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Holy Trinity Church appears to have been built first and foremost for the benefit of the well-

off people who came to relax at Kalk Bay and St. James, as did Bishop Gray. Yet these ladies
were very aware of the needs of those who lived in poverty, and of the people who had

already lived in Kalk Bay for a generation or two. In correspondence with the Cape Argus of
February 1871 and later, Harriet Humphreys appealed for help from the people of Cape Town

for a hospital where the sick fishermen of Kalk Bay might be cared for. She wrote:

“I defy the worst parts of Cape Town to exceed in filth, the crowded dwellings,

or in in-temperance, the habits of these people.”

Before they returned to England in 1877 these remarkable ladies had, within seven years, not

only had the church built, but had also equipped Dalebrook House as a hospital for the
fishermen, acquired Douglas Cottage as an orphanage, and given the Rectory to the Diocese

of Cape Town. (Fig. 6.1.) They had also been teaching in the school. They appear to have
been women of social standing and financially well-off, who had, what we might call today, a

very strong social conscience.

The first Rector – James Baker

By the time the first Rector, James Baker, came to Kalk Bay they were gone. He came here in

1878 and before that he had lived with his family for nine years on Robben Island as chaplain
to the lepers there. If you have visited Robben Island for two hours you might ask yourself

what sort of a man could live there for 9 years, as chaplain to the lepers, and with his family.
His wife died there. A visitor to the island has described him as the “good old chaplain” and

asked how he could go on for so many years “in such a comfortless spot, cut off from the

outer world, and amongst such poor wrecks of humanity, both moral and physical.”

Oral legend had given the impression that he used his profession as a doctor to assist the poor

in this neighbourhood when they were sick. He had come to South Africa in 1848 as one of
Bishop Gray's first recruits, having trained as a doctor. He went to Swellendam where he

used the money he had received as compensation for his property being shipwrecked on the
way here, in the building of the church. He never left the Cape diocese even for a holiday.

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