Here I come again. I`m not arguing facts of existence. But the diocese of Portsmouth wasn`t created until 1927. in 1932 plans were published to expand the existing church of St Thomas to become the Cathedral. which was completed in 1991 and consecrated in the Presence of the Queen mother. My argument is that it was not a popular choice, as far as the local population was concerned ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fionnghal" <fionnghalnicphadraig@yahoo.co.uk> To: <hampshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2010 9:26 PM Subject: Re: [HAM] Portsea Parish Church in 1891 > Linda & Tony are right, no matter what people wish or prefer. The bishop > has it! > > You'll find it in the dictionary even, like it or lump it, a cathedral is > a church which contains the bishop's seat! That's what turns it into a > cathedral. Nothing else! Can't argue with the facts no matter how plain, > ugly or beautiful the church is nor how sentimental you may feel about the > church. > > try Wikipedia if you wish: > The word cathedral is derived from the Latin word cathedra ("seat" or > "chair"), and refers to the presence of the bishop's or archbishop's chair > or throne. In the ancient world, the chair was the symbol of a teacher and > thus of the bishop's role as teacher, and also of an official presiding as > a magistrate and thus of the bishop's role in governing a diocese. > > Though now grammatically used as a noun, the term cathedral was originally > the adjective in the phrase "cathedral church", from the Latin ecclesia > cathedralis. The seat marks the place set aside in the prominent church of > the diocese for the head of that diocese and is therefore a major symbol > of authority. > > le durachd > > Fionnghal > >> you are entitled to your` opinion, but that is all it >> is and everybody has one >> The many of us were my my family and their friends and >> descendants, and my >> many friends, from when I lived in Portsmouth in the 1960s. >> My g grandmother >> moved there in the 1890s and had 13 kids my father was born >> there, my >> grandparents were bombed out just after the old Guildhall, and >> tonight is the >> first time I've ever heard St, Thomas` called impressive or >> heard of anyone >> agreeing with it being the Portsmouth Cathedral > > > > > > >

Thanks to those who explained about 'Portsea parish church' in 1891 being St Mary's. I didn't expect such a flame to follow! My father's parents were, as I now know, married at St Mary's in 1891, even though they both came from round Woolwich way (the bride's father, a retired Navy & Dockyard bloke, lived in Portsmouth). My father lived and worked in Portsmouth for over 40 years, but never mentioned his parents' marriage there - he probably didn't know! He also told me that the choice of St Thomas as the cathedral was mostly because it was felt to be convenient for folk coming from the Island for events, and a bit because it was a more historic structure - but that, as listers have commented, it was not a generally popular choice. It certainly seemed to me as a boy that St Mary's offered a better venue for large congregations than the (then still truncated) 'Cathedral'. Of course St Thomas would have seemed a more classy sort of place while still surrounded by C17 and C18 houses as it was pre-Blitz, more like Salisbury and other 'traditional' cathedrals with their closes: perhaps some distrust of class and clique also lay behind the opposition to St Thomas being chosen. Anyway, back to genealogy! Toby in Bristol