Cyril Bavin OBE (1878 – 20 February 1956) was a New Zealand-born Australian

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

minister and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

who became General Secretary to the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Migration Department and Honorary Secretary of the Migration Bureau of the Overseas League based in London. He was an advocate of mass migration from Britain to Canada, Australia and New Zealand both as a way to alleviate poverty in the mother country and as a means of building up the economy of these countries.

Family and early life

Cyril Bavin was born in

Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = ...

, and was one of nine children of the Rev. Rainsford Bavin, a Methodist minister from Lincolnshire, England, and his New Zealand-born wife Emma, née Buddle. His siblings were: Edna (Mrs Charles Lack); Jessie (Mrs Ambrose Fletcher); Sir

Thomas Bavin Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, (5 May 1874 – 31 August 1941) was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15, where he stud ...

; Gertrude (Mrs William Parker); Horace Bavin; Florence Bavin (Mrs Ernest Warren); Lancelot Bavin; and Dora Bavin (Mrs Leslie Allen). Bavin Snr arrived in New Zealand in 1867 and was appointed to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. He married in 1867 and was then appointed to

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

Kaiapoi Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury region, in the South Island of New Zealand. The town is located approximately 17 kilometres north of central Christchurch, close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River. It is con ...

and

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

. Cyril was born during his parents time in Nelson and then lived in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. His family moved to Sydney from Auckland in 1889 and his father took charge of the William St Church. In 1893 he commenced as a student at

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

Christian mission

In 1896 Bavin was invited by the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

in India to join the staff of the mission high school at

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

prior to entering the ministry. After returning from India he became a student at the

Wesleyan Theological Institution The Wesleyan Theological Institution was from 1863 until 1914 an Australian Methodist theological college located firstly in Silverwater, New South Wales and from 1881 at Stanmore, New South Wales. History At the Methodist Conference of 1862, the ...

which was then based in the grounds of Newington College. After his ordination in 1903 Bavin undertook mission work in Fiji. In 1914, Bavin contributed a chapter, ''The Indian in Fiji'', to the book, ''A century in the Pacific'', edited by James Colwell with an introduction by William Henry Fitchett.

YMCA

Bavin became a military secretary to the YMCA during World War I and was made an honorary major. He represented the YMCA on the

Children's Overseas Reception Board The Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) was a British government sponsored organisation. The CORB evacuated 2,664 British children from England, so that they would escape the imminent threat of German invasion and the risk of enemy bomb ...

Migration advocate

He later became an advocate of British migration to the

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

s. In the 1920s, Bavin proposed child migration schemes for British children to be sent to Australia and New Zealand. He advocated the broadening of the basis of individual nomination of a prospective migrant to its extension from individuals to Church congregations, service clubs, friendly societies and lodges. Bavin was awarded the OBE in 1928.''The Gazette'' 8 June 1928
Retrieved 14 April 2014

Marriage

He married Vera Daphne Lovejoy in

Mudgee, New South Wales Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being the ...

in 1904. There were four children of the marriage, all born in Fiji: Edna Joy 1905–1970; Eben Rainsford1907-1987; Charles Rainsford 1912–1914; and Phyllis Ruth 1916–2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bavin, Cyril 1878 births 1956 deaths People educated at Newington College Wesleyan Theological Institute alumni Australian Methodist ministers Officers of the Order of the British Empire YMCA leaders