Thomas Hassall (priest)

Thomas Hassall (29 May 1794 – 29 March 1868) was an Anglican clergyman and the first Australian candidate for ordination. Hassall opened the first Sunday School in Australia in 1813 in his father's house at Parramatta.[1]

Thomas Hassall
Portrait ca. 1818
Born(1794-05-29)May 29, 1794
Coventry, England
DiedMarch 29, 1868(1868-03-29) (aged 73)
Cobbitty, New South Wales
EducationLampeter College, Wales
Spouse(s)Anne Marsden
Children3 sons 5 daughters
Parent(s)Rowland Hassall and Elizabeth, nee Hancox
ChurchChurch of England
Ordained1821

Early life

Thomas Hassall was born in Coventry, London, the eldest son of missionaries Rowland and Elizabeth Hassall. He sailed with them as a three-year-old to Tahiti aboard the ship Duff in 1796 with missionaries approved by the directors of the recently formed London Missionary Society.[2] Fifteen months later the Hassall family with Thomas and younger brother Samuel, sailed to the newly founded settlement of New South Wales, arriving in Sydney on 14 May 1798 aboard Nautilus.[3][4] The Hassall family settled in Parramatta during which time the missionary's eldest son, Thomas, came to the attention of the Reverend Samuel Marsden.[2] Initially Thomas was employed as a clerk in the offices of Sydney merchant Robert Campbell and afterwards Captain James Birnie.[1] However, Thomas Hassall gained success in establishing the first Sunday school in Australia for children in his father's house at Parramatta, and Marsden recommended the young man enter the ministry.[2][4]

Sunday School Movement

Thomas Hassall opened up the family home on the corner of George and Charles Street Parramatta to Sunday school classes in May 1813, initially to a small group, including convict children.[5] Thomas requested permission from Marsden to accommodate the school at St John's church Parramatta as numbers continued to grow. There were more than 200 children including Aboriginal children. Teachers included Thomas’ father, Rowland Hassall, and Rev. Marsden's children Ann, Elizabeth and Charles Simeon Marsden.[5] Thomas Hassall then formalised the Sunday school movement with “requirements and rules” established and printed for the guidance of teachers.[6]

Training for the Ministry in Wales

Having resolved to enter the Ministry, Hassall sailed for England in the Kangaroo in 1817, to undergo his training, the first Australian candidate for ordination.[1] Hassall studied at the Diocesan College, Lampeter, Wales under the direction of Principal Rev Dr. Williams. Hassall was ordained deacon by Dr Howley the Bishop of London on 15 April 1821, and ordained priest three months later by the Bishop of Ely in June 1821.[1][2] Receiving his appointment as Colonial Chaplain, Hassall returned to NSW arriving in Sydney aboard the convict ship Mary in January 1822.

Life and Ministry in New South Wales

Parramatta

Thomas Hassall took up his position as Rev Marden's curate at St John's Parramatta, preaching his first Australian sermon there on 3 February 1822. He married Marden's eldest daughter Anne Marsden on 12 August 1822 and continued as his curate until 1824.[1][2]

Port Macquarie

In June 1824 Hassall was appointed chaplain to the penal settlement of Port Macquarie.[1] Rev Marsden corresponded with Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane encouraging the appointment[7]

Bathurst

In 1826 Hassall was appointed to the Bathurst district. Living on his property Lampeter farm at O’Connell Plains he rode every Sunday to the town of Bathurst to hold Church services, returning in the evening to preach at ‘Salem Chapel’ which he built in close proximity to his residence.[1][2]

Cowpastures

In 1827 Hassall was appointed to the new parish of Cowpastures which he described as “Australia beyond Liverpool”. This was to be his centre of operations for the remainder of his life. At this time Hassall purchased Denbigh estate at Cobbitty which became his headquarters. Here be built Heber Chapel in 1828 which served for many years until St Paul's Cobbitty was established in 1842.[1][2]

Hassall's extensive parish extended as far as Goulburn and Illawarra involving an exhaustive preaching ministry including Cobbitty, Berrima, Bong Bong and Goulburn. He was often referred to as the "galloping parson” and has been described as the first of Australia's ‘bush parsons’.[1][4]

Gradually from 1838 onwards the large parish was reduced to a more manageable circuit, with Hassall being relieved of Goulburn and Mulgoa.[1] Subdivided into dioceses and parishes, clergy were appointed and churches built.[2]

Thomas Hassall died at Denbigh estate on 29 March 1868. He was survived by his wife, Anne Hassall, née Marsden (1794 – 18 June 1885)[8]

See also

References
  1. "Hassall, Thomas (1794-1868)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  2. "The Rev. Thomas Hassall, M.A. (From the Australian Churchman)". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 April 1868. Retrieved 13 May 2016 – via Trove.
  3. "Arrival of Vessels at Port Jackson, and their Departure". Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday 3 January 1891, p.17. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  4. "Hassall family correspondence, 1793 - ca.1900". Manuscripts and Pictures Catalogue. State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  5. "Thomas Hassall". Discover Collections. State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  6. "Requirements and Rules for Persons engaging themselves as Teachers in the Parramatta Sunday School, instituted in the year 1815. T. Hassall, Superintendant and Secretary". Manuscripts and Pictures Catalogue. State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  7. Watson, Frederick, ed. (1917), Historical Records of Australia, Series I—Governors' despatches, Volume XI—January 1823-November 1825, pp. 347, 348.
  8. "Anne Hassall death notice". Brisbane Courier. 23 June 1885. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Trove.

Further reading
  • Burton, William (1840). The state of religion in New South Wales. London: J. Cross.
  • Hassall, James Samuel (1977). In old Australia: records and reminiscences from 1794. North Sydney, NSW: Library of Australian History. ISBN 0908120060.
  • King, Rev. R. L. (1868). A funeral sermon, preached in St. Paul's, Cobbedee, on the occasion of the death of the Rev. Thomas Hassall, M. A., of Denbigh, late incumbent of Narellan, together with a brief account of his career. Sydney: F. White.
  • Ramsden, Eric (1936). Marsden and the missions: prelude to the missions. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
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