William Henry CLAY

CLAY, WILLIAM HENRY (b. Birmingham, England, 4 March 1875, d. Oakleigh, Vic, 1970). Churches of Christ evangelist, social welfare organiser.

Will Clay was brought to Australia by his parents when he was two. They settled temporarily in Sydney, using packing cases for furniture. They next moved to Lithgow where Clay's father built a log cabin on the side of a mountain. After the family had moved back to Granville, Sydney, Clay found work in Hudson Bros Foundry. He attended the Sunday school of the Auburn Baptist Church, where he was later baptised. Refusing to burden his parents during the depression of the 1890s he signed on as a trimmer in the SS Woolloomooloo. Back in Australia, after a period in England, he went into partnership with his brother in a general store.

Clay left the Baptist church when a member was withdrawn without adequate explanation and began preaching in Churches of Christ chapels in NSW. As his forte was song-leading, he was dubbed the 'singing evangelist'. After successful ministries in South Melbourne and Subiaco, WA, Clay was appointed secretary/superintendent of the Churches of Christ Department of Social Service in Vic in June 1926. He was appointed director in 1950.

Refusing to abide hypocrisy, he frequently spoke out about injustice and in meeting human need didn't hesitate to put himself or his department at risk. It was mainly through his initiative that the Christian Guest Home, Oakleigh, the Emmaus Rest Home and the Will H Clay Nursing Home (now Churches of Christ Hospital) came into being. He represented Churches of Christ on the Good Neighbour Council of Victoria, Travellers' Aid Society, Federal Inter-church Migration Committee, Save the Children Fund and Australian Association for the United Nations. He initiated the United Social Questions Secretariat, made up of representatives of the protestant churches and was for many years a chaplain at Pentridge. It was largely at his instigation that the government appointed a committee of five, which included Clay, to look into conditions in mental hospitals. He also served on a committee that advised on the setting up of a Diploma of Social Studies course at Melbourne University.

Clay was elected president of the Victorian Churches of Christ for 1935-6 and organised a Food for Britain Appeal during 1939-45. He was appointed MBE in 1956.

W R Hibburt, The Man Who Dared: A Life Sketch of Will H Clay (Melbourne, 1959)

GRAEME CHAPMAN