The Reverend Benjamin Glennie (29 January 1812 – 30 April 1900) was a pioneer

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergyman in the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia.

Early life

Benjamin Glennie was born on 29 January 1812 in

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, England; his parents were

William Glennie William Glennie (7 April 1761 – 7 January 1828) was a teacher to Lord Byron and father to a number of Australian pioneers. Early life He was born 1761 in Drumoak, Aberdeenshire, the son of John Glennie and Jean Mitchell. He married Mary Gardine ...

, the principal of a private school in Dulwich, and his wife Mary (née Gardiner). He was educated at

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London and ...

, London and then Christ's College where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1847.

Priesthood

In January 1848, Benjamin Glennie arrived in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in the party of Dr William Tyrrell, first Anglican Bishop of Newcastle. Tyrrell appointed Glennie as deacon to the

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

district. Although based in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Glennie across travelled to

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and to the Darling Downs for services. On 20 August 1848, Glennie presided over the first service of the Church of England on the Darling Downs at the

Royal Bull's Head Inn The Royal Bull's Head Inn is a heritage-listed hotel at Brisbane Street, Drayton, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1859 to 1950s. It is also known as Bull's Head Hotel. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Registe ...

at the town Drayton (now a suburb of

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

). Tyrrell appointed Glennie as vicar of Moreton Bay in 1849. On 29 July 1850, Tyrrell appointed him as the vicar for the Darling Downs, resident at Drayton, in the parish of St. Matthew's. By the end of 1850, Glennie had built a slab hut with a shingle roof as his parsonage at Drayton with two of the rooms being used for the church. From 1860 to 1872, Glennie was vicar of

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. He was also concurrently the archdeacon of

from 1860 to 1886. On 14 October 1868, he married Mary Broughton Crawshaw at

St John's Cathedral :''This list is for St. John the Evangelist Cathedrals. For St. John the Baptist Cathedrals, see St. John the Baptist Cathedral (disambiguation)'' St. John's Cathedral, St. John Cathedral, or Cathedral of St. John, or other variations on the name ...

in Brisbane. He returned as vicar of Drayton from 1872 to 1876, after which from 1876 to 1877, he was vicar of

Toowong Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 10,830 people. Geography Toowong is situated between Mount Coot-tha and the Brisbane River and is made up of rolling hills w ...

. When he retired due to advancing age as Archdeacon of Brisbane in 1886, he was appointed the first honorary Canon of St John's Cathedral in Brisbane.

Churches established

Rev. Glennie established four churches on the Darling Downs for each of the four

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Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

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Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. The churches were: * St Matthew's at Drayton * St Mark's at

* St Luke's at

* St John's at Dalby although Glennie was not involved in the construction of all of the current church buildings that replace the earlier buildings he initiated.

Later life

Benjamin Glennie had a quiet life in retirement. His wife Mary died on 7 May 1890 (they had no children). He died on 30 April 1900 at

Wynnum Wynnum is a coastal suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wynnum had a population of 12,915 people. The suburb is a popular destination in Brisbane due to its coastline, jetty and tidal wading pool. Geography Wynnu ...

, near

, where he had lived for 8 months prior to his death. They are buried together in

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest cemet ...

In popular culture

The Rev Glennie inspired a poem ''On Reading The Australian Diary Of The Rev. Benjamin Glennie, First Rector Of Moreton Bay And The Darling Downs, 1848'' by

David Rowbotham David Harold Rowbotham (27 August 1924 – 6 October 2010) was an Australian poet and journalist. Early life Rowbotham was born in the Darling Downs of Queensland, in the city of Toowoomba. He attended Toowoomba Grammar School and studied at ...

Legacy

The

Glennie Memorial School The Glennie School (formerly the Glennie Memorial School) is a girls' school in Newtown, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It caters for primary and secondary schooling from K-12. It has boarding house facilities and is owned and operated by the ...

at Herries Street, Toowoomba is named after him. The school was built in 1908 on a piece of land acquired in 1898 from funds which had been raised over many years by Rev. Glennie. After his death, the Glennie Memorial School Fund was created to raise further funds to establish the school. On Sunday 31 March 1940, 500 people attended a ceremony to place a cairn to mark the site of the first church on the Darling Downs in memory of its founder Reverend Glennie. It is at the corner of Rudd Street and Cambooya Street ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glennie, Benjamin Australian Anglican priests Darling Downs 1812 births 1900 deaths Burials at Toowong Cemetery Archdeacons of Brisbane