Sophia Gray

19th Century

A photograph of Sophia Gray. Image: National Portrait Gallery, London

“We buried your dear mother yesterday in the Claremont Cemetery, under the shadow of our unfinished parish church, of which she was the architect, and in which she took so deep an interest.” － Bishop Robert Gray in a letter to their son, Charles, dated April 1871.

Sophia Myddleton was born to an affluent, aristocratic family in Yorkshire, England. Her childhood days were spent horse riding, sketching, and reading with her father who believed strongly in educating his daughters. She met

and married Robert Gray, a rector, in Durham county. They set out to strengthen the ecclesial church in England, until Robert was chosen as the first Anglican Bishop of the Cape of Good Hope.

Before embarking on their journey to reach the Cape by ship, Sophy acquired architectural church plans, which she could adapt and change if needed. She already had personal notebooks filled with her own sketches and drawings of detailed church architecture. Despite the fact that she was a self-taught artist, she became an excellent draughtswoman. Before leaving England, Sophia and Robert raised over 130 000 pounds (estimated at 3 million pounds today) to build churches in the Cape. They arrived at the Cape in February 1848 and immediately attended an evening service at St George’s.

Sophia went on to design over 40 church buildings in just 24 years. Upon her arrival at the Cape there had been only ten Anglican church buildings. Some of her churches include St Saviours in Claremont (where she is buried), St Pauls in Rondebosch, as well as churches in Swellendam, Knysna and St Mark’s chapel in District Six (which was destroyed during the forced removals).

Although she was a deeply private person who did not like entertaining, Sophia hosted many well-known guests as the bishop’s wife and made everyone feel comfortable and welcome at their home in Bishops Court.

Bishop Robert was often ill and she frequently spent weeks nursing him back to health. Sophia acting as the unofficial administrator for his vast diocese, which included Natal, St Helena, the Orange Free State and Tristan da Cunha. She accompanied him on almost all of his travels across the diocese, stretching over hundreds of kilometres. While touring the country, she advised and chose suitable materials for her churches and preferred Gothic style architecture for all her designs.

Sophia was described as an excellent horsewoman － “Better than any man.” Today she is one of the figures on the great Northern Window in St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town. She is depicted wearing a green dress and riding one of her horses.