Eliza Marsden HASSALL

HASSALL, ELIZA MARSDEN (b. Cobbitty, NSW, 2 Nov 1834; d. Sydney, NSW, 26 Dec 1917). Superintendent Anglican missionary training college.

Eliza Hassall's grandparents were missionaries: her mother's father was Samuel Marsden (q.v.); her father's parents had been missionaries in Tahiti. Eliza, daughter of Rev Thomas Hassall (q.v.) and Anne Marsden, was actively involved in her father's parish.

Eliza Hassall's letters display an alertness about the affairs of her father's estate, Denbeigh. Unmarried herself, she maintained close family ties. In writing of Eliza's help in his work with the BFBS in 1855 her father remarked: 'she takes up things so earnestly'. On 18 July 1880 Hassall commenced the NSW branch of the Young People's Scripture Union, distributing membership cards with daily Bible readings. Membership grew, with Hassall continuing an active role as secretary for this work.

Dr Eugene Stock and the Rev Warren Stewart visited Sydney in 1892 as a delegation from CMS to encourage the colony’s Anglicans in missionary activity. Eliza Hassall offered her home at Ashfield as the first Sydney centre to train women candidates for the newly-founded NSW Church Missionary Association. She superintended this Marsden Training Home, giving studies in Acts, Revelation and Missionary Geography. Eliza Hassall's experience in her father's parish, combined with her involvement with the BFBS and SU, gave her invaluable experience for this ministry. She was one of the examiners of missionary candidates, of whom her niece Amy Oxley was the first. She formed warm personal attachments with these women. Shortly before her death one of her 'old girls', Alice Phillips, sat at her bedside, singing. Early in the 20th century 70 percent of CMS missionaries were women; Eliza Hassall's outstanding contribution to their training was recognised when CMS made her a life member.

John and Moyra Prince, Tuned in to Change (Sydney, 1979); Eugene Stock, History of the Church Missionary Society, vol 3 (London, 1899); Church Record 4 Jan 1918; Sydney Morning Herald 9 Jan 1918; Winifred Ward, 200 Australian Women, Heather Radi (ed), (Sydney, 1988); YPSU Minute Book, vol 1,1884-1903

MARGARET YARWOOD LAMB