Arthur Wellesley PAIN

PAIN, ARTHUR WELLESLEY (b. Felmersham, Bedfordshire, England, 21 Aug 1841; d. Sydney, NSW, 14 May 1920). Anglican bishop.

Arthur Pain was the youngest of the eleven children of Joseph Pain and Mary Odell, and was educated at Bedford Grammar School and St Catherine's College, Cambridge (BA 1866, MA 1899, DD 1903). He was ordained deacon 1866 and priest 1867, his only curacy being at Holbrook, Suffolk.

Being in poor health, he emigrated to Australia, arriving in Sydney on 7 January 1868. Several months later he was appointed incumbent of St Paul's, Narellan (Cobbitty) following the death of the first incumbent, the Rev Thomas Hassall (q.v.). On 13 April 1871 he married Annie Bisdee Thorne and they had nine children in the ensuing years. Most of his work in the parish was undertaken on horseback, and in 1878 he was kicked by a horse which left him with a limp for the rest of his life. Outside the parish he took an interest in diocesan affairs and was appointed clerical secretary of the diocesan synod. Over the years he was noted for his exact knowledge of ecclesiastical law. He was rural dean of Camden from 1872-83.

Pain was rector of St John's, Darlinghurst from 1883-1902. During this period he was rural dean of East Sydney and canon of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. He was deeply involved in the establishment of the Sydney CEGGS Darlinghurst where he was chaplain. He also played an important part in developing the Church of England Mission to Seamen.

He became the first bp of the diocese of Gippsland which was formed, together with the dioceses of Wangaratta and Bendigo, in 1902, being consecrated in St Andrew's Cathedral on 20 May 1902. He was described at the time as being a tall, spare man, with grey head and beard, his appearance was in every way prepossessing. 'Strength, determination, intellectuality, refinement, gentleness and spirituality were all revealed in his face. He was first and foremost, a man of God,' was the description given him by his friend and archdeacon, William Hancock. He was indefatigable in his duties in the diocese, whether visiting his clergy and their families by horseback in outlying areas, or in his management of the annual sessions of synod, or in attendance at Provincial and General Synods, CMS and Ridley College meetings.

Pain actively participated in the formation of Ridley College, Melbourne, from its earliest beginnings. At a preliminary meeting held on 1 May 1908 with Canon Sadlier (q.v.) in the chair and the Rev A R Ebbs (q.v.) as secretary, he expressed the opinion that the Victorian CMA should undertake to promote the proposed college because 'thereby there would be greater certainty of evangelical continuity'. With Bp H A Langley (q.v.) of Bendigo and with Abp Lowther Clarke's approval, he became a founding member of the first official Ridley College Council in 1910, and was its chairman. He was instrumental in recruiting the Rev G E Aickin (q.v.), the first principal, when he visited England in 191O, and was one of the main contributors to the development of the life of the College until his resignation in 1917.

Pain also had a long and close association with the CMS and was an influential member of the society in its formative years. He was one of the group of about forty evangelical clergy and laity who attended the 'missionary breakfast' in Sydney in 1889 which eventually led to the formation of the Victorian and NSW CMAs in 1892. He was not only a foundation member of the Victorian CMA, but also of the CMS of Australia which was formed on 11 Oct 1916, when the CMAs of Victoria and NSW were linked with a federal constitution. He became the first honorary federal secretary of the CMS when he retired from Gippsland in 1917. Because of his continued missionary zeal and work with the CMS, he was chosen to be a delegate to the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, and was elected a member of the Continuation Committee on Church Union.

Pain was also deeply involved with the Bush Church Aid Society which was formed in 1919 to minister to the needs of isolated families and communities in Australia's vast 'outback'. He was a member of the first committee and was its first chairman. He had the vision that the BCA would be for inland Australia what the CMS was for countries overseas.

Bp Pain was an outstanding administrator and was acclaimed as the greatest ecclesiastical lawyer in Australia at the time. This was also evident in his own diocese, and in his contribution to debates regarding the powers of Provincial and General Synod. He watched with great care the construction of Bishopscourt at Sale which he dedicated on 5 May 1904. In 1906 he was offered the See of Bendigo on the death of its first bp, H A Langley (q.v.), but he declined, deciding that it was his duty to remain where he was.

Always deeply concerned about an adequate supply of clergy for his rural diocese, he opened a Divinity Hostel in Sale in 1913 where stipendiary lay readers could do their initial training for Orders. The building of this hostel marked the greatest move forward since the formation of the diocese in meeting the difficulty of obtaining suitable men for the ministry. Bp Pain continued his exacting duties as bp of Gippsland for 15 years until he resigned on 10 July 1917 at the age of 75 years. He continued to administer the diocese until his successor was appointed, preaching his last sermon in St Paul's Sale on 14 October. He retired to Beecroft, a suburb of Sydney, where he devoted the remainder of his life to supporting the two Societies which meant so much to him, the CMS and the BCA.

Early in 1919 he suffered from a painful form of cancer of the right cheekbone, which eventually prevented him from speaking. He died on 14 May 1920 and was buried in South Head Cemetery after a service in St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. A plaque was erected to his memory in St Andrew's Cathedral, the income in perpetuity from a memorial fund collected in Gippsland is used to assist in clergy training in that diocese, the Annie Pain Memorial Hall was built adjacent to the Cathedral at Sale in 1922-3 in her honour, the marble pulpit in that cathedral is in memory of him, and a stained glass window in St Paul's Church, Cobbitty, was erected by the family in memory of them both. The Arthur Wellesley Pain Memorial Prize is awarded for classical studies at SCEGGS, Darlinghurst as a memorial to him as the school's first chaplain.

A F Pain, Arthur Wellesley Pain (1841-1920): a biographical memoir (Belrose, 1981); L L Nash, Forward Flows the Time (Melbourne, 1960); Keith Cole, A History of the Church Missionary Society of Australia (Melbourne, 1971)

KEITH COLE