All Soul's Church, Race Course, Gopalapuram, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

All Souls’ Church, according to the Madras Orietnal Manuscripts, was founded as a small Anglican
chapel for the faithful Christians of the Army Barracks of East India Company during the days of early
colonial Viceroys Robert Clive and Warrel Hasting sometime in the early 17th century. The Army
Barracks were located where we now have the central jail.

Strategically located, Coimbatore was important for the East India Company and later the British
Government. By mid 19th century, the community of the Europeans and Eurasians had grown. The
first seeds of Christianity for Coimbatore city were sown from All Souls’ Anglican Chapel located
where we now have the Anna flyover in Avinashi road. Those who peep into that area would be
astonished to find a small labyrinth carrying the name All Souls’ Street even today.

The chapel then was a hotbed of the reformist protestant sentiments at the time when Christianity
in England was on her revival path. The non conformist group of Christians worshipping initially at
the central jail and later at Stanes School has also joined hands with All Souls’ Anglican Chapel owing
to the yeomen service of reverent Henry Tailor, visiting chaplain from Coonor military base. Divine
services were held in the judge’s court, the largest public room at Coimbatore. Visiting chaplain the
reverent Henry Tailor persuaded the congregation to build the church, but could not fulfill the same,
as the total amount budgeted for the church could not be mobilized. All further efforts of building
the new church came to a halt and money collected was kept in safe custody.

In 1867, the reverend Dr. I.McKee was appointed as the chaplain in Coonor and visiting chaplain for
Coimbatore. He had some experience of Church building in Travancore and when he realized a sum
of money had already been collected for the purpose, he reopened the subject with the
congregation and formed the building committee consisted of the Judge F.M.Kindersley, collector
Andrew Wedderburn, Colonel Swaston and Colonel Davies of the police, H.R.Grimes, Superintendent
of the jail and major W.H. Hessey of the survey department (who assumed the full responsibilities).
in 1867, it was decided to build the new church in Commemoration of the 40th anniversary of her
majesty the Queen Victory II, who was also the empress of India. A suitable piece of land extended
to 8.5 acre was bought at race course road during 1863, from one Anga Naicken and me Ramasamy
Gounder.

Construction of the Church present building began in 1856 under the supervision of Mr. James
Grimes, and Col. Hessey, with the budget of Rs. 13,767/-. The interior decoration cost much more.
Col. Hessey bore the excess expense. The congregation donated towards furniture. The east was
donated by Mrs. Grins in memory of her daughter.

Upon completion of construction, Bishop Gell consecrated All Souls’ church on January 27, 1872 and
the reverent Henry Pope was the first resident Chaplain. Podaur and Palghat outstations were also
assigned to him. All Souls’ church was formerly affiliated with the Church of England in India.

The Church and the adjoining building have the characteristic feature of an angelican church.
Cruciform shaped, its chancels accommodate the choir on one side and the members on the other
side. The chancels have low wooded roof, double side gabbled entrances supported by a single
column and two pointed arches. The arched openings lead to a 12 feet wide hall culminating to the
raised sanctuary. A king post truss spans the steep tiled timber rafted roof. The walls are ashlars
stone masonry. Pointed arches reflect the gothic revival style; huge stained glass windows and a
profusion of smaller arch windows create an effect of space and light. The steeple houses the belfry.

All Souls’ Church is unique because no other building in this area reflects this architecture and
craftsmanship.

Though it was thought to be the Church of Eurasians, the liberal preaching and social activism of
successive Chaplains paved the way for de-segregation of the congregation. All Souls’ started its
evangelical work by supporting a missionary of Indian origin, the Reverend S.Pakianathan in 1898
and had her first lay trustee of Indian origin Mr. Narassiah.

With the turn of the 20th century All Souls’ family became a cosmopolitan mixture of congregation
of Indian and Eurasian origins. The Church building was added with a porch in its western end in
memory of His majesty the King Edward VII in 1902. In October 10, 1904, the Reverend S.O. Piers
confirmed four persons for the first time in All Souls’ Church. In 1923, a dynamic new leader, the Rev
H.J. Edmonds entered the pulpit of All Souls’ Church. He was a powerful Bible educator who
advocated evangelism. In 1924 a Parish library was started and in 1925, Evangelical Council of All
Souls’ Church was formed to reach out to people in the neighborhood which resulted in the
institution of All Souls’ Endowment scholarship to help educating the poor children established by
the Rev. Earnest Evit in 1940.

With the promulgation of Indian Church Statuary Rules, 1940, all the protestant churches in South
India and Sri Lanka are affiliated to Church of South India on September 27, 1947. The last English
Chaplain of All Souls’ church was Rev. Roy Martin who served from 1969 to 1980. This era witnessed
tremendous growth of the Church with a multilingual complex Tamils, Malayalis and others, along
with some Europeans and Africans who came to study in leading institutions in Coimbatore city. Rev.
Roy Martin took the initiative to educate the children in Christian virtues and started the All Souls’
Junior Church.

Howbeit, the zeal of evangelism and spiritual education were and are high priority at All Souls’
Church. An extension, keeping with the architecture was added in front of the Church in 2000 to
accommodate more members of the congregation during divine service. A Parish Hall which caters
to the needs of the congregation was built and dedicated in 2003. The Church continues to swell in
number and the congregation members take a leading role in diverse ministers of the Church. The
Church in 2011 has taken up a special initiative to help build Churches in remote areas where there
is a need. Four Churches have already been built and dedicated for God’s glory. Two more are
planned for each year. The Church also supports many missionary workers in India and individual
members donate to this cause.

All Souls’ Church is rich in tradition and history and we are truly privileged to be part of this history.
May God help the congregation to be good stewards of His property and guide them to safeguard
the spiritual principles of our forefathers who tirelessly labored to give us what we have today.
Visitors are welcomed with coffee and the padre is always available for prayer and counsel.