Rupert Howard Grove (27 March 1906 – 8 August 1982) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

and a prominent

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 ...

and

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...

layman. The

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

states that, "in the progression towards the union of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian churches in Australia, Grove made a decisive impact."

Family and education

Grove was born at

Dulwich Hill, New South Wales Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill stretche ...

to Aphra Marian (née McCoy) and Howard Thomas Grove, a Melbourne-born architect. He attended

North Sydney Boys High School North Sydney Boys High School (abbreviated as NSBHS) is a government-funded, single-sex, academically selective secondary day school for boys, located at Crows Nest, on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In 2022, Nor ...

and graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1928. The following year he was admitted as a solicitor and was made a partner in the law firm

McCoy, Grove & Atkinson McCoy, Grove & Atkinson was an Australian commercial law firm. It was established in 1887 in Marrickville, New South Wales, by Richard McCoy and soon after moved to Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The name of McCoy, Grove & Atkinson was adopted in ...

. The firm was founded in 1887 by Grove's maternal uncle, state parliamentarian, Richard McCoy, and closed in 2014. Grove married Ina Margaret Hulme at the Methodist Church,

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

, in 1935.

Church affairs

Active within his local churches for over forty years, Grove served as a local preacher and lay leader. From positions of youth leadership he went on to the New South Wales Conference (1936–77) and the General Conference (1947–77) of the

Methodist Church of Australasia The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia. On 1 January 1902, five Methodist denominations in Australia – the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, the United ...

. At conferences he became heavily involved in committee work in many and varied ways. As the Australian Dictionary of Biography states he spread himself over a broad range of responsibilities but was unified by his three principal concerns: the "sound governance of the church at all its levels; its mission to evangelise and to strengthen its influence in the community; and church union, which he believed would create a renewed and influential church." As church union between the Methodist,

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

, and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

churches in Australia came to fruition Grove was highly influential. In 1954 as union was in jeopardy he moved an amendment that deferred further activity. His plan of action was successful and he remained pivotal in the movement to founding the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977. Grove was a member from 1936 of the Department of Home Missions in the Methodist Church and he was chairman of the board of the United Church in North Australia from 1972 until 1977. He was chairman of the Uniting Church’s Commission for National Mission from 1977 until 1982. In Sydney he served as a lay member of the council of the

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 ...

from 1942 until his death in 1982.

Death and legacy

Survived by his wife and one of their two daughters (Barbara Hansford), he died at his

Killara, New South Wales Killara is a suburb on the North Shore (Sydney), Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area ...

home and was cremated. Grove is commemorated in the naming of ''The Grove Room'' in the Newington College Chapel for his many years of service as Honorary Secretary. His son-in-law, Richard Hansford, replaced him on Newington College Council and in 2000–2001 served as its Chairman. Grove's grandson, the Rev Simon Hansford, is the moderator of the

Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of New South Wales and the ACT The Synod of New South Wales and the ACT is a regional council of the Uniting Church in Australia having responsibility for the congregations and presbyteries in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. From its creation in 1977 until ...

.Insights – Rev. Simon Hansford is Moderator Elect
Retrieved 24 January 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grove, Rupert Howard 1906 births 1982 deaths Lawyers from Sydney University of Sydney alumni Australian Methodists Uniting Church in Australia people Australian Protestant religious leaders Members of Newington College Council People educated at North Sydney Boys High School