Joan Spencer-Smith

Joan Elizabeth Spencer-Smith (1891–1965) was a notable New Zealand Anglican deaconess and lecturer. She was born in London, England in 1891. Her brother was the Rev. Arnold Spencer-Smith chaplain and photographer to Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Joan Elizabeth Spencer Smith was born at London, England, on 27 June 1891, the daughter of Charlotte Owen Gaze and her husband, Charles Spencer Smith, clerk and receiver of the United Westminster Schools and Grey Coat Hospital. Nothing is known of Joan's education before her three years of study at honours level for the diploma of student in theology, conferred by the archbishop of Canterbury in March 1915. She then taught divinity in a secondary school for girls, and in 1917 gained the archbishop's licence to teach theology. During the 1920s she was a tutor for the London Diocesan Board of Women's Work. She lectured church workers, including Church Army candidates, organised and gave lectures to women's fellowships in parishes, and conducted tutorials.

In New Zealand at this time there was little provision for Anglican women to train for full-time church work. Campbell West-Watson, the bishop of Christchurch, hoped for the 'firmer establishment of the Diaconate for women', and in 1929 a diocesan commission argued for the setting up of a deaconess training institution in Christchurch. While in London for the Lambeth Conference in 1930, West-Watson was referred to Joan Spencer Smith, who offered to head the training school on a voluntary basis. She was formally invited in 1931 after General Synod approved the Lambeth resolutions and regulations on deaconesses and called for a wider appreciation by the church of women's ministry.

This 'lady of learning, piety, and some private means' arrived in Christchurch in May 1931. There she became known as Joan Spencer-Smith. For a year the women's training house was based at the deanery, and then at Bishop Julius Hostel. The five residential students were joined at evening lectures by growing numbers of non-residential students, attracted by Spencer-Smith's lucid teaching on the Old Testament and doctrine. This wider interest reflected the name given: St Faith's House of Sacred Learning. St. Faith's was housed in premises made available by the poet Ursula Bethell

Spencer-Smith and local clergy gave courses of lectures leading to one-year and two-year certificates. Students came from every diocese except Waikato, and Spencer-Smith helped isolated students by correspondence. St Faith's also offered short courses and provided spiritual and intellectual refreshment for visitors, including missionaries on furlough.

The first deaconess to be trained by Spencer-Smith was ordained in April 1932, and the following year, on 1 November, she herself was ordained and licensed as head deaconess. Tall and statuesque, she wore a simple navy-blue deaconess dress with white collar and dark veil. Known for her sure vision, serene wisdom and calm confidence, she was a woman of strong convictions, yet had a twinkle in her eye. She was soon giving devotional training to lay people and teaching them subjects such as biblical criticism, which otherwise were only offered in the theological colleges. The principal of College House, Christchurch, sent male theological students to her for some of their lectures, and in the 1940s she lectured on the Old Testament at College House.