Introduction

We, the authors, have been involved in the separate study of our respective family lines for many years. Our shared heritage led to the investigation of the migration of a branch of the Craxford family from the Welland Valley in Northamptonshire to Uxbridge on the western fringes of London. From time to time, genealogical research lurches off into an entirely unexpected direction. Such was the case with our study of the offspring of Joseph and Louisa Cox. We were aware that their oldest son, George, became a Baptist minister but after the mid point of the 1880s he had disappeared from our collective radar. The more we delved, the greater the pool of information about him became. His story is a fascinating one but its recounting here is also a testimony and tribute to the collaborative effort of many interested sources and parties. This article documents his story from student to a ministry half way around the world.

A brief family history

Although he was born in London, George David Cox's heritage lies in the depth of rural Northamptonshire. His father, Joseph, was born in the tiny hamlet of Faxton where his father and brothers were agricultural labourers. Joseph became a shepherd. Joseph's grandfather had been born in the village of Abington, now a suburb of Northampton town. George's mother, Louisa, came from a line of the Craxford family which can trace its history back more than two centuries to the village of Gretton in the same county. She had been baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Cottingham, a village lying in the shadow of Rockingham Castle. She and Joseph were married in 1847.

Louisa had three brothers and a sister; all of whom in time migrated south to the capital. Joseph and Louisa followed this trend where he set up in business as a grocer and cheesemonger, firstly in Camberwell, then Bermondsey and finally Walthamstow. He died in 1892. Louisa then joined her brother and sister in the west London suburb of Uxbridge where she died in 1906. Their story can be seen in greater detail in the article This line terminates at Uxbridge

Childhood and training

George David Cox was born on January 22nd 1849, his birth registered in the London borough of Southwark. The first family home was in William Street, Camberwell. His childhood and teenage years were unremarkable and he moved with his parents, first to St George's Road and then to Drummond Road, Bermondsey. His first employment, recorded in the 1871 England Census, was as a shopman for a surgical instrument maker. He also met Alice Fanny Halsey, the daughter of a local Corn Chandler, who later became his wife.

It is clear from our previous researches of the family that George had grown up in a nonconformist tradition. In Bermondsey, he joined the congregation of the Drummond Road Baptist Church. The foundation of the church had been encouraged by Charles H. Spurgeon (see below) in 1865 (2). Spurgeon preached the first sermon there on its opening day. It was an active and enthusiatic community and services were conducted within its walls for the next 120 years. The Drummond Road Baptist Church joined the Bermondsey Christian Fellowship in 1985. The church building still remains in active use and is now under the auspices of the City Hope Church.

Presumably Spurgeon's words and message left a deep and lasting impression on the young George Cox; an impression which was to colour his next decision and change the direction of his life.

In his early twenties, George undertook theological training, enrolling at Spurgeon's College, London (3). Initially called The Pastor's College, the institution was founded by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) in 1856. Its first home was in the private house of its first Principal, George Rogers. When the Metropolitan Tabernacle opened near the Elephant & Castle in 1862, the College moved into what Spurgeon, himself, described as "the dark subterranean rooms" there which were mainly in the basement. Conditions were poorly ventilated and unhealthy, suffused with fumes from the gas lamps. Prior to the opening of a new purpose built facility behind the Tabernacle in September 1874, "the young brethren are boarded generally in twos and threes, in the houses of our friends" (4). In view of the College's closeness to St George's Road, George may well have lived at home. The College moved to new premises on South Norwood Hill in 1923 and adopted its current name. With its bye-line "Preparing Christians for Mission and Ministry" it has become the largest Baptist College in Britain.

Ministry in England

After qualifying, George's first appointment, in 1873, was to Oaklands Baptist Church, Surbiton, Surrey. During his time there, he and Alice were married at the Drummond Road Baptist Church in August 1875.

George and Alice travelled a lot over the next five years as they increased their family. He spent three years at Market Harborough, Leicestershire where son, Frederick George, was born in the summer of 1876. A move to Sittingbourne, Kent, followed in August the following year where George became pastor to the Baptist Church. Daughter, Edith, was born in October 1878.

During the summer of 1880, he was invited to fill the vacant post of Minister at the Melton Mowbray Baptist Church, Leicestershire, at an annual salary of £120. Heavily pregnant during the move, Alice gave birth to second daughter, Lydia Anne, in Melton Mowbray on November 25th 1880. The family initially took up residence in a house in Asfordby Road, Melton Mowbray. Later they moved into a property in Charlotte Street, just a stone's throw away from the church.

The Baptist movement in Melton Mowbray started in 1867; meetings being convened in members homes. A church was built in the centre of town in Nottingham Street which opened on May 7th 1876. George was one of its first ministers. Services were conducted there for over one hundred years until a new church building was completed in 1992. The original hall was taken over by the Convent Life Church Centre (7).

Alice gave birth to a second son, baptised Willie Gordon Cox, in May 1885. Tragically the baby boy died, presumably on a family vacation, on August 20th 1885, and he was buried at Douglas, Isle of Man, the same month. The cause of death is not known.

The Church minutes show that George tendered his resignation from his post in July 1886 because both he and his wife were suffering from health issues. His medical advisors had "ordered him and his family to Australia". Although their actual diagnosis is not known, a reasonable supposition would be pulmonary tuberculosis since New Zealand was considered "a health resort for consumptives" in the 1880s (9). George's final meeting with the church was on September 1st 1886. A special service of farewell was held three weeks later. He left with a glowing testimonial for his ministry "characterised by earnestness and faithfulness" and a leaving gift of £129 in gold coins (about £7,725 in today's money (10)).

Emigration

The family embarked for Australia on October 8th 1886. They travelled from Tilbury, London on board the P&O Company's vessel, R.M.S. Shannon. The voyage took about six weeks calling at Malta, Port Said and Colombo, passing through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. An article in a contemporaneous newspaper reported that the passengers "all seemed to have had a very pleasant time of board, the weather having been generally fine and good fellowship and cordiality having reigned supreme" (11). They arrived at Melbourne on November 20th 1886. Almost immediately, he was introduced to the annual convocation of the Baptist Association of Victoria where he presented his credentials (12).

George spent the next three years in Australia where he was appointed minister at the Aberdeen Street Baptist Church, Geelong, Victoria. The family made their home in Maud Street, just off Latrobe Terrace in the south part of the town. Geelong is a coastal town which spreads around Corio Bay within Port Phillip, about 50 miles south west of Melbourne. The Aberdeen Street Church had been opened in May 1877 and its membership had climbed rapidly over the next decade.

The reasons for the family's further travel are not known. The church records note that George's ministry was terminated towards the end of 1888 although a new minister did not arrive until 1890. It is known that Alice remained unwell throughout this time frame and it is possible that she was unable to cope with the social demands of the church pastorate. George may have given up his position to look after her and the family.

On to New Zealand

George travelled with his son, Frederick, on the steamer Warrejo on the first part of their journey on December 7th 1889. Their destination was the district of Mount Eden in Auckland, New Zealand. Alice followed with the girls. The 1893 electoral rolls confirm the family living at Mount Eden Road. Their home was in the shadow of Mount Eden itself, an extinct volcano, the flat top and treed slopes of which are parkland and recreational areas. He preached for the first time to his new flock on Sunday, January 19th 1890 (16) His time was noted by an ongoing enlargement of the congregation and, as co-secretary of the Auckland Sunday School Union, he saw a considerable growth of the Sunday School attendance. His duties included conducting special services at the opening of several new Baptist Churches in the region. He was also elected Chair of the Baptist Union of New Zealand in 1892 (17) and was described as an able and eloquent speaker. Unfortunately Alice's persisting illness necessitated a curtailment of their stay as George sought another change of air to promote her health.

Then, for nearly five years, George was Baptist Minister at the Tennyson Street Church, in Napier; a major port on the east coast of the North Island. He was actively involved in projects in the local community. In 1894 he became the founding president of a literary and debating society in connection with the Young Mens Christian Association (18). In the Spring of 1897, torrential rain (356mm over four days) caused severe flooding in the Hawke's Bay region with loss of life and considerable damage (19). George was a very active member of the executive committee of the flood relief fund (20).

Continued in column 2...

The South Island: Oamaru and Christchurch

In September 1899, he left to take up the pastorate of the Oamaru Baptist Church in Otago on the South Island (21). In appreciation, he was given a purse of gold sovereigns by his Napier congregation and a set of books by the Christian Endeavour Union. The family settled in a house in Hull Street, Oamuru, and his new congregation numbered 329. George and Alice's son, Frederick, who became a pharmacist, remained behind in Napier. He married Mildred Yeoman in 1901. Theirs was a tragically short union as Frederick suffered a syncopal collapse after contracting pneumonia. He died in 1902 and was buried in Napier cemetery, leaving his wife with an infant son.

In 1903, George moved for the last time to the outskirts of Christchurch on the South Island. The minutes of the Lincoln and Ashburton Baptist Church dated June 28th 1903 confirm a unanimous resolution to extend an invitation for him to take up the ministry at an annual salary of £135. The Lincoln Church had been founded in the early 1870s and the first church building was erected on a plot of land donated for the purpose in 1876. These were small country parishes and pastors frequently left after short tenures. Almost immediately the whole family became church committee members and heavily involved in pastorate activities.

Daughters Edith and Lydia married brothers Isaac and Samuel Andrew, sons of a famer in nearby Green Park. George conducted both ceremonies, the first in April 1905, the second one year later. Although these boys had both been born in New Zealand the family had originated in Devon.

George's own ministry was marked by an increase in membership to more than fifty. However it is clear from the minutes of the period that the church's financial state remained in a parlous condition, running at a perpetual loss. This was not eased, even with a reduction in his stipend, and on March 15th 1909 he tendered his resignation to the church committee. He compiled a first history of the church prior to his own resignation .

Into retirement

Despite the considerable distances involved and the far-flung separation of its branches, it is clear that George maintained active links with his mother and siblings. A recently discovered letter that he wrote in 1904 also confirms that he was interested in researching the history and whereabouts of his long lost uncles and cousins.

George's wife, Alice, died in 1908 and was buried at Springston, a few miles to the south west of Christchurch. A little less than a year following her death, George left the regular ministry. For a short period around 1910, he moved to The Cove on the outskirts of the southern city of Dunedin. There are suggestions that he undertook some part time ministerial duties at a local Church. Sometime thereafter, he returned to Springston to be near his daughters and their families. He entered into a business partnership in Christchurch and for several years went back to the manufacture of artificial limbs.

George had a lifelong interest in photography and made slides of early missionary pictures which he presented to the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society. He was also appointed the first New Zealand representative of the Spurgeon Memorial Society, a group which was dedicated to the publication and propogation of Spurgeon's words (24).

George had suffered from diabetes in his later life. In his eightieth year, he was taken to the Ashburton County Hospital suffering from pneumonia. During his stay he developed a stroke from which he died on April 27th 1929. He was buried three days later in Springston Cemetery next to his wife (25). Tributes were paid to his memory and his life's work in The New Zealand Baptist periodical that summer (26, 27).

Footnotes

The Grantham Journal dated Saturday February 17th 1917 contained a record of the Jubilee Celebrations of Melton Mowbray Baptist Church. It included the paragraph: "In October 1880, The Rev D.G. Cox [sic] of Sittingbourne, was elected Pastor, whose ministry was characterised by earnestness and faithfullness. Fifty members were added during Mr Cox's stay, and he began Band of Hope and temperance work in conjunction with the late Mr Thos. Palmer. He also introduced Band of Hope Work into many of villages. Acting on medical advice, Mr Cox went to New Zealand, and, upon his leaving, he was presented with a bag of gold."

Just two years after George's death, the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand was subject to a severe earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. On February 3rd 1931, the town of Napier was destroyed and there were 256 known fatalities. The wooden Baptist Church and surrounding properties were consumed by fire. The devastation of Tennyson Street can be clearly seen in the dramatic image from the National Library of New Zealand (28). Napier was rebuilt over the next few years in the fashionable art deco style.

A more detailed study of the Andrew family and its relationships can be found at the Andrew-Cox-Godfrey web site.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following for their help with our researches into the ministry of George David Cox: Esther at the offices of the City Hope Church, Bermondsey; Judy Powles, Librarian, Spurgeon's College, London; Michael Jonas of Sittingbourne Baptist Church; Paul Appleby, Communications Director for the Melton Mowbray Baptist Church; Rhonda Shaw of the Baptist Union of Victoria and the Aberdeen Baptist Church, Geelong, Australia; Liz Tindall, Librarian & Archivist, Ayson Clifford Library, Carey Baptist College, New Zealand and Rupert Tipples, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand. Many thanks to Rob and Gillian Walker, New South Wales, Australia for George Cox's 1904 letter. Thanks also to Eileen Smith of Christchurch, New Zealand for the photographs of the Cox grave site.

References

1. Photograph and signature of George D. Cox, reproduced courtesy of Spurgeon's College, London
2. Photograph, Drummond Road Baptist Church: Our History City Hope Church, Bermondsey
3. Preparing Christians for Mission and Ministry: The history of Spurgeon's College website
4. Photograph of Charles H Spurgeon, old lithograph of Pastor's College, London about 1870 and Spurgeon quotations: in The Life and Works of Rev Charles H. Spurgeon by Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D. Book I Chapter 6 The Pastor's College This book is in the public domain
5. Market Harborough Baptist Church © George Weston The Churches of Britain and Ireland: Leicester © Steve Bulman
6. Front Aspect: the Sittingbourne Baptist Church website
7. Rev GD Cox, Pastor: Minutes of Church Meetings, Melton Mowbray Baptist Church 1880 to 1886.
8. The Old Baptist Church, Melton Mowbray: 141 Years of history, 1867-2008. © Melton Mowbray Baptist Church; reproduced with permission.
9. "A Health Resort for Consumptives": Tuberculosis and Immigration to New Zealand, 1880-1914": Linda Bryder: 453-471 1996 Medical History
10. "Convert old money into new". Find out how yesterday's prices compare with today's: Currency Converter at The National Archives
11. Arrival of the RMS Shannon: The Sydney Morning Herald. Page 12 Saturday November 27th 1886: National Library of Australia
12. Editorial: The Argus: Melbourne, Vic. Page 7 Wednesday November 24th 1886: Australia Trove Digitised newspapers and more
13. RMS Shannon: A directory of P&O Passenger Ships
14. Photograph of RMS Shannon: The National Maritime Museum on Flickr Flickr licence: No known copyright restrictions
15. Aberdeen Street Baptist Church, Geelong, Victoria, Australia: Photograph by John Henry Harvey. State Library of Victoria The work is out of copyright
16. Rev G.D. Cox: Observer Volume X Issue 578 January 25th 1890: Papers Past National Library of New Zealand
17. The Baptist Union at Dunedin: Ashburton Guardian Volume XIV Issue 2827 November 19th 1892: Papers Past National Library of New Zealand
18. Report of a meeting of persons intersted in the formation of a literary and debating society: Hawkes Bay Herald. May 22nd 1894.
19. Storms and Floods: Previous impacts on Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group
20. Hawke's Bay Flood: The Distress and Misery: Grey River Argus Volume LVII Issue 9646 May 4th 1897: Papers Past National Library of New Zealand
21. Baptist Church: Public meeting: North Otago Times Volume XXVI Issue 9784 Page 2 June 8th 1900: Papers Past National Library of New Zealand
22. Oamaru Baptist Church: in New Zealand Electronic Text Centre The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts] Ecclesiatical page 519 1905 and licenced for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
23. History of Lincoln Baptist Church (1909); compiled by Rev GD Cox, The Baptist Archives, Christchurch, New Zealand
24. Cox, Rev G.D.; Baptist Resources: Carey Baptist College Auckland, New Zealand.
25. Springston Cemetery, New Zealand: Selwyn Library
26. In Memoriam - Rev GD Cox: Pg 165 The New Zealand Baptist June 1929
27. An Old Friend's Tribute: Rev GD Cox: Pg 202-203 The New Zealand Baptist July 1929
28. Tennyson Street, Napier, after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake: Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library Flickr National Library of New Zealand. Reproduced with permission

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Last update: March 31st 2012

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