A. C. Newbury

Alfred Charles Newbury (1886^[1] – 23 September 1948) was an Australian Congregationalist minister.

Rev. Alfred Charles Newbury

History

Newbury was one of five sons of Samuel Newbury (1854–1930) and his wife Jessie Susannah Newbury née Dowsett ( –1940). Samuel was the headmaster of Albert Park Grammar School in Melbourne, and it is likely Alfred's early education was at that school, followed by Geelong College in 1897 and 1898, at which time his address was 180 Bellarine St, Geelong, then Queen’s College at Melbourne University.^[2] He studied for the ministry at the Victorian Congregational College from 1908.

He served the Congregational Church from 1910 at North Richmond then the Quarry Hill church, Bendigo and was ordained in 1911. He served as pastor at Ascot Vale from April 1914^[3] to June 1921, followed by Camberwell for three years, and in July 1923^[4] transferred from Camberwell to Chatswood Congregational Church, in Sydney, where he served for the next seven years, before being called to the Clayton Congregational Church at Norwood, Adelaide, where he served from 1930 to 1940.

He took over the Henley Beach church in October 1940 following the Rev. Dr E. F. W. Swan's transfer to Surrey Hills, Victoria. He served there for seven years, then retired due to ill health and died a year later.^[5]

Other appointments

• He was Secretary of the Victorian Congregational Men’s Association.^[2]
• While at Ascot Vale he served as chaplain to the Australian Army Gunnery Camp at Maribyrnong.^[2]
• While at Chatswood he acted as Secretary of the New South Wales Congregational Union Young People's Department.^[6]
• In 1937 he was President of the South Australian Refuge, Norwood.
• He was chaplain of the Norwood Football Club.
• He also served as an army chaplain during World War I and II.

Bibliography

• Newbury, A. C. The Encircling Love: Hymns and verses (Kensington S. Aust, Clayton Congregational Church, 1931)

Family

Alfred's brothers were Samuel Dowsett Newbury (30 September 1882 – 1953); Frank George Newbury (1886-1942); Albert Ernest Newbury (29 January 1891 – 1941), a noted artist; and Charles Frederick Newbury (21 June 1893 – 1961)

Alfred Newbury married Helen (Nellie) Rae Hume ( – 12 December 1915) at Albert Park on 13 September 1911, they had two children. He married again to Flora Macdonald with whom he had two more children. After her passing in 1943, he then married Verna Riddle.

His children were:

• Margaret May Isabel Newbury
• Charles Samuel Newbury (26 July 1915 – 3 December 2002)
• Ralph Macdonald Newbury ( -22/11/78)
• Jessie Macdonald Newbury

References

1. A. C. Newbury's date of birth remains elusive: references give his birth year as 1886 or 1887, for which no birth notice has been found; his D.O.B. may have been 16 January 1885
2. "Heritage Guide to Geelong College: Newbury, Alfred Charles (1886–1948)". Retrieved 19 October 2016.
3. "Personal". Bendigo Advertiser. Vol. LXII, no. 18, 300. Victoria, Australia. 6 April 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 19 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "About People". The Age. Victoria, Australia. 4 July 1923. p. 9. Retrieved 19 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Obituary". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 91, no. 28072. South Australia. 27 September 1948. p. 5. Retrieved 19 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Minister for Clayton". The News (Adelaide). Vol. XIV, no. 2, 118. South Australia. 1 May 1930. p. 13. Retrieved 19 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.