by the national seminary for the training of Roman Catholic Priests. Knox College did not open for the training of Presbyterian clergy until 1909.

Whereas Bishop Neville was never invited to sit on the Council of the University of Otago, Bishop Johnston, with only an L.Th. to his name became a valued member of the Council.

Allen Johnston may well have become the next Chancellor of the University had he not become Bishop of Waikato in 1969. That was the year the University celebrated its centennial. As a mark of our University Council’s esteem for our departing bishop, Allen Johnston received his first degree, and honour LLD (Doctor of Laws).

In those days, anyone could attend a University Graduation in the Town Hall. I was 23 years old at the time and didn’t drive. While walking down Lynwood Avenue I was startled when the Bishop stopped to offer me a lift. This had never happened before.

I squeezed into the back seat of his car, beside the Bishop’s formidable daughter, Jocelyn, and her equally formidable husband, The Rev’d George Armstrong. In front, between the Bishop and Mrs Johnston, a red doctorial gown was draped over the seat.

On that occasion, and for many years afterwards, the University Orator (he gave the resume of Bishop Johnston’s career), was Professor Alan Horsman, who died on July 21st 2019 at the age of 100.

May Allen and Alan rest in peace.

For more of the Archbishop, see

Responsibility Christian in church and society today, an anthology of readings by Allen H Johnston. ACANZP 2010.

Judy Bellingham has some recollections from a friend in Christchurch about Bishop Walter’s singing career (with some reviews from the Christchurch Press attached below):

“I remember him singing with the Royal Musical Society in his purple shirt and dog collar in what must have been my first concerts. I joined the choir just as I was leaving school at the end of 1962. From then on for the next 28 years I kept scrapbooks so I was able to find the enclosed newspaper articles which are dated 1963. Obviously I have no knowledge or record of his work with the choir in 1950. I don’t think he sang with us again after 1963”.

Rev’d Barbara Dineen has the following memories of Bishop Mann:

“I have the warmest memories of Plus Peter, as he was known! He served in the Australian navy during World War II and he had a vast storehouse of amusing anecdotes, with which he frequently began his sermons. His memory for names was impressive, and all ladies were always greeted with a ‘Hello, dear’ and a kiss. He truly was a people person. He engaged with the city, to the point of living the gospel very visibly: he, and several of his senior clergy, marched with us against the Springbok Tour in 1981. Peter Mann was truly a man of God. His wise and gentle influence in this diocese was a great blessing.”

Rev’d Bernard Wilkinson also has some more humourous memories …

Many years ago it snowed at Synod time, and roads were blocked. This year Synod was at the Cathedral. After the service, Peter asked me if I was heading up to Roslyn (which I was). He also wanted to get up the hill to Roslyn – but he didn’t have his car. Could he have a ride up Stuart St ? Of course – but alas, the road was heavy with thick snow and many cars were marooned. I told Peter that if he liked to sit on the bonnet to give traction, I thought we could make it. And we did – slowly plugging up the hill, the Bishop waving to stranded cars. So we both arrived safely at our destinations.

It made the ODT newspaper later on !

Then there was the time the Rev Ken Light was instituted at Balclutha. During the course of the service the Bishop was supposed to hand him his Licence – but alas, he had forgotten to bring it.

At the function afterwards, the Bishop apologised for the absence of Anne, his wife, due to some other commitment. The remark was made that we were glad to know why she wasn’t there – for a moment we wondered if he had forgotten to bring her.

Peter could always take a joke against himself, and enjoyed it.

Alice Gallaway recalls:

Bishop Peter was a wonderful man. He was so kind, so there, so genuine, wise and present. Peter and his beautiful wife Ann were such a big part of our Dunedin lives. They were dear friends of my mother and father and hosted wonderful dinner parties. I remember Mum and Dad staying in bed just that little bit longer after a night there. My memories of Peter, Ann and his family are seamlessly interwoven into the happiest memories of my Dunedin family church times and celebrations

Barry Entwisle writes:

I first met +Peter in his office in Dunedin after being invited to come to Upper Clutha in 1980. I noticed a photograph on his office wall of a warship at full speed. Peter noticed my interest, but was taken aback when I was able to identify the class of ship as a “Tribal”, a destroyer he served in in the Australian Navy, HMAS “Arunta.” We reminisced, and afterwards he always commented humorously in typical naval humour, that had we still been in the Navy, I would have been his boss; in the Diocese, he was my boss!

His first pastoral visit to Upper Clutha foot got off to a bad start. We had had 2 young nieces staying in the guest room. They had been using the slat bed as a trampoline, and unbeknown to Joan and I, had cracked a couple of slats. Peter sat on the bed, and promptly sank down to the floor. Undaunted, he accompanied me on the normal parish round for that Sunday; Cromwell, Tarras, lunch at Hawea with Dr Mary Tolley, on the Makarora for a service in the school, and then to evensong in Wanaka. One family came over to the Makarora service in a helicopter. Peter said he had never been in a helicopter before, and was treated too his first trip. It made his day.

Peter regarded all his clergy as “family,” and he saw as one of his key tasks the creating and embedding of this sense of family in the Diocese as the shepherd of the shepherds. To this end, the monthly ‘Ad Clerum’ letters helped clergy to keep in touch. To make this more personal, it was his habit to deliver the Diocesan mail, if the envelopes were ready when he was off to the outer reaches of his scattered Diocese. If he was off to Invercargill, for example,he would drop-off the packages at each vicarage en route, arriving unannounced and very informally. Clergy wives would get the episcopal kiss, and he would catch up on what was happening. His philosophy was always that people mattered, because they mattered to God.

He made his last visit to us only 3 weeks before he died. It took great courage, and we shall always remember him for that. A true shepherd and Bishop of our souls.

Stephen White remembers:

I was brought up to be (as a good Anglican in a former time) to be somewhat in awe of bishops who were infrequently seen in humble parish (usually just for confirmations) and with whom as a mere parishioner you never addressed. As I was to discover later when I got to know him, +Peter was nothing like a remote, distant figure. Quite the opposite. But when I first talked to him … well, what could I possibly say to a bishop?

I had applied for ordination and had little idea what the process was. I was at home when the phone rang one morning and I answered to hear Bishop Peter at the other end. I confess that I was so surprised and the call was so unexpected that I dropped the phone which bounced several times against the wall and left me scrabbling to pick it up and thinking. “Well, that’s that.” I apologised and held my breath. I heard a faint chuckle, a very pleasant ‘These things happen”, followed by a request to come into Dunedin so he could meet me. Even after I had hung up I could still not quite believe that the Bishop had rung and even more had overlooked my incredible bungling.

Later, I was to know him better – his warm humanity and his wisdom particularly, and I grew to respect the way that he carried his office with its formal demands and protocols, without losing his ability to relate to people and taking the time to listen.

H Robert Wilson recalls:

+Bishop Peter was an amazing warm, yet unassuming Christian, who related easily to just everyone. He played enthusiastic, even if slightly unpredictable tennis at the Moana Tennis Club with a certain Widow Natalie Ellis. When, after persistent numerous marriage proposals by the Widower, H Robert, she finally conceded defeat, Natalie was firm that that +Bishop Peter could be persuaded to come out of retirement to conduct our marriage at St. Michaels & All Angels in Andersons Bay. Knowing us both well, he peremptorily and enthusiastically brushed aside any thought that we needed any spiritual counselling and presided at a most relaxed & joyful occasion. We were so blessed to enjoy his and Ann’s friendship.

The following is from an article in NZ History on Bishop Penny written by Emma Brewerton.

English-born New Zealander Penny Jamieson was the first woman in the world to be ordained a Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Church.

While Vicar of St Philip’s in Karori, Penny was nominated by a group of women for the position of Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin. She was consecrated in 1990, and some criticised the sudden promotion, foreshadowing opposition from the church’s conservative element that would cloud her 14 years in the role.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Penny married New Zealander Ian Jamieson and moved to Wellington with him. There she lectured in linguistics at Victoria University, then worked for the Wellington City Mission while completing her doctoral thesis and mothering three young daughters. During this time she developed her vocation, and was ordained into the priesthood in 1985.

A former student protester, and a campaigner for the ordination of women, Penny continued to speak and write about her beliefs during her term as Bishop. Subjects ranged from the war in Iraq and the greed for oil to local moral issues such as the removal of the hearts of children who had died in Greenlane Hospital. However, she rejected the notion that she would use her position to push other people’s agendas, ‘so that I can truly be an agent of the will of God and not a reactionary puppet in the hands of other people’.

Penny published several books including Living at the Edge: Sacrament and solidarity in leadership, which explored her experiences as a woman in a powerful position within a patriarchal institution.

From the start, it was clear the role would bring its challenges. The Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt Rev Whakahuihui Vercoe and the Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, the Most Rev Leonard Boyle, boycotted Penny’s ordination. Eight years later she spoke candidly at Kings College, London, saying she wouldn’t wish being a woman Bishop on anyone. ‘The continuingly subtle, even underground power of patriarchy, whether exercised by men or by women, to destroy from a base of self-righteousness is truly appalling.’

This was days before the Lambeth Conference, a 10-yearly international gathering of Anglican bishops, during which a number of delegates held a parallel meeting in protest at the presence of ordained women.

A constant concern for Penny was the role of the church in modern society, and the need to separate spirituality from dogma. She told a conference in 1996, ‘There is a desperate need in every secular society to “remake” the sacred…. without falling into religious literalism, fundamentalism or dogmatic thinking’. It was a theme she returned to at her last Eucharist as Bishop, stating: ‘I still long for a church that can look out and engage with confidence in the society in which we are situated.’

Penny Jamieson retired in June 2004, and was made a distinguished companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit soon after. She expressed regret that she had no-one to ‘pass the mantle on to’. It was not until August 2008 when The Right Reverend Victoria Matthews, a Canadian bishop, became New Zealand’s second woman bishop when she was elected Bishop of Christchurch.