Hugh PATON

PATON, HUGH (b. Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland, c. 1870; d. Sydney, NSW, 3 June 1949). Presbyterian evangelist.

Brought up in the Free Church of Scotland and, later, in the United Free Church of Scotland, in 1892, Paton encouraged by his mother, entered the Glasgow Bible Training Institute for a two year course, and remained there as an assistant teacher for a further two years. In 1896 he went to Morocco for service with the Southern Morocco Mission, but ill-health compelled him to return to Scotland three years later. Giving himself fully to the work of an evangelist, in 1902 he came to Queensland and conducted tent missions throughout the State. His remarkable ability as an evangelist was soon recognised, and in 1907 he was invited to Sydney where he worked in interchurch evangelical campaigns, but principally in Presbyterian churches. In June 1911, Paton was ordained as the Presbyterian General Assembly's evangelist and given the task of 'organising the faith where there was little evidence of it'. In Bondi and Strathfield, in particular, he built up congregations, saw churches erected, and then moved on. In 1915 he was appointed a chaplain in Liverpool Army Camp, Sydney. Paton's work among the soldiers won him high regard in the community, and he was praised in church publications as 'a sturdy Scot, full of grace, grit and gumption', a 'man's man' who was 'with the men now, sharing camp life', making friends with them, counselling them 'in regard to the interests of eternal life'.

After the war, he joined the Rev John Ferguson as assistant minister at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Philip Street, Sydney. In 1925, following Ferguson's death, he was invited to become minister of St Stephen's, and here he gained a reputation for the fervour of his preaching and the directness of his personal contacts. His eight year ministry, 'full of fire and zeal, and centred upon the redeeming love of God, revealed in the Cross of Christ', saw membership increase from 800 to 1200. In April 1933, he resigned from the charge, declaring his intention to return to his 'old job' as an itinerant evangelist. His action won the praise of the editor of Smith's Weekly, who was impressed with the spectacle of a minister of religion giving up his comfortable living for 'life on the road'. Towards the end of his life, he worked in Double Bay, Sydney, where substantial progress was made towards the building of a new church. Paton died following injuries sustained in a fall.

Lonely Homes, Part II, No 2, 1915; Part III, No 3, 1916; Smith's Weekly, 5 June 1934

SELECT WRITINGS: Why I am a Christian (Sydney, 1928); Does Death End All? (Sydney, 1930); Superstitions about the Holy Communion (Sydney, 1930); Talks to Young People (Sydney, 1931)

SUSAN E EMILSON