St. John's Church is located in St. John's Hill, Cleveland Town, Bangalore Cantonment, India, in between Promenade Road and St. John's Church Road. The church is the fourth oldest Protestant church in the city, with a distinct red edifice and towering steeple, rising out of the leafy surroundings. The church is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist.
History
Chapel, school and library on Haines Road
St. John's Church traces its origin to a small chapel and school, located in Haines Road which connects Cleveland Town to Fraser Town. The small school has now grown into the St. John's High School in the church compound.
Rev. R Posnett, Assistant Chaplain, East India Company, serving at St. Mark's Church played a significant role in establishing St. John's Church and the school. In those days, that end (Cleveland Town and Fraser Town) of the Bangalore Cantonment housed mainly pensioned officers and employees of the East Indian Company, Europeans and their native wives and Eurasian children. These Eurasian children were not allowed to enroll in the European styled schools of the Cantonment. Rev. Posnett saw the need to provide for a church and school for these residents of the Bangalore Cantonment. A single room measuring 750 ft2 was built, on Haines Road, serving as school during the day, library for the pensioners during the afternoon, and as a church on Sundays. Reference to the existence of this chapel/school can be found in the records of St. Mark's Church in February 1853. The chapel/school/library was built out of funds raised by officers of the East India Company. The reading room for pensioners at Haines Road is also mentioned by William Sproston Caine in his book 'Picturesque India: a Handbook for European Travellers', published in 1890 (p. 522).
In a letter dated 23 April 1853, Rev. Posnett, writing to the Bishop of Madras, reported church services were held on Wednesday evenings and on Sundays, with the room filled to excess with 100-115 people in attendance. Further, the school was attended by 52 girls and 16 boys. Hence, there was a need to sell the present premises and move to a large ones. Rev. Posnett approached the Government of Madras, Church Building Society, and Major General Sewell, the then Commanding General Officer, for funds for construction of a school and chapel. However, it was uncommon for the Government of Madras to fund church buildings for civilian purposes (only churches for military congregations were funded), and hence the proposal was rejected.
In 1950, writing in the St. John's Centenary Journal, Rev. W. Holder says "The exact site of this Chapel-School room is obscure, though a building, reputed to be such stands on Haines Road..". The exact location of this chapel/school is unknown at present, as are any other details such as the year of construction year or the associated cost. It is nevertheless possible that records could be found in the 'Madras Government Archives', 'Madras Diocese Office', 'Indian Church Trust, Calcutta' or the 'Bangalore Garrisons Office'.
Mootocherry Anglican Church
Rev. Posnett, managed to raise the required funds by appealing to the different congregations in India and abroad. The total collections amounted to INR 2,669 and 11 Annas, with £10 contributed by Rev. C. G. Townsend from Hatfield, England. An empty plot of land, lying beside the Roman Catholic chapel (future St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral) was purchased by Rev. Posnett for INR 100 in October 1853. The enclosure was built around the purchased land, earmarking it for the future Mootocherry Anglican Church, along with a school and library.
The church, school and the library had matching Gothic architecture. Rev. Posnett had the church designed by the engineers who designed the Municipal Offices (Attara Katcheri, now Karnataka High Court building). The school and the library were completed on 16 May 1854, at a cost of INR 2,700. The schools, one each for boys and girls, were inaugurated on 28 May 1854 by Rev. Posnett, who had now become the chaplain of St. Mark's Church.