The building was dedicated in 1908, becoming a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops mandated formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911.
He was appointed by the Bishop of Bloemfontein, the Rt Revd Allan Webb, being diverted from Modderpoort to the Diamond Fields when he arrived in 1871.
The writer J. W. Matthews recalled the "primitive state of things existing" in church matters when he reached the Diamond Fields in November 1871: worshippers gathered in a canvas tent billiard-room: "On entering I beheld a full-robed clergyman officiating at one end of a billiard-table, which served for his reading desk, whilst a large and attentive crowd sat around the other end, some on rude benches which were fixed along the walls, others perched upon gin cases, buckets reversed, or any other make-shift [sic] that came to hand.
..When the parson was praying or the people singing, it was not particularly edifying to be interrupted by the lively chaff and occasional bursts of blasphemy, which we could plainly hear through the canvas party-walls, which separated us from the adjoining bar and its half tipsy occupants".
[8] As its erection neared completion, it was blown to the ground by a whirlwind; but on Low Sunday 1880 Bishop Webb of Bloemfontein dedicated the re-erected building and instituted C.B.
[11] Gaul subsequently became Rural Dean of Griqualand West and Archdeacon of Kimberley, and served the parish until 1895 when he was elected to succeed George Wyndham Knight-Bruce as second Bishop of Mashonaland.
[13] The foundation stone for the Neo-Gothic church building that would become the Cathedral was laid (by Bishop Gaul) on 5 March 1907 and the completed Nave was dedicated on 13 May 1908.
[14] St Cyprian's Church became a Cathedral when Episcopal Synod approved the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911, the first Bishop, Gore Browne, being enthroned in 1912.
[15] The building was brought nearer to completion in 1961 with the dedication of the bell tower – which was built closely following the original cathedral design (the architect had been Arthur Lindley of the firm of Greatbatch).
[16] The funeral service of World War II RAF veteran "Sailor" Malan, a South African fighter pilot who became famous during the Battle of Britain, was held here in 1963.
Crowther; the consecration (1 May 2007) and enthronement (16 June 2007) of Bishop Oswald Swartz and services commemorating the laying of the foundation stone (5 March 2007) and the dedication of the building (13 May 2008)[18] Arising from the cathedral's centenary was the reinstitution of the St Cyprian's Grammar School, which had existed more than a hundred years previously as part of the mission of the St Cyprian's Parish Church in the late nineteenth century.
Precentors have been: John William Salt OGS (afterwards Dean of Eshowe and Bishop of St Helena) and Keith Thomas.