Richard Henry WHITE

WHITE, RICHARD HENRY (b. Redruth Cornwall, England, 1853; d. Unley, SA, 5 July 1929). Methodist layman and benefactor.

White migrated to SA in 1878 in order to manage an engineering and implement company. Both he and his wife (née Emily Wincey) whom he married in 1886 were devout Methodists. The company prospered under White's leadership and he built a substantial home at Wayville about two km south of the city. The Whites were supporters of the evangelistic missions conducted in Adelaide in 1909 and 1912 by the American revivalists, Dr J Wilbur Chapman and Charles M Alexander. During the second mission they proposed the establishment of an undenominational (and Australasian) Bible Institute to prepare young people as Christian workers and to be a centre for continuing evangelism. According to Mrs White the organisation was to be along the lines of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. The Whites gave their home and grounds at 20 King William Road, Wayville and this was supplemented by a gift of £4000 from James McBride, a Methodist grazier.

The Australasian Chapman-Alexander Bible Institute (CABI) was opened on 14 July 1914 led by Dr John Elliott from the Moody Bible Institute as principal. The war limited numbers: Elliott soon left. By 1926 it was clear that the only way to save the Institute was to relate it closely to a church and, considering the Methodist affiliations of the benefactors and the strength of Methodism in South Australia, this was the Methodist Church. White therefore wrote to the SA Methodist Conference on 1 March 1926 stating his wish that the ideals and work of CABI be carried out by the Conference. This generous proposal was unanimously accepted and in 1927 the Methodist theological institution, Wesley College (now Parkin-Wesley), was opened on the site and under its aegis the work of lay education was continued. The Council of CABI finally disbanded in 1969. A substantial sum of money from White's estate became available in 1950 and income from this endowment is still disbursed at the college on scholarships for lay and theological education.

Paul Chubb, ‘The Australasian Chapman-Alexander Bible Institute 1914-1926’, Flinders University course essay held by ed.; A D Hunt, Number 20: A Pictorial History of Theological Education (Adelaide, 1980); G B Stribley, The Jubilee of the Chapman-Alexander Bible Institute(Adelaide, 1964)

ARNOLD D HUNT