New Zealand Banknotes

Lot 2706    Session 9 (4:30pm Wednesday)    New Zealand Banknotes

Estimate $100
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $200

SECOND OF EXCHANGE, No.75, Auckland, Jan 4th 1848 for one hundred pounds sterling to L.Ede Esqre, value received on account of (Mission) Station N Zealand District, directed to Treasurers of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, Wesleyan Mission House, Bishopgate St within, London, signed by Walter Lawry, endorsed twice on back. Very fine.

Walter Lawry, was born on 3 August 1793 at Rutheren, near Bodmin, Cornwall, England. He was accepted as a candidate for a ministry in the Methodist Church by the British Conference in 1817 and was chaplain in the convict ship Lady Castlereagh which sailed from England and arrived in Sydney on 1 May 1818. He was the second Weslyan Methodist minister, joining his colleague, Rev Samuel Leigh who was stationed at Parramatta where he conducted services in the homes of Rowland Hassall and William Shelley.

He married Mary Cover Hassall, daughter of Rowland and Elizabeth Hassall, in St John's Church on 22 November 1819. On 29 October 1820 Lawry conducted the first Methodist service west of the Blue Mountains in the Court House, Bathurst and the first Methodist church at Parramatta, dedicated on 20 April 1821, was built at his expense at a cost of £300. There is little doubt that Lawry was held in high regard by members of the Methodist community in the colony after Rev Ralph Mansfield wrote in the Christian Advocate that Lawry should be considered to be the father of Methodism in Parramatta because he had organised its first Society, founded its first Sunday school, built the first Chapel and put the new group into financial connection with the Wesleyan Missionary Society.

In the same year he received instructions from the Methodist Conference in England to proceed to the Friendly Islands (Tonga). To facilitate the trip, Lawry, in partnership with his brother-in-law Jonathan Hassall and the ship's captain, Captain Beveredge, bought a ship, the St Michael, for £1,100. The voyage was made via New Zealand, with Lawry taking his wife and son with him. His work at Tonga was not very successful as his efforts were continually being undermined by a runaway convict from Botany Bay named Morgan. When the St Michael returned, bringing mail, Lawry received letters of censure from the Wesleyan Missionary Society's London committee and was ordered to report to Van Diemen's Land. This action was the consequence of complaints made by Rev Samuel Leigh who had been a suitor of Mary Hassall and was jealous of Lawry because he married her.

The family left Tonga in October 1823 and returned to Sydney however, instead of going to Van Diemen's Land, Lawry set off with his family on the Midas in 1824 for England arriving in 1825 and interviewed the missionary committee, which cleared him of any wrongdoing. On Christmas Day 1825, Mary Lawry died after giving birth to their daughter, Mary Australia. When news of her death was received in Sydney, an obituary was printed in the Sydney Gazette and a special service was held in the Parramatta Chapel built by her husband where the service was conducted by Rev Samuel Leigh. Rev Samuel Marsden held Mary in such esteem that he also preached a sermon there.

On 27 July 1829, Lawry married an English widow, Eliza White (Molyneaux), and she brought up his children. He remained carrying out his ministry in England until 1843 when he was appointed General Superintendent of Wesleyan missions in New Zealand. The Wesleyan headquarters were at Auckland. Within a year there was a Native Institution for training native teachers at Grafton Road (1845-48) and by 1846 there were 14 mission stations with 17 missionaries, 345 native helpers, 2,960 church members, and 4,834 children at school.

In 1854 Walter retired because of ill health and returned to Parramatta. He died on 30 March 1859 and was buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery at Parramatta. Later, the Parramatta City Council commemorated his life and work by designating the area the Walter Lawry Methodist Memorial Park.

See the following two lots.