Faure Abraham was born on 29 August 1795 in Stellenbosch. Faure was one of the leading personalities of his tune in church and intellectual circles at the Cape. As a preacher he was famous for his impressive style and delivery; as a person he was serious, conscientious and strict. He was also renowned for his capacity for work, his methodicalness, his wide contacts in the highest circles, and for the versatility, integrity and will-power which enabled him to undertake so many activities in spite of having poor health for 35 years. He was educated at Gosport in England under Dr. Bogue (1814-16) during a revival of religious and missionary zeal, and at Utrecht in the Netherlands (1816-18), which gave him a strict Calvinist background. Having been inducted as Dutch Reformed minister at Graaff-Reinet in 1818, he was called to the Groote Kerk in Cape Town in 1822. Here he was the moving spirit behind the convocation of the first synod (1824), was a member of the church executive (Moderatuur) for 43 years, first as Secretary and then as Registrar of the Synod, and was at the same time Church archivist and administrator. He pleaded for a second church building in Cape Town - a matter which led to grave discord in the congregation, with the result that a special synod had to be called in 1837.

References

• Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970).
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