- THE ENGLISH CHURCH AT HAMBURG
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—The settlement at Hamburg of the Company of Merchant Adventurers and the establishment of the British Factory dates from the year 1567. The " factory " with its quaint " court " and privileges became a close organization of con- siderable importance for upwards of 250 years, and its members enjoyed the utmost freedom within the Free and Hanseatic City where, in times of religious persecution, they were able to exercise their religion without molestation. The Factory was wound up in 1824, but a colony of British traders and others more numerous than ever remained.
As a set-off against the surrender of the property of the Factory the Hamburg Senate assigned to the English church community a plot of land for the erection of a new church in place of the one built in 1612. This was built in 1838, and for close on a century has been the centre of the spiritual life of the British colony.
The colony declined during the nineteenth century, but has always played an important part in the maintenance and development of commercial relations between the United kingdom and Germany, and is now nearly as numerous as upon the outbreak of the War. The continuity with the past, however, has been broken and the well-to-do merchants of former times are no longer here. Early in the War the church was offered to the German Red Cross for use as a hospital, but it was found to be unsuitable. In 1921 it was reopened and resumed its former activity.
The church building, the work of a famous Danish architect, is now found to have suffered grievously from the ravages of time, and according to expert opinion the roof threatens to collapse unless the necessary repairs are promptly effected. The funds which should be available to meet this emergency have almost entirely disappeared with the depreciation of the German currency, and it is beyond the capacity of the present church community at Hamburg to raise locally the sum required—namely, t1,200—tn make the building safe and dt
for use. . In these circumstances I venture to beg you to publish these lines in the hope that those who were formerly associated with Hamburg, and may have had ties with this church, as well as those who have business relations with Hamburg, or who are interested in the maintenance of the English Church upon the Continent, more especially at a port visited by large numbers of British seamen, will come to the assistance of the` present church community. I am authorized by the Bishop- of Northern and Central Europe to state that this appeal has his full support.
Contributions, marked " English Church in Hamburg Repairs Fund," may be sent to Barclays Bank (Dominions, Colonial and Overseas), 30 Gracechurch Street, London, E.C., or to myself.—I am, Sir, &e., F. OszvEn, H.M. Consul-General. British Consulate General, Hamburg.
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