The fact that it is now possible to view so many Baptism Registers online at Putake.  I decided to investigate what the first Baptism Register for Holy Trinity Lyttelton (1851-1859) and the Church at Christchurch (St Michael and All Angels) (1851-1857) could tell us about the administration of the service of Baptism within these congregations and communities. The results of this initial research were restricted to the years that overlapped in the two registers.

It has to be presumed that the clergy were using the same service from the Book of Common Prayer, either “The Ministration of Publick Baptism of Infants to be used in the Church “or “The Ministration of Private Baptism of Children in Houses” so any similarities or differences could hinge on the constraints of any physical or social surroundings. The dates of these registers are obviously before the arrival of the Bishop, Henry John Chitty Harper, in December 1856, so the clergy involved were licenced by George Augustus Selwyn on his visit in January and February 1851.

What day of the week did this baptism take place?  The Book of Common Prayer rubric for Public Baptism exhorts that the service should place on a Sunday so that the “congregation there present may testify the receiving of them that be newly baptised into the number of Christ’s Church.” A child once baptised in a private house could brought later to the church and received in association with the congregation and godparents and “to incorporate him into thy holy Church”. Alternatively, those present in the house were considered the congregation and the Public Baptism service was used.

At Lyttelton the register indicates the services were taken in the main by Benjamin Woolley Dudley with the occasional signature of Henry Jacobs whose licence was not only to the Collegiate Grammar School but also to the Māori population, especially at Rāpaki in Port Cooper.

Baptisms took place in a number of locations from 1851-1856.  Services began in a warehouse in Norwich Quay in December 1850 and then moved to the Immigration Barracks by January 1851. The first Church was completed by January 1853, only to be abandoned by June, and services returned to the Barracks. There the congregation remained until the new Church was completed in 1860. The residences of those baptised suggests that many of the services took place in private houses. Named locations stretch all around the coastline of the inner harbour, through Gebbies Pass to Lake Ellesmere and beyond towards Akaroa. The Bridle Path Heathcote, The Ferry and Sumner are included. Baptisms took place on any day of the week.

The Registers of the Church at Christchurch include the signatures of George Theodosius Kingdon, Octavius Mathias, James Wilson, William Wellington Willock, Charles Mackie and Robert Bateman Paul. Residences recorded are less specific, the majority of them are “X Church” but there are references to Upper, Middle and Lower Heathcote (Halswell, Addington and Woolston), Riccarton, Lincoln Road, Harewood Forest and Papanui. The distances involved again suggest baptisms in private houses. The Church itself was considered “temporary” and doubled as a schoolroom, particularly for the embryo Christ’s College.

There is clarity about the day of Baptism at the Church at Christchurch.  It was consistently on a Sunday. An investigation of Baptisms on other days of the week shows that they were children in hospital, were sick or close to death. Four have additional information – they were received into the Church at a later date.

So… having used these two registers as examples, what more can be untangled?  Investigations could include months of Baptism, seasonality of Baptism, and relationship to the occupations and working lives of emerging communities.