Memorial Plaques to be Mounted at Pitt Street Methodist Church

Recently I was asked whether I knew what had happened to the memorial plaques that were in the entry way / common area at the former Trinity Methodist Theological College, Grafton. This is the prominent red brick building with white Oamaru stone facings on Grafton Road that was originally the site of the Wesleyan Native Institution established in 1844. The Theological College served the Methodist Church on this site from 1929 to 1970.

The building has been restored and is now the headquarters of the Church of Scientology, New Zealand. I responded that I could account for five plaques.

That I know about these five plaques is testament to the energy of the late Helen Laurenson, who as the then President of the Wesley Historical Society, along with her husband Eric, approached the Church of Scientology about the plaques. Helen was concerned that these plaques were memorials to part of the New Zealand Methodist / Wesleyan experience that should not be lost. The Church of Scientology gifted the plaques to the Wesley Historical Society and they have been in storage since.

The five plaques are: an appreciation to John Edson; two detailing appreciation to John Probert; and two as a memorial to “former students of The Theological College who gave their lives in the Great War”.

In 1918 John Edson established a Trust to purchase and maintain a pipe organ for the Theological College Collegiate Chapel, and for the purchase of music. The terms of this Trust were later modified by the Methodist Theological College Edson Trust Extension Act 1928 to allow the funds to be applied in a less prescriptive manner. John Edson was a benefactor to a range of other Methodist causes, one of these being to establish the Library at Trinity College.

John Probert was a significant benefactor of Trinity College. This plaque details appreciation in a most fulsome manner. The story of the Probert Trust was the subject of the 1982 Proceedings of the 1982 Wesley Historical Society NZ. Written by E.W. Hames the account titled The Saga of the Probert Trust makes compelling reading.

Those listed on the memorial plaque to “former students who gave their lives in the Great War” are:

i. Frederick Rands, Chaplain, died in Germany, 14 February, 1919

ii. Alexander Allen, Chaplain, killed in service, 8 May, 1918

iii. Aldwyn R. Gordon, M.A., 2nd Lieutenant, died of wounds, 26 August,1918 

iv. George B. Sheridan, 2nd Lieutenant, killed in action, 15 September, 1916.

A detailed account of their war service may be found in Allan Davidson’s New Zealand Methodist Chaplains and Ministers at War: The First World War Through Their Eyes, published by the Wesley Historical Society in 2016.

It is intended that these plaques are mounted in the stairwell on the north-western corner of the Pitt Street Methodist Church in Auckland Central. This has been supported by the Pitt Street Trust and congregations. Once they are repatriated to a Methodist / Wesleyan setting, they will have emerged from storage and be able to be viewed by successive generations of Methodist / Wesleyan people. The stories memorialised in this way will not be forgotten.