Digby Marsh BERRY

BERRY, DIGBY MARSH (b. Troubridge, Wilts England, 2 Feb 1848, d. at sea SS Medic, 5 Oct 1922). Anglican clergyman, lecturer and author in UK; Melbourne, Johannesburg.

Digby Berry, the first son of the Rev Marlborough Sterling Berry and his wife Elizabeth Frances of Troubridge, was educated at Q Elizabeth G S, Wimborne Minster, and Magdelen College, Oxford (BA 1871, MA 1876). Ordained deacon 1872, and priest 1873 (Sarum), he was curate of Troubridge 1872-6, tutor, London College Divinity 1875-80, rector St John's Hall, Highbury 1880-4, Mauritius, chaplain St James Cathedral, Pt Louis and bishop's chaplain. At Pt Louis, Mauritius, on 19 May 1881, he married Frances Ellen Eda, daughter of Matthew O'Sullivan, MD, Surgeon Major Indian Medical Service, then of St Kilda, Vic. Perhaps because of this he moved to Melbourne as curate St Paul's church (later Cathedral), and acting warden, Trinity College, University of Melbourne. His subsequent clerical appointments as incumbent All Saints Northcote, 5 Feb 1885, St Thomas' Moonee Ponds (Essendon) 30 April 1888 and Holy Trinity, East Melbourne, 19 Feb 1895 bear testimony to the power of his ministry. In addition he was appointed domestic chaplain to Bp F F Goe (q.v.) 1889 and canon of St Paul's Cathedral 1895. Added to these parochial and diocesan responsibilities, he was active in the formation in 1892 of the CMA Vic and gave lectures to Nellie and Topsy Saunders (q.q.v.) and published a tribute after their murder, The sister martyrs of Ku Cheng: memoir and letters of Eleanor and Elizabeth Saunders ("Nellie" and "Topsy") of Melbourne – with Eleanor Saunders, their mother.

When W Lockhart Morton (q.v.) established the Angas Missionary Training Home at Belair, SA, he sought Berry's assistance as the lecturer, in this, the first missionary training college in Australia. (W L Morton, Drifting Wreckage, 278). Unfortunately there was not enough finance for the arrangement to continue and Berry returned to Melbourne, but not before influencing CIM recruits such as Benson Barnett.

At Holy Trinity, Melbourne, three pairs of brothers were inspired by Berry's ministry, with far reaching results. They were Eustace Wade (q.v.), later Principal at Ridley College, and Arthur Wade, later acting principal of Moore College, at a crucial time pending T C Hammond's (q.v.) arrival; Charles and Arthur Young, notable evangelical clergy in Melbourne; Brooking Hannah, ordained CIM missionary for 60 years, and colleague of H W K Mowll (q.v.) in Western China, and Horace J Hannah (q.v.) notable Melbourne banker, layman and close friend and supporter of C H Nash (q.v.). H J Hannah m. Berry's daughter, Catherine F F Berry in 1901 and the home they established at Heidelberg became D M Berry's base and an enduring centre of his influence.

Berry was a man of pronounced even pugnacious evangelical convictions. He had heard Pusey preach at Oxford in 1867 and was firmly opposed to Tractarianism. Thus he published European History Foretold, an interpretation of the Book of Revelation in the light of contemporary affairs, and when Bp Goe ordained an Anglo Catholic against Berry's recommendation, Berry resigned his post as examining chaplain. Berry took leave in 1899 and on his return was a general lecturer in the diocese of Melbourne until 1907.

While in South Africa on a health trip he heard of the plight of the Church of England parish of Christ Church Hillbrow, Johannesburg, under concerted attack by sections of the (Tractarian) Church of the Province of Sth Africa, and volunteered to stay there, even though almost 60, serving as officiating minister 1907-1922. Contemporaries have reported to Bp Stephen Bradley, former Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa: 'He was an excellent scholar and preacher and was soon looked up to and respected throughout South Africa ... there was most instructional teaching from the pulpit also Bible Studies and lectures that attracted many new people to join the Church', describing him as 'a prince among men'. Courageous 'he was pelted with eggs when speaking publicly against Rome ... a man who enjoyed walking with the Lord Jesus'. At least two pamphlets from this period survive, The Mass, and its history of Superstition and Crime and Are the Sacraments Channels of Grace?

Although out of Australia, Berry's interest and influence in Melbourne continued, fortified by visits except during the War years. His counsel may have been significant in C H Nash's response to Lowther Clark's attacks, and in other difficulties faced by Melbourne evangelical Anglicans. His forceful responses to attacks on evangelical Christianity were characteristic. Berry was on his way to Melbourne when he was overcome by pneumonia and was buried at sea.

The special link between Australian evangelical Anglicanism and the Church of England in South Africa was strengthened when H W K Mowll (q.v.) newly arrived in Sydney (1934) persuaded S C Bradley to go to Natal. Others, e g D T Foord and D B Knox (q.v.) have followed, the one as bishop, the other as foundation principal of CESA's own George Whitfield Theological College, Kalk Bay, Cape Town.

Hannah family papers; Messenger 12 Oct 1922; Church Standard 13 Oct 1922; Aust Church Record 16 March 1923; Anthony Ive, A Candle Burns in Africa (South Africa, 1992)

SELECT WRITINGS:

Why I cannot join the Church of the Province of South Africa (1916)

A dream of the Australian Commonwealth, [Sydney?: s.n., 190-?]

The accession oath, or, Protestant declaration, Melbourne: Evangelical Church Association and M.L. Hutchinson, [1901]

Judgement without evidence: a cross-examination of "religion without superstition", Melbourne: George Robertson, 1885

Pope & Kaiser, is Rome pro-German?: a lecture, Johannesburg: The Argus Co., 1915

L M ABBOTT