Gillett Chambers started his working life as a teacher at the Salt Spring School. However, he came to believe that the demands of the kingdom required him to offer himself for the Christian ministry. He was admitted to Calabar Theological College where he came under the influence of Principal Arthur James, who headed the institution from 1893 -1911. Before he completed the Calabar course, Gillett Chambers received a call to become pastor of the Frankfield circuit in Clarendon and he was allowed to commence his pastorate in that circuit. While serving in Clarendon, he was president of the parish Christian Endeavour Union. He also became a member of the Parochial Board for the parish.
Gillett Chambers left Frankfield to serve as pastor of Maldon Baptist Church, where he spent 17 years. Once again, he became a Member of the Parochial Board and he gave seven years of service as Secretary of the District School Board.
Rev. M. B. Burgess’ resignation as pastor of First
Baptist Church, Spanish Town, after a short stay (1925-1926) created a vacancy,
which Gillett Chambers filled, starting in 1926. Gillett Chambers spent the
remaining years of his ministry in Spanish Town, retiring in
1947.
According to Rev. L M Beverley, writing in the Jamaica Baptist Reporter, Gillett Chambers was a man with a retiring disposition. Yet, he was deeply committed to the ministry of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU). For many years, he was Secretary of the JBU Sunday School Society. Over many years, he served on the JBU Executive Committee during which his contribution to JBU’s constitutional revision process was highly respected. When the JBU formed a committee to plan its celebration of the centenary of Emancipation in Jamaica, Gillett Chambers was named to chair the committee comprising the following: Revds. M E W Sawyers, E H. Greaves, F. Wilson Coore, C. Orr, L. M. Beverley, Drs. A. A. Phillips, O. E. Anderson, A. R. Stephenson and Mr. H. Leo Brown.
Partnering effectively with Gillett Chambers was his
wife Adelaide De Ruth Gillett Chambers, nee Tharpe. She was a schoolmistress who
was born at Happy Grove in Portland. The Gillett Chambers were married on
January 1, 1907 in Spanish Town with Methodist minister, Rev. J. C. A. Smith
officiating. The bestman was Gillett Cambers’ fellow Baptist pastor, W. Wilson
Coore.
The union of Gillett Chambers and Adelaide Tharpe produced five children – Eva May, Rendel Dow, Horton Gillett, Winston Lloyd, and Gloria Elaine.
When Lady Huggins made an official visit to Spanish Town on May 3, 1944, she was met by a Reception Committee of the Women’s League headed their “chairman,” Mrs. Adelaide Gillett Chambers.
Mrs. Gillett Chambers, 1883-1955, was a respected participant in the leadership of the Jamaica Baptist Women’s Federation (JBWF). She has the distinction of being the first Jamaican woman to be invited to address a Plenary session of the Jamaica Baptist Union Assembly.
At the JBU Assembly in February 1923 – just a few months after the formation of the JNWF, a Jamaican woman was invited, for the first time in JBU history, to be the main speaker at a plenary session of the JBU Assembly. This was Mrs. Gillett-Chambers who, with her husband, was serving in Maldon. She was to become one of the leaders in JBWF. This is what a Gleaner reporter recorded about the address Mrs. Adelaide, sometimes referred to as Myrtle, Gillett Chambers delivered:
She [Mrs. Gillett
Chambers] dealt with her subject in a very lucid and impressive manner. She
pointed out that this was a new departure in connection with the Baptist Union
programme — the introduction of a woman speaker— but as this was a time when
women were coming into their own, it was, she felt sure, an innovation that
came to stay.
At her funeral service in the Phillippo Baptist Church on July 5, 1955, speakers extolled Mrs. Gillett Chambers contribution to the community of Spanish Town—to the youth in particular – her humanity and exemplary Christian life. Captain the Honourable H. S. McGrath, C.B.E., custos of St Catherine, paid tribute to Mrs. Gillett Chambers. He made special reference to “her unselfish life and her service in the school, the church and to the community.” He praised her devotion to her family and referred to her as “a model home builder.” Mrs. Gillett Chambers had been a Justice of the Peace.
The funeral service was conducted by Rev. J. Carter Henry assisted by the Rev. A. Alphonse (Methodist), the Rev. Luther Gibbs, Rev. M. E. Sawyers, the Rev. A. Adams and the Rev. U. N. Leo Erskine. Other participating ministers of religion were Rev. Stephen James, Rev. Glen Walters, the Rev. John Smith, Rev. S. A. Webley (Congregationalist), Rev. R. S. Muir and Rev. R. Gillett-Chambers, husband of the deceased.
When
Robert Gillett Chambers died in June 1964, at the age of 90, Rev J. A. Leo Rhynie,
President of the Jamaica Council of Churches and Minister of the East Queen
Street Baptist Church, who gave the eulogy, referred to Gillett Chambers’ 17
years at Maldon and his more than 30 years at Phillippo which were “marked by
integrity, dedication and fidelity.” Leo Rhynie continued:
For many years, he served
at Secretary for the Sunday School Society of the Jamaica Baptist Union. His
firmness and fortitude are worthy of emulation. Of him it can be said 'Behold,
there was in this city a man of God, and he was an honourable man. Indeed, he
was a faithful servant of God, sensitive to human need, and possessed with
great com- passion, a true friend, public spirited citizen, he identified
closely with all conditions of men and walked humbly with God.
Also officiating at the service were the Rev Donald Monkcom, President of Calabar Theological College, Rev Walter Foster, Headmaster, Calabar High School, Rev. Menzie Sawyers, acting Vice-President of Jamaica Baptist Union, the Rev. S A. Webley, Secretary of the Jamaica Council of Churches, and Rev J Carter-Henry, Minister of the Phillippo Baptist Church.
At the Spanish Town Cemetery where interment took place, Rev. Azariah McKenzie. Secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union assisted by the Rev. R. A. G. Johnson of Trinityville officiated.
For the quality of their stewardship as partners in the ministry of Christ, we have reason to celebrate the contribution of the Gillett Chambers.
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