Canon George Ashton Chamberlain

Canon George Ashton Chamberlain was my grandfather. He was born in Rathmines, although both mother and father were from Co Limerick. George was brought up in Carrickfergus, where his father was the rector of St Nicholas’ Church. He attended Campbell College in Belfast and then Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied Divinity. After he was ordained he was a curate at the church of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, London. He seemed to find living in London very stressful and came back to Dublin where he was curate of St Ann’s Church in Dawson Street. He met Elsie Chamberlain when he was curate in the parish of Castlerock in Co Derry, and perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that he got the job in St Ann’s as her uncle, Dr Richard Dancer Purefoy, was a member of St Ann’s Select Vestry, the committee that runs the church. George and Elsie married in 1915. George then became rector of St John’s Clondalkin and was also appointed Editor of the Church of Ireland Gazette. He served as editor throughout the difficult period of the War of Independence, the Civil War and the subsequent transition towards independence. In 1924 he was appointed rector of the Mariners’ Church in Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) as it was known then. He resigned as editor of C of I Gazette. He remained rector of the Mariners’ until 1959 when he retired.