Saint Andrew's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Singapore, the country's largest cathedral. It is located near City Hall MRT Interchange in the Downtwon Core, within the Central Area in Singapore'scentral business district. It is the Cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and the mother church of her 26 parishes and more than 55 congregations here. The logo of the Cathedral is the St Andrew's Cross. The Year 2006 marks the 150th Anniversary of the St Andrew's Church Mission since 1856. Designed by George Drumgoole Coleman, the original Saint Andrew's Church was built from 1835 to 1836. The second Church of Saint Andrew was designed byJohn Turnbull Thomson and built in cica 1842. Rumours of unhappy spirit and damage caused by two lightning strikes in 1845 and 1849 resulted in its closure in 1852 and subsequent demolition in 1855. Colonel Ronald Macpherson, the ExecutiveEngineer and Superintendent of convicts, designed the new church. To cut costs, Indian convict labour was used, as it was for many buildings of the day. The Right Reverend Daniel Wilson, Lord Bishop of Calcutta, laid the foundation stone on 4 March 1856, and the first service was held on 1 October 1861. The Right Reverend G.E.L. Cotton, who succeeded Daniel Wilson, had the honour of consecrating the cathedral on 25 January 1862. In 1869, it was transferred from the jurisdiction of Calcutta to the Diocese of Labuan andSarawak and, in 1870, Archeacon John Alleyne Beckles consecrated it as the Cathedral Church of the United Diocese. Saint Andrew's Cathedral is owned by the Synod of the Diocese of Singapore, and is a centre for Singapore's Anglican Mission. In 1856, Saint Andrew's Mission launched the firstAnglican evangelical outreac in Singapore. The first Anglican bishop, The Right Reverend J. Ferguson-Davie was appointed in 1909. In 1942, shortly before the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, the cathedral served as an emergency hospital. Anarchaeological excavation was held on its grounds in 2004 by theNational university of Singapore. Saint Andrew's Cathedral was gazetted as anational monument on 6 July 1973.
