Charles Frederick PERRIN

PERRIN, CHARLES FREDERICK (b. Dublin Ireland, 2 May 1842; d Barrington, Tas, 1 May 1875). Open Brethren evangelist.

Charles Perrin's parents brought him up in the Christian faith. He was amiable, energetic and courageous. Business had no attraction for him, and, contrary to his family's wishes, he left Liverpool for Australia in 1859 seeking adventure. He returned home in 1861. Then a member of the Church of England in Liverpool, he was provoked into a deeper spiritual experience by the death of Prince Albert, and was baptised in the Baptist Church. After more travels in Europe and Africa, he returned to Ireland, and joined the Open Brethren after hearing evangelist Richard Weaver preach in Dublin.

Perrin married in 1866 and the couple emigrated to Melbourne. He preached the gospel in Collingwood and other suburbs, and conversions followed. He returned to Ireland in 1870 with a concern for missionary service in China, but Open Brethren churches in Dublin Liverpool and London sent him back to Melbourne the following year. In 1872 he commenced itinerant Bible teaching in Tasmania, speaking at the first Open Brethren conference in Australia. Other evangelists arrived from England, Scotland and Ireland at about the same time, such as William Brown and E Moyes.

During the next three years Perrin attempted between his family base in Melbourne and preaching trips throughout the city and country areas of Vic and Tas. Rheumatic fever struck him down suddenly at an early age during a preaching campaign in Tas. Converts who became the foundation members of many Open Brethren churches, a variety of Bible teaching tracts such as his Plain Words on Baptism, and his wife's memoir comprise his memorial.

Charles Perrin typifies Open Brethren immigrants who laid the foundations for the present national spread of such churches. John Baird was another: he took fire from evangelist John Hambledon in Ballarat in 1884, and set out on foot with the gospel on his lips, a bag of books on his back an extra pair of socks and a towel, labouring all day, day after day. Later he graduated to a horse-drawn van covered with evangelistic texts. He travelled extensively in northern Tasmania, speaking at Open Brethren conferences and the opening of Gospel Halls. Such men comprised an order of indomitable outback evangelists including Bruce Todd in Queensland and northern New South Wales, Reuben Tyler in the Murray Flats and nearby South Australia, and a great many more.

Alan F Dyer, God Was Their Rock (Sheffield, 1974); M H Saxby, Sounding Out (Sydney, 1973); [Mrs Charles Perrin], One Thing I Do (Melbourne, 187f`)

IAN MCDOWELL