Hedley John SUTTON

SUTTON, HEDLEY JOHN (b. Auburn, Vic, 2 July 1876; d. Melbourne, Vic, 6 Feb 1946). Baptist missionary and educationalist.

Brought up by pious parents who had emigrated from Lincolnshire in 1864, Sutton early displayed academic ability above the average. Scholarships took him to Wesley and Trinity Colleges. He graduated BA (Melbourne) in 1897, and in the following year, although serving as a housemaster at Brighton Grammar School, received first class honours in classics, comparative philology and logic, sharing the Wyselaskie scholarship. His MA soon followed.

He was converted in his matriculation year and joined the Auburn Baptist Church, transferring membership to the Brighton Church when he went to Brighton Grammar. He became a youth leader and deacon. Influenced by Rev S Pearce Carey (q.v.), great-grandson of the famous missionary, Sutton abandoned his promising educational prospects and volunteered for missionary service. He was required to undertake a year's theological studies at Ormond College, after which he was ordained on 19 Nov 1903, sailing for India five days afterwards. The Auburn Church pledged to provide his financial support. His work centred largely in the Mymensingh district of East Bengal (now Bangladesh). By 1912, he had established a hostel for boys in Mymensingh town, and in 1924, a Vernacular Training Institute there to prepare nationals for church leadership. He was a brilliant linguist, at ease in the bazaar preaching in the vernacular to illiterate Muslims and Hindus, yet equally at home when communicating the gospel to a high-caste Hindu in elegant Bengali.

His 1910 furlough was extended because of his success as a deputationist and in order that he might guide the home committee concerning future directions the Mission should take. In 1913, when the separate State Societies were federated in the Australian Baptist Foreign Mission, he was unanimously nominated as its full-time secretary, but he could not be persuaded to leave India. Returning home again in 1920, he married Elsie Luke (1871-1951), a wedding long delayed by the protracted illness of her mother. She was to find the Indian environment extremely trying. Sutton resigned from the Mission in 1927.

While in Melbourne in 1920, Sutton had chaired a provisional committee which prepared for the establishment of Carey Baptist Grammar School in 1923. Missionary service concluded, he was appointed the School's vice-principal (1928-41). He was a fine teacher with few disciplinary problems. He contributed both to the school's academic excellence and its Christian influence. For years he edited Carey Chronicle. His principal, H G Steele, came to value him as friend and confidant. Sutton never lost his love for India. He was chairman of the Foreign Mission Board (1935-43), and contributed regularly articles to its publications as he had done on the field. He also renewed his association with the Auburn Church, and was appointed Life Deacon by his fellow members in 1939. The home he built was bequeathed to the church to serve as a manse for its pastor. Failing health which had compelled his resignation from Carey finally brought hospitalisation and his death soon afterwards.

B S Brown, Members One of Another (Melbourne, 1962); J G Charles, A First Biography of Rev Hedley J Sutton, MA. Unpublished MS in Baptist Union Archives, Hawthorn, Victoria; S Sayers, By Courage and Faith (Melbourne, 1973)

BASIL S BROWN