Carterton District Historical Society
Discover, understand, respect, value and share in our community’s yesterdays.
Carterton Churches
Picturesque St Mark’s Church was completed on its present site in 1875. The 150th Anniversary celebrations taking place this year, in 2025.
It stands as a calm oasis on Carterton’s busy High Street, at the Richmond Road intersection, surrounded by majestic trees planted in 1887.
The Sunday School Hall, now the Parish Hall, was the first building on the half acre site gifted by Mr W Walker in 1873. Previously, services had been held in private homes. St Mark’s Church, initially just the current church nave, was constructed by Mr T Bennett to a modified plan by C R Carter, in the Victorian Gothic style, using totara from Booth’s Timber Mill. Against Carter’s advice, himself an engineer, it was decided to construct a bell tower above what is now the east end of the nave. Two months after construction, the bell, Carter’s donation, crashed to the floor. At Carter’s insistence, the tower he had originally planned was constructed in its present location and continues to safely house the bell today.
The initial works were funded by a loan from Mr Walker and by a subscription list. Amazingly, when St Mark’s was consecrated by Bishop Hadfield in May 1875 the church was debt free. In the 1874 census, the total settler population of Carterton was only 396! Its construction was obviously a high priority for local early settlers. Further additions were made in 1882, largely creating the church as seen today.
Initially, services at St Marks were ministered by Rev. Knell, who served an area from Masterton to the south Wairarapa coast. Mr William Booth was ordained as a deacon in 1875 and, while he was not a priest he was able to serve the Carterton parish until the first resident vicar, Rev. Western, arrived in 1881.
Congratulations on your 150th Anniversary, St Mark’s.
The beginnings of St Mark's
Sources:
Bagnall, A G, A History of Carterton, Carterton Borough Council, Carterton, 1957
Doull, Kelvin, For God’s Sake, Roydhouse and Son Ltd, Carterton, 1975
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https://www3.stats.govt.nz/historic_publications/1874-census/1874-results-census.html#idsect1_1_4580 , 12/1/2025
Image: St Mark's Anglican Church, circa 1878
St Mark's Church - The Beginnings
St Mark’s Church Vicars,
Carterton 1875 - 1880
William Booth (Deacon), 1837 - 1903
William Booth was ordained a deacon in 1875 and had pastoral oversight over the young Carterton community including St Mark’s Anglican Church, until its first vicar arrived in 1881. Born in Lancashire in 1837, he arrived in New Zealand in 1872. He, along with his father, also named William, conducted a successful saw-milling business. He was involved in the Wellington meat exporting business, the Bank of New Zealand, and the Wellington Harbour Board. He played a role in establishing the Wairarapa A. and P. society and the Dalefield Dairy Co. William Booth’s impressive home, built in 1874 on the northern edge of Carterton, was initially known as Eagle’s Store, owned by his sister and brother-in-law. William jnr moved it back in 1894 from its main street site using traction engines and rollers. The store was on the north side of the house. William Booth died March 26, 1903, at the age of 66, at Carrington House. Which he re-named.
William Booth (Deacon), 1837 - 1903
Sources: To be supplied
Image: St Mark's Anglican Church, circa 1878
St Mark's Carterton,
First Vicar, 1881 - 1883
Reverend William Thomas Western
When Rev William Western arrived in Carterton, William Booth handed over the reins of St Mark’s parish to him and he became the first Vicar of St Marks. Mr Western was an MA of Trinity College, Cambridge, UK and was ordained in Litchfield in 1870. He served in England and in Queensland, Australia, before coming to Carterton. Upon leaving Carterton, he was vicar of Greytown and in 1887 returned to England.
Reverend William Thomas Western
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Source Unknown
St Mark’s Carterton,
Second Vicar, 1883 - 1887
Reverend Robert Twiddy Batchelor (1848 - 1929)
The Rev Robert Twiddy Batchelor studied at St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury, UK and was ordained by the Bishop of Dover in 1872. He served as an S.P.G. missionary (Society for Propagation of the Gospel) in Madagascar from 1872 to 1879 and followed this with three years back in England and then two years in Tasmania, before becoming vicar of Carterton in 1883. He married Emily.
He returned to England in 1887 serving in three parishes there until his retirement in 1912.
Reverend Robert Twiddy Batchelor
Sources: To be supplied
Image: St Mark's Anglican Church, circa 1878
St Mark's Carterton,
Third Vicar, 1887 - 1898
Reverend William Ballachey (1846 - 1935)
The Rev William Ballachey replaced Rev Batchelor. He was inducted on 14 February 1887.
Mr Ballachey was born in Canada in 1846 but was raised and educated in England.
After a successful scholastic career, he was at 19 years of age selected by Dr Codrington, Bishop Paterson’s Commissary, to go to New Zealand.
Rev Ballachey was ordained by the Bishop of Wellington in 1872 and served successively as vicar of Karori-Makara and then in the Bulls-Rongotea district. He moved to the Christchurch diocese where he served at Papanui and as chaplain to the Burnham Industrial School before coming to Carterton where he stayed for 11 years. After leaving Carterton, he became chaplain to the Wellington Hospital and other public institutions until 1924. He died in 1935 in Wellington, leaving a widow, two sons and a daughter.
Reverend William Ballachey (1846 - 1935)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: St Mark's Anglican Church, circa 1878
St Mark's Carterton,
Fourth Vicar, 1898 - 1926
Reverend Robert Young (1843 - 1940)
Born in Sunderland, England, Robert Young was son of Robert Young Snr. and Mary Hepell.
He married Ann Eggers in 1867, and the family came to New Zealand in 1879.
Young served as a home missionary in the Methodist Church, at Palmerston North, Greytown, Opunake, and Motueka. Ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1893, he served briefly at Palmerston North then Foxton, before becoming Carterton’s parish vicar at St Mark’s for the next 28 years.
He retired in 1926 and moved to Christchurch where he died in 1940, aged 97, leaving four children.
His dedicated service to St Mark’s is remembered in a stained-glass window in the south transept of the church, erected by the parish members.
Reverend Robert Young (1843 - 1940)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Robert Young
St Mark's Carterton,
Fifth Vicar, 1926 - 1929
Reverend William Raine (1881 - 1946)
Rev. William Raine became the fifth vicar of Carterton in March 1926 when he arrived with his wife and young son having previously been vicar at Martinborough for six years.
William Raine was born in England and moved to New Zealand as a young man. He served at Waverley as a lay reader under Canon H. Watson 1902-1910. After his ordination, he served as a curate at Masterton and St. Peter’s in Wellington. He became vicar at Foxton 1914-1920 and then to Martinborough until 1926. He was a prominent member of the Masonic Brotherhood and a noted athlete. He became dogged with ill health and after leaving Carterton in 1929 he convalesced at Hamner Springs Sanatorium. He served as vicar at Eastbourne until 1934 and Marton until 1945 when he retired. He died only a few months later on 2nd February 1946 after a ministry of 37 years.
Reverend William Raine (1881 - 1946)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend William Raine
St Mark's Carterton,
Sixth Vicar, 1929 - 1950
Reverend Canon William Frank Stent (1879 - 1965)
The sixth Vicar of Carterton was the Rev. William Frank Stent.
He was inducted in September 1929 and stayed for 21 years. William Stent came to New Zealand as a 16-year-old with 5/- in his pocket. He had been sent from England by his father for the good of his health. His father’s confidence in New Zealand’s healthy climate was justified because William Stent lived to a ripe age of 84. He arrived in Wellington in January 1897, or perhaps it should be said he nearly didn’t arrive, as his ship Ruapehu went aground at Farewell Spit, west of Cook Strait and passengers had to wait six days before being rescued. By this time most of the population of Wellington was on hand to give a welcome.
Within a few days, William Stent departed for Taranaki where he worked on a dairy farm for five years. He left the land to become a stipendiary lay-reader at Eltham in 1903, building a shack to live in on the vicar’s land. He milked cows to pay for his board. It was during this time he met his future wife, Elizabeth.
He initially taught at a school in the bush 20 miles from Taihape. After passing matriculation, he went to Auckland University to study botany. He turned to theology and became a student at St. John’s College where he passed four theological grades. After being ordained he began his ministry as a home missionary to the labourers working on the construction of the main trunk line north of Taihape. When he was appointed curate of Feilding late in 1906, he and Elizabeth married. He then was appointed the first vicar of Manaia in 1909 and moved to Taihape in 1914 where he stayed 10 years. When he left in 1924 he was given a public farewell with half the town at the railway station to see him off. After service at Plimmerton and Greytown, he was appointed vicar of Carterton in September 1929 where he stayed 21 years. He retired in December 1950 and continued to live in Carterton. He died in October 1965, survived by his wife and six children.
Reverend Canon William Frank Stent (1879 - 1965)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Canon William Frank Stent
St Mark's Carterton,
Seventh Vicar, 1950 - 1960
Reverend Donald Vully de Candole (1912 - 1982)
Donald de Candole was educated at Perse School, Cambridge, and Oakham School and studied for the ministry at Lincoln Theological College in the UK. He was ordained in 1938 and went to New Zealand where he was joined the priesthood in Wellington in 1939.
He served a curacy at All Saints, Palmerston North until he joined the armed forces as a chaplain in 1941 serving in the Middle East at the 2nd General Hospital at Kantara, Suez Canal; with the 1st Ammunition Coy. N.Z.A.S.C. in Italy and with the 22nd Battalion in Italy.
At the end of the war, he was posted to a Repatriation Unit in England. Here he married Faith. On his return to New Zealand after the war he was successively Priest-in-Charge at St. Peter’s, Palmerston North, vicar of Waverley and from 1950-60, vicar of St Mark’s Carterton.
A passionate do-it-yourself woodworker, Rev de Candole, turned a nearby shed to the vicarage into a joinery workshop and set to making all kinds of furniture, facilities and gadgets to the church, vicarage to parishioners. In 1960 the de Candole family returned to UK and he became Harston’s vicar in August 1960 until August 1965 when the family went back to New Zealand. In 1967 he became Vicar of St John’s in Wainuiomata. He then became Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington, from 1971 until his death on 30 May 1982. He was survived by his wife and four children. He is buried at Waikanae cemetery, Wellington.
Reverend Donald Vully de Candole (1912 - 1982)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: St Mark's League of Mothers with Reverend Stent
St Mark's Carterton,
Eighth Vicar, 1960 - 1964
Reverend Evan Bethovan Algar (1925 - 1971)
Not only did Reverend Algar have an impressive name, he was also handsome, and unmarried when he joined St Mark’s in 1960. When he was appointed “there were some eyebrows raised around the parish pump. How could a bachelor perform his parish duties?”, so reports Kelvin Doull in his book “For God’s Sake the first 100 years of St Mark’s”.
One view was that Reverend Algar would be able to give all his time to the parish, while others felt that a feminine influence at home could be of value. Whatever, Reverend Algar plunged into his work. He was sometimes engaged in ‘peace talks’ of a domestic nature and his ministry was strengthened because he never had to be home ‘in time for tea’, Kelvin Doull reports. As a result, he had frequent teas getting his feet under the tables in many parish homes! Many remember him as a scholar and teacher. His interests included membership of Jaycee and the Amateur Dramatic Society. He helped in the formation of the Carter Society.
His claim to fame was that his father was an All Black in 1920-21. Evan grew up in Miramar, Wellington, attended Rongotai College, and then Canterbury University. He was ordained in 1948 and served in Masterton, Pahiatua (where he helped the Polish settlers) and Upper Hutt before moving to St Mark’s. In the late 60s he tutored at St John’s College, Auckland. From there, he gained a PhD at London University and lectured at Salisbury Theological College. He tragically died in a motor accident, aged 46, while holidaying in Cornwall. By then he was Reverend Dr Evan Beethoven Algar, PHD, MA, DB. A life cut short. No doubt, he would have had so much more to offer.
Reverend Evan Bethovan Algar (1925 - 1971)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Evan Bethovan Algar
St Mark's Carterton,
Ninth Vicar, 1964 - 1969
Reverend Edward Maurice (Ted) Dashfield (1926 - 2019)
Ted Dashfield was born in Wanganui in 1926. He and wife, Helen went to England to complete his ministry training in 1952. The Dashfields then left England in 1957 to return to New Zealand bringing with them a baby daughter Prue, and Ted was appointed Vicar of Tinui. By the time Ted and Helen came to Carterton in April 1964 they had added two sons to their family, Philip and Jamie.
Some of the highlights from the time Ted was at St Mark’s was the 90th Anniversary dinner; the $11,000 extension and face-lift to the parish hall; the $4,000 re-building and re-siting of the organ; the successful parish balls, the parish concerts; the Men’s Club.
Ted Dashfield moved on to be vicar of St Matthew’s in Masterton, covering the Tinui and Castlepoint parishes. He died in 2019.
Reverend Edward Maurice (Ted) Dashfield (1926 - 2019)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Edward Maurice (Ted) Dashfield
St Mark's Carterton,
Tenth Vicar, 1969 - 1976
Reverend Maurice Aubrey Le Fevre (1931 - )
Maurice Le Fevre was born in Christchurch and spent his early years in the South Island. Upon moving to Wellington, he attended Rongotai College. From an early age he was active in church life. He initially trained as an accountant at Victoria University and was a lay preacher in the parish of Wadestown. Returning to Christchurch, he studied theology at Canterbury University as well as finishing his Bachelor ofCommerce degree. In 1957 he was ordained and married to Alison, all in the same week. They moved to Palmerston North and then to All Saints in Lower Hutt. His first parish was in Lyall Bay and then he moved to Carterton. Maurice and Alison had two daughters. In 1975 when St Mark’s celebrated its centennial, Maurice was the vicar.
Reverend Maurice Aubrey Le Fevre (1931 - )
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Rev Maurice Le Fevre with wife, Alison and daughters Phillippa (L) and Deidre (R)
St Mark's Carterton,
Eleventh Vicar, 1976 - 1984
Reverend George Simpson
Born Wanganui. Married Helen 1956. Educated at Aramoho Primary School, Wanganui Technical College, Wellington Teachers’ College & Victoria University. Qualified Primary School Teacher. Maori Mission – Teacher Tanatana Mission School 1956-1958. When the School was closed at the direction of the Maori Synod, appointed as Home Missionary Tokaanu Parish Additionally Chaplain to Rangipo Prison.
Reverend George Simpson
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend George Simpson
St Mark's Carterton,
Twelfth Vicar, 1984 - 1993
Reverend Doug Weaver (1931 - 2018)
No other information known.
Reverend Doug Weaver (1931 - 2018)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Doug Weaver
St Mark's Carterton,
Thirteenth Vicar, 1994 - 1998
Reverend Peter Nunn
Married to Barbara. No other information known.
Reverend Peter Nunn
Sources: n/a
Image: Reverend Peter Nunn
St Mark's Carterton,
Fourteenth Vicar, 1999 - 2005
Reverend Graham Ovenden (1940 - 2005)
Married to Mary (deceased) and partner to Margaret. Died in Palmerston North. No other information known.
Reverend Graham Ovenden (1940 - 2005)
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Graham Ovenden
St Mark's Carterton,
Fifteenth Vicar, 1999 - 2016
Reverend Jenny Chalmers (2007 - 2016)
Rev Jenny Chalmers is the first candidate to declare her intention to stand for the vacant Carterton District Council seat.
Two days ahead of nominations officially opening, the Vicar of St Mark's Anglican Church Reverend Jenny Chalmers has signalled her intention to run, hoping to fill the seat left vacant after John Booth's promotion to mayor.
Rev Chalmers, who missed out on a council seat at the local body elections last year by only a handful of votes, said her work in the community would be a real asset to the council.
She is involved in several community groups including Whanau Aroha social services and family support, St John and Carterton's community-owned aged care facility, Carter Court.
Rev Chalmers has been at St Mark's for seven years, after moving to Wairarapa to support her elderly father, Paul Chalmers.
Not successful in winning a seat, she eventually moved to Waiapu.
Rev Canon Jenny Chalmers was co-chair of UCANZ and deputy chair of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews. She served in the Waiapu Cathedral as Canon precentor and Vicar General of the Waiapu Diocese. She also served at Vicar in Taupo and at Napier until 2021. In her retirement she works alongside the ministry at the Napier Cathedral.
Reverend Jenny Chalmers (2007 - 2016)
Sources: Wairarapa Times Age 22 November, 2014.
Image: Reverend Jenny Chalmers
St Mark's Carterton,
Sixteenth Vicar, 2017 - 2021
Reverend Andy Eldred (1970 - )
With descriptions like ‘rock around the flock’ Rev Andy Eldred was a talented rock musician from South Carolina, who added a whole new musical dimension to his service as Vicar at St Mark’s. He came from St Luke’s in Greytown and before that was with the Wellington Diocese from 2004. He had moved to New Zealand with his kiwi wife, Justine in 2003. In 2021, he made the decision to move away from priesting and with a food truck planned a food and music hub in central Carterton.
Reverend Andy Eldred (1970 - )
Sources: To be supplied
Image: Reverend Andy Eldred
St Mark's Carterton,
Seventeenth Vicar, 2023 -
Reverend Hennie Nothnagel
Rev Hennie Northnagel is another vicar who believes leading a church in today’s world needs good imagination to attract a following.
He heads out each morning to his coffee cart ‘Holy Grounds’ and offers a good brew t
passers-by, securing a good clientele. Before taking up the role at St Mark’s he was Assistant Priest in the parish of Epiphany in Masterton, working with his wife Reverend Sarah Nothnagel. Prior to that, he served at Kapiti and Shannon-Foxton.
South African born he has lived in New Zealand since 2005. He and Sarah have two adult sons – Juan and Shaun. Outside of church and work, he enjoys road trips on his motorcycle indulging his love for people and coffee.
Reverend Hennie Nothnagel
Sources: To be supplied
Image: St Mark's Anglican Church, circa 1878