John EGGLESTON

EGGLESTON, JOHN (b. Newark, England, 1813, d. Melbourne, Vic, 31 Jan 1879). Wesleyan minister and administrator.

From a Methodist family, John Eggleston was placed on trial in 1834, spending four years as a probationer in the West Riding of Yorkshire and in Edinburgh. Ordained by the Bristol Conference in 1838, he was recruited for mission in Australia by John Waterhouse. Eggleston accepted the call and began his ministry in Hobart. He was an earnest evangelist and advocate of holiness, renowned for the power of his appeals to conscience. His ministry continued in SA from 1840, Sydney South from 1851, Melbourne West from 1854. By this stage his leadership gifts in Conference had become evident and he was appointed General Secretary of the Australasian Foreign Missions in 1857, holding the office for 8 years. He dealt wisely with Tongan depredations in Fiji and helped to limit their violence. Missionaries involved in land dealings were firmly dealt with. His letters show a good deal of practical wisdom in applying a traditional theology of missions.

Eggleston was also actively involved in leadership in the NSW Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, helping to found the Church Sustentation and Extension Society in 1859. In 1860 he was elected president of the Australasian Conference and continued to give vital leadership. He was actively involved in the negotiations which secured the independence of the Wesleyan Australian and New Zealand Conferences, with triennial General Conferences commencing in 1874. Those constitutional arrangements lasted until 1900.

In 1865, Eggleston returned to circuit ministry in Wesley, Melbourne, Brunswick St and Geelong East, continuing a combination of evangelistic zeal and ministry to the wider community which was responsible for the expansion of Victorian Methodism in the 1870s and 1880s.

M Dyson, Australasian Methodist General Index, (Melbourne, 1896)

IAN BREWARD