Henry Cheetham (5 March 1801 – 1 September 1881) was a Congregational minister in the early days of colonial South Australia.

History

Henry Cheetham has born in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on March 5, 1801. Early in 1815 he enlisted with the 51st Regiment of Light Infantry, with which he served for twelve years, and was present at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. He then kept a school near Rochdale for five or six years, meanwhile studying for the ministry under the Rev. Ely, was ordained in 1833, and served the Sunsmit (near Rochdale) church for some fifteen years. He migrated to South Australia with his wife and family aboard the ''Asiatic'', arriving in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in December 1849. He settled at the Burra, where he founded a well-attended church. In late 1851 he accepted a call to the Congregational Church in High Street, Kensington, which was at a low ebb. He commenced his pastorate there on the first Sunday in 1852, and over the next two years did much to restore its fortunes, founding a Sunday School, over which he was to preside for nearly twenty years. Around 1851 a splinter group had formed, which left in 1854 to found the Clayton Chapel, but the High Street church progressed apace, and Cheetham's work was greatly appreciated by his congregation, and when he resigned in 1871 many improvements had been made to the chapel, and the church was free of debt. The separation was described in the Press as painful, but the reason ("circumstances over which I have had no control") was not spelled out. In September 1872 Cheetham was accepted as pastor of the Congregational Church at

Milang Milang ( ) is a town and locality located in the Australian state of South Australia on the west coast of Lake Alexandrina (South Australia), Lake Alexandrina about south-east of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide and about nor ...

, where he was to serve until shortly before his death.

Family

Cheetham was married to Susanna Cheetham, née Norris (c. 1800 – 10 June 1862). Their children included: *Mary Ann Cheetham (26 February 1821 – 27 April 1908) married William Evans ( – ), who with his father built

Conwy Railway Bridge The Conwy Railway Bridge carries the North Wales coast railway line across the River Conwy between Llandudno Junction and the town of Conwy. The wrought iron tubular bridge, which is now Grade I listed, was built in the 19th century. It is the ...

. She married again, to William Peacock (1790–1874) on 15 June 1871. She married again, on 4 March 1875, to Carrington Smedley (1808–1895). :*James Evans ( – ) secretary of South Australian Gas Company :*Eliza Evans ( –1932) married Francis Daniel Hodge ( –1894) on 1866 *Martha Cheetham (c. 1831 – 13 May 1854) *Edward Cheetham (c. 1838 – 12 May 1866), a prizewinning student at

Adelaide Educational Institution Adelaide Educational Institution was a privately run non-sectarian academy for boys in Adelaide founded in 1852 by John Lorenzo Young.B. K. Hyams'Young, John Lorenzo (1826–1881)' ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 6, Melbourne Unive ...

*Susanna Cheetham (c. 1841 – 29 January 1879) maybe married Hiram Telemachus Mildred on 9 February 1864. Hiram was eldest son of

Henry Mildred Henry Richard Mildred (9 March 1795 – 22 March 1877) was a politician in the early days of the Colony of South Australia. History Mildred was born in Portsea, Hampshire, England. Trained as a shipbuilder, he was contracted by the South Aust ...

M.P. While in Adelaide they lived at Rose Cottage, Norwood.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheetham, Henry 1801 births 1881 deaths Australian Congregationalist ministers