Thomas Gordon Somers: The Silver-tongued Orator

 

A single institution – the Gordon Somers Society (TGSS)— bears his name. The organization’s first meeting took place on October 12, 1946, with Isaac Henry as president. At the meeting, Rev Ernest C. Askew, tutor at Calabar Theological College and Editor of the Jamaica Baptist Reporter made a presentation.  TGSS was an organization formed by Baptist students attending Calabar Theological College and other tertiary institutions in Kingston and St Andrew. In later years, Baptist students attending the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI), the University of the West Indies (UWI), the College of Arts, Science and Technology, now called The University of Technology, Jamaica, and three teacher-training institutions in Kingston — The Mico College, Shortwood and St Joseph’s –  comprised its membership. Baptists from all over Jamaica who were students attending tertiary educational institutions in the Kingston metropolitan area shared rich fellowship and formed lasting friendships in TGAS over many years. The Society’s value was based partly on the remarkable prestige the Thomas Gordon Somers’ name attracted and the salutary example and inspiration the Society’s founders believed Gordon Somers provided for future Baptist leaders. It is unclear whether TGSS is still an active and vibrant organization.

Thomas Gordon Somers was born on May 28, 1866, in Camrose near John’s Hall in the parish of St. James. He attended the Buckingham Day School. He grew up in the environment of the Mount Carey circuit of Baptist churches, where he answered the divine call to the Christian ministry.

He applied for admission to Calabar College where he commenced his formal preparation for ministry in 1889. On his graduation, he served as pastor in the Yallahs Bay (now Yallahs) circuit of churches in the civil parish of St. Thomas.

In 1897, Somers answered the call to serve as pastor of the First Baptist Church (now Phillippo Baptist Church) in Spanish Town. His fame as a pulpit orator was established there.

Gordon Somers figured prominently in the public life of that town. A Justice of the Peace for the parish of St Catherine and a member of the Conciliation Board, he was an ardent advocate in the cause of Education and he served on many school boards. He served on the Parochial Board of St. Catherine and was for one term its chairman; but he resisted the pressure to run for a position in Jamaica’s Legislative Council. Gordon Somers was able to hold in balance his calling as a pastor and his involvement in the political life of the country.

Somers’ service in Spanish Town came to an end in 1922, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Stewart Town Baptist circuit which included, Stewart Town, Keith, Jarretton (Watt Town), and Gibraltar churches. He served in this circuit until his death in 1931.

In his book, Bananaland, former Calabar Principal, Ernest Price, who was an English Baptist missionary to Jamaica from 1910 to 1938, tells an interesting story about what transpired in a Baptist church in England one Sunday morning in 1901.

T. Gordon Somers was on his first visit overseas and, on his first Sunday morning in England, he was in Bristol. He decided to worship at the Old King Street Baptist Chapel – a large membership church that was under the pastoral leadership of the eloquent preacher, J. Moffat Logan.

On the Sunday morning when Somers arrived at the church, he was the only Black person present and the people were curious to find out who he was. He introduced himself as an accredited minister of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU).

That morning, Rev. J. M. Logan suddenly fell ill and the deacons anxiously sought someone to replace him as preacher at the service. They decided to approach the visiting pastor to ask whether he would deliver the sermon. Somers requested fifteen minutes to collect his thoughts, after which the service began. After hearing Somers’ sermon that morning, the deacons asked if he could return to preach at the evening service, which he did. And when Rev. Mr. Logan's illness persisted, Somers preached at the Church for another six months before returning to Jamaica, where, like the Greek church father, John Chrysostom, he had already earned the moniker “the silver-tongued orator.”

Nine years later, he was elected JBU Secretary-Treasurer. He served in that capacity from 1918-1929, after which he was for two years the first JBU General Secretary.

Gordon Somers served on many JBU committees and in many capacities including as secretary of Calabar College for nearly 10 years, and as chairman (now called President) for 1908-1909. He was Secretary-Treasurer of the Union for 13 years starting in 1908. He led deputations on behalf of JBU to Britain in 1902 and Costa Rica in 1909.

He offered his gifts to the local ecumenical community, serving as president of the Jamaica Union of Christian Endeavourers and president of the Jamaica Union of Evangelical Churches. In 1905, he was chosen as president of the Jamaica League, an organisation formed “to advance Jamaica’s best interests.”

Mr. Rupert E. Meikle, a journalist, delivered a lecture before the Quill and Ink Club at their Jamaica Evening at the YMCA Hotel, Port Maria, in 1933, in which he declared:

 

In building up some definite background of Jamaican Culture and National Pride we can take the lives of two outstanding personalities of this our island community and hold them up to the youths of the country and know that we are showing them the strength and grace and charm of the land. These mirrors of national excellence are Thomas Gordon Somers and Aemelius Alexander Barclay, and in them we see reflected the full-grown fruits of those good qualities which Jamaica and the Negro Race most naturally produce. Both of them were born of the people in humble homes, educated exclusively in the country and rose to great heights in the land acting as national stimuli to its people. Gordon Somers, who cradled in himself all the virtues of the country and its people; and Barclay, who by the force of his personality, character and actions inspired the people.

Meikle identified the Baptist and the Presbyterian ministers as “ideal Jamaicans.”

In announcing the passing of Gordon Somers, The Gleaner newspaper of March 21, 1931, reported Somers’ passing on page 1 under banner headlines, describing the deceased in the following words; “Was For Many Years One Of Island’s Outstanding Personalities” and “WAS NOTED ORATOR” and “Took prominent part in all works for social uplift in Colony.”

On the February 1, 1931, Somers preached his last sermon at a special service at the East Queen Street Baptist Church to mark the Jubilee of the Christian Endeavour movement. Shortly after this, he passed away at the Sanitarium operated by Dr. Anderson in lower St. Andrew. Alice Maud, his wife of thirty-three years, their sons and their daughter were present watching at his bedside.

At his Memorial Service at East Queen Street, on April 5, 1931, Rev Cowell Lloyd, the pastor, declared: 

Gordon Somers is dead! When that message was flashed along the wires and then leaped across the seas, finding its way into newspapers, letters, churches, homes, and hearts, the spontaneous exclamations from every lip were: "A great man has passed on;” “A big Christian has been called away;” “Jamaica has lost one of her most worthy sons.” The news of his death brought a sense of vast loss. It meant a gap in the front line of the battlefield; an empty chair at the council Board, a vacant pulpit in the Church, the removal of a pillar and support of the truth.

Somers’ mortal remains were buried in the church cemetery in Stewart Town after his second funeral service.

God gave many gifts to Thomas Gordon Somers and he dedicated them all to the service of the Lord, whom he loved.

The First Baptist Church, Spanish Town, convened a Memorial Service for Gordon Somers on April 22, 1931, at which the serving pastor Rev Gillette Chambers preached on the text Psalm 127:2. Chambers reminded the congregation that Somers was “a worthy human example, a man whom [they] knew, watched, honoured and loved.” He called Somers a “steward of the manifold grace of God: faithful ambassador, and full dressed soldier of the cross.” He continued: 

Jamaica has lost a worthy son; the Baptist Union, a trusted counsellor and an able leader; the churches a faithful pastor and effective preacher; the family a loving husband and tender father, and I have lost a personal and trustworthy friend.

 

On March 13,1932, a function took place at the East Queen Street Baptist Church to unveil a tablet and portrait of the late Gordon Somers. Mr. A. J. Newman, Principal of the Mico Training College presided and, the choir members of the Coke and East Queen Street Baptist Churches rendered special items. Mr. Frank Somers expressed thanks on behalf of his family for the erection of the tablet to honour his father.

 

We thank God for the ministry and legacy of Thomas Gordon Somers, for those led to Christ through his preaching, and for the stewardship he exhibited as a minister of Christ’s Church.