The Right Reverend Gerard Heath Lander
倫義華會督
(1861–1934)
Transformer of SKH Education
聖公會敎育改革領袖
Gerard Lander was the fifth Bishop of Victoria (1907–20) and warden of St. Paul’s College, ex officio.
Lander’s early ministry was in the port city of Liverpool, where he preached for nearly twenty years. St. Paul’s College weighed on Lander’s mind as he set sail for his new post. In the absence of Hoare’s hands-on leadership, the College once again found itself on the cusp of change.
The Church Missionary Society (CMS) wanted St. Paul’s to return to its Anglo-Chinese roots; additionally, it believed moving the existing seminary to the mainland would attract more students and support.
The Hong Kong administration was planning a university; were St. Paul’s to revert to a general programme and prepare its students for further study, enrolment would likely benefit — perhaps it would even balance the books!
Lander himself wanted to see the Glenealy site used better, and to clarify the bishop’s role vis-à-vis the Church of England, the CMS, and his colleagues across China.
Once in Hong Kong, Lander extended his late predecessor’s agreement while labouring to find a new direction. St. Paul’s College eventually reopened in 1909 as an Anglo-Chinese school, now under full CMS management. Lander continued as the College’s warden, albeit with a reduced supervisory role.
Lander also oversaw the church’s further maturation: the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui was established in 1912, St. Paul’s Girls’ College (now St. Paul’s Co-educational College) was founded in 1915, the Diocesan Girls’ and Boys’ schools each acquired new sites, and St. Paul’s College itself expanded throughout the 1910s.
After Lander resigned, he returned to England, where he served in a parish church in New Barnet (north London) until 1933.