Though thirty-five years have passed away, there are many residents of Fitzroy, and Collingwood, with some few yet attending St. Mark's Church, who will remember the great work accomplished by the late Rev. James Aaron Clowes, the first incumbent of the Parish, and whose death in England has recently been announced in the colonial press, at the ripe age of 71. They also remember his great zeal and loving kindness, especially to the sick, the poor and destitute; and his presence in their humble cottages, or tents (for many were living in tents in those days) - was always welcome with all denominations. His kind, free, and humble manner in his pastoral visits, won respect where ever he went.

In giving these particulars of the life and labours of my late Rev. friend, I shall have recourse to some of his own letters as well as personal recollections of conversations I necessarily had with him when associated with him as an officer of his church, and also from information collected from friends in England and the Colonies.

Mr. Clowes was born in my native town, Birmingham, on the 23rd October, 1819, and was the son of a very clever lawyer, and related to the celebrated publishing firm of Clowes and Son, of London. His father would doubtless have been a very eminent man in his profession, but his dissipated habits not only retarded his progress at the bar, but swallowed up his patrimony. His mother was a very different person, a decidedly pious woman, who, when her son was only a few days old, dedicated him to God's service. Of the boyhood days of the Rev. gentleman, I cannot speak fully, but I know that at the age of 10 years he voluntarily left school in order to assist his mother in providing for the wants of the family, and never attended school again, but was entirely self-taught, or, as the world would say, 'a self-made man.'

He came to Melbourne under the auspices of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, in the year 1847. His first charge was at the Barrabool Hills, near Geelong, where he conducted the Church of England Services in a schoolroom at that place during the Episcopacy of the first Bishop, Dr. Charles Perry. On certain Sundays when the Presbyterians had the use of the room, Mr. Clowes took long journeys on horseback, to hold services at different squatting stations - (churches and villages being then few and far between) - leaving home on the Saturday and returning on the Monday.

Early in the year 1850, I first made his acquaintance from a visit - one of the house to house visits for which he was so noted - to my cottage in Otter Street, Collingwood. The Bishop had recalled him from Barrabool to Melbourne requesting him to come to town in order to prepare for ordination as a Clergyman of the Church. Mr. Clowes has often been heard to say he "never sought or asked for ordination," being satisfied with the humbler position of Lay Reader, but it was the Bishop's wish and he accordingly consented to the proposal.

When he came to St. Mark's, (Newtown as it was then called,) he was associated with the late Rev. Daniel Newham, the first Minister of St. Peter's, East Melbourne, whose parish then comprised the whole of Fitzroy and Collingwood of the present day. Mr. Clowes held two services on Sundays in the brick schoolroom (recently pulled down.) A very well executed drawing of this building, with some stunted old gum trees near, is now before me, being the work of Miss Rachael Blackburn, daughter of the late City Surveyor of Melbourne, a young lady beloved by all for her devotion and gentleness, and one of those church workers in a parish whose removal is a loss. I believe she was stricken down by fever and died. Many were the girls of St. Marks,' who lamented her death, and none more so than her pastor, the Rev J. A. Clowes.

In the little volume entitles "Historical Notes of the Church and Parish of St. Mark's," published at the "Church News" office in 1868, the following reference to this first church school building occurs on page 9: - "Shortly after the erection of the schools, services were held by the assistant Minister of St. Peter's, the Rev. Samuel Edward Bloomfield, son of Sir Thomas Bloomfield, and occasionally by the Rev. William Merry, the attendance for some time was small indeed, on many occasions not more than six of seven adults being present. But in the month of June 1850, the Rev. J. A. Clowes, then a lay reader, was located in the neighbourhood and he immediately commenced a system of pastoral visitation, by calling at every dwelling in order to find out members of the church. He was most kindly received by all, and the results of his labors were crowded services; his people became warmly attached to him, and it soon became evident that something must be done to meet the wants of those desirous of attending his ministry. On the 15th June, 1851, just twelve months after his location, he was ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Melbourne. On many occasions large numbers were unable to get within the school, and stood outside to listen through the windows of the building."

This now extinct building was the nucleus of the present Church and schools of St. Mark's parish, and in this room the first public meeting held to take steps towards erecting a permanent Church took place on 14th April 1852, Dean Hussey Burgh Macartney in the chair, when the following resolution was moved by J. T. Smith, Mayor, and the Rev. J. A. Clowes:- "That the present church accommodation is quite inadequate to the requirements of the parish, and that subscriptions should be raised, for the purpose of building a church." The sum of £400 was subscribed in the room and a committee appointed to take all necessary steps to carry out the object of the meeting.

Six months after that meeting the parish of St. Mark's was formed by excision from St. Peter's, on the 16th September, 1852. Before however much progress was made with the church in consequence of the excited and unsettled state of the colony caused by the extraordinary discovery of gold, and the great influx of population including a very large number of children, the want of additional school accommodation was severely felt, and through the exertions of the Rev. J. A. Clowes and a few others, a larger blue stone building was added to the brick school, at a cost of a little over £1,000. This gave additional accommodation for public worship, and was soon found to be quite inadequate, so popular was the minister among the people.

On Easter Tuesday, 1853, the consecration of the parent Church of St. Peter, Eastern Hill, took place, and in the evening a meeting of the parishioners was held in the Diocesan Schools (St. Peter's, since sold to the Government, and pulled down to give garden ground to Parliament House), the object of the meeting being to take steps to assist in the erection of St. Mark's Church. Mr. Clowes pleaded well and successfully at this meeting, for nearly £100 was there and then collected.

One of the most marked characteristics of the Rev. gentleman was his reliance on, and resort to earnest prayer for the blessings and help he needed to carry on his arduous work in the parish. He was a thorough disciple of George Mueller of Bristol fame. Speaking with him one day he said, "I spread the Circulars (appealing for aid) before the Lord in prayer asking Him to raise up friends to help us; the very first response the next days past brought, was a cheque for £250 from a non-parishioner."

On our great civil holiday called 'Separation Day,' 1st July 1853, he had the pleasure of witnessing the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of his parish church by the Right Rev. Charles Perry, D.D., first Bishop of Melbourne. The estimated cost was between £2,000 and £3,000, but this proved very fallacious. The church was opened on 21st January 1856, after endless difficulties and misfortunes had been experienced during its erection.

In this year also Mr. Clowes was instrumental in providing for the future division of St. Mark's parish, and on the 23rd November, 'Constitution Day,' the first stone of a large stone building in Regent Street, Abbotsford was laid by Sir Francis Murphy, and named by Mr. Clowes 'Christchurch,' which was the commencement of the present parish of St. Philip, the name being altered by the suggestion of Ven. Dean Macartney in consequence of so many suburban parishes having already assumed the name of Christchurch.

Much of the secular work was thrown upon Mr. Clowes by the laity, who should have done it themselves. He became treasurer and virtually churchwarden also; this brought about unpleasantness as is generally the case when the clergy take upon themselves the management of the finances of the church. The great upheaval of society and subsequent collapse of trade, commerce, and the gold industry, told adversely upon the church. Mrs. Clowes, writing from England a few weeks ago, refers thus to those exciting times:- "You will recollect what an arduous undertaking the building the stone school room was; perhaps no one knows better than myself, living under the same roof, the labour and anxiety of that work, built at a time when labour and material were high, funds exhausted, perhaps, and but few to help and sympathise."

During the erection of the church, which followed the erection of the school referred to by Mrs. Clowes, she says, "I will give you an extract from a letter written (by her husband) in 1854:- "The church is progressing but slowly, and every day seems to increase my anxiety respecting its completion. At present I know not from what source the funds must come. I am oppressed from day to day, and if it were for any other object than the one contemplated I felt I should not endure it. My faith is tried. Oh! that it may work patience, etc., etc. I most deplore the secularising effect the subject produces upon my mind. I want to enter fully into that beautiful antithesis to be careful for nothing, but in everything to make my requests known unto God."

The erection of the Parsonage without the boundaries of the parish, at the corner of Nicholson Street was a sore point with many, but the work went on, a great work, and God sustained His servant and brought him through. In the year 1856 he intimated that his health had been gradually giving way, under all this worry and excitement, and increasing duties rendered it utterly impossible for him to retain his present responsible post as incumbent unless his health improved, but he was thankful to say he had not laboured in vain nor spent his strength for nought. His failing health was well known to be the result of over exertion and anxiety in connection with the erection of the church schools and Parsonage and the perplexed state of the parish. In his anxiety to serve the cause, he unfortunately allowed himself to be elected a trustee, and the treasurer to the Building Fund, and took upon himself responsibilities and duties that ought to have been borne by laymen.

On its becoming known he was about to leave the Colony fresh troubles sprang up. Writs were served upon him for contracts signed by him, but unsatisfied for want of funds. This was a serious loss to Mr. Clowes, and should be a warning to Clergymen against taking secular offices and engaging in responsibilities involving such serious consequences. "Ah, (said he,) you little know how my peace and rest is disturbed; the duties of treasurer, etc., impose upon me the necessity of poring over pounds, shillings and pence, when I ought to be studying my Bible; and when my people are quietly reposing on their beds I am compelled to waste mid-night oil, and study for my Sunday duty for the Spiritual benefit of my people."

It was no wonder after three or four years of such incessant toil, anxiety, and worry, and the unprecendented and excited state of the times that he should seek repose. In the month of July, 1856, Mr. Clowes preached his farewell sermon from Ephesians; the church being crowded to excess, and the congregation deeply affected; during the following week a social farewell was held, when an affectionate address of sympathy and a purse of sovereigns was presented to him as a parting token of the esteem entertained for him, and in recognition of the great work he had accomplished in the parish. In the month of September following he, with his wife and daughter, left the Colony for England, fully intending to return, but domestic affliction, the serious illness of his daughter, obliged him reluctantly to remain in England, and he forwarded his resignation to the Bishop, and intimated the same to his co-trustees.

It may here be mentioned that the Rev. J. A. Clowes was twice married, and the issue of the first marriage being an only daughter, 'Phoebe,' whose name was a household word throughout the parish of St. Mark's. With Mr. and Mrs. Clowes there was residing at the Parsonage a lady named Miss Eyles who with Mrs. Clowes rendered very valuable services to the infant church and schools of St. Marks, as well as in the District Visiting Society established by the Rev. J. A. Clowes for the relief of the poor and needy. Some years after their arrival in England, the Rev. gentleman sustained a severe loss in the death of his excellent wife, who before her death expressed a wish that if her husband married again it would be to her friend, companion and helper, Miss Eyles. In due time this event actually took place, and the Miss Eyles once so well known in Collingwood and Fitzroy, became the wife, and is now the widow of the first incumbent of St. Marks. This lady was of rather retiring manner, but pleasant, and a very valuable worker in the parish. A more suitable person for a devoted Minister's wife it would be difficult to find. May she be earnestly blessed in her widowhood. I believe there is one or two children, the issue of the second marriage. Miss Clowes, the only child of the first wife, married, but both she and her husband are deceased, but have left issue.

It has been already stated that the Rev. J. A. Clowes left the Parsonage of St. Mark's, Fitzroy in the year 1856. He arrived in England in the month of November of that year with his wife, daughter, and Miss Eyles. Finding that domestic affliction prevented his return to the Colony, he sought and obtained employment in the church at home. In the month of April 1858 he was requested by the Patron of the living, to become curate-in-charge of the parish of Westleton, Suffolk. This living was under sequestration. In 1861 the Vicar died, and the parishioners with one consent signed a petition to the Patron, begging him to appoint the Rev. J. A. Clowes as their Vicar, which he did, and so he remained until February 1887.

Westleton is a large and poor parish, and during the nearly thirty years of his Ministry there he laid himself out entirely for the people; seeking both their temporal and spiritual welfare with the same zeal and earnestness as he did those of his people in his first parish in Australia. For many years he had two full services in the Church and an evening service in the school room every Sunday, besides superintending the Sunday school twice a day. But for the last few years, during the summer months, the evening service was held in the church, and the afternoon service discontinued; the three services being resumed in the winter.

The large day schools also entailed much labour and anxiety; the great difficulty being to maintain them on the voluntary system, but Mr. Clowes succeeded in so doing as long as he remained in Westleton. They have become Board schools since. Five services every Sunday for nearly thirty years! No wonder he began to feel the duties of his large parish somewhat beyond his strength, though still vigorous, and never lessened his work as many would have done. No wonder when the offer of a smaller parish with lighter duties came before him, as it did in 1887, by the offer of the Rectory of Boyton, he thankfully accepted it, though still loving the people amongst whom he had laboured for so many years.

As Rector of Boyton, the Rev. J. A. Clowes was successful in winning the love and esteem of all classes. But here his health began to give way, about four years after his appointment. On the 4th January last he took the Sunday services, preaching from Isaiah 51:6, "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, etc," and Luke 9:56 - "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, etc." These two sermons closed his public ministry on earth. How singularly appropriate are the texts for a departing Pastor giving up his ministry to direct the eyes of his flock to look up to the Heavens, "and then to declare that the Son of man did not come to destroy but to save." On New Years Eve Mr. Clowes always held a service in the church and gave his people a scripture motto for the year, and his last motto was as appropriate as his last texts - "Thou shalt guide me by thy council and afterwards receive me into glory."

He was first taken ill about the middle of January last, which proved to be a slight paralytic seizure, he seemed to revive, but in a few days he was attacked by a pain in the leg and coldness: this proved to be a ruptured blood vessel. His medical attendant said he had a weak action of the heart and subject to shocks of of paralysis. At last he could only move his right arm and hand, but was conscious to the last, being confined to his bed for only three weeks, and then he entered into his rest on the 8th February last.

Thus 'passed from death unto life,' - "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" - (James 1:1) - "A man greatly beloved." - (Daniel 10:11). He was Rector of Boyton just four years, and died on the same day of the month that he came into residence there, where his death was mourned by all: and all felt they had lost a father and a friend. On every hand was heard the remark, "We shall never have another like him." No doubt he heard the welcome - "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

In giving these rough notes of the life and labours of the first Incumbent of St. Mark's I find that it needs a more able pen than mine to do justice to his character. He was a sound Churchman thoroughly evangelical. He was a man who invariably did his duty, never sparing himself. He loved cleanliness and order; his church, schools, and home were alike kept neat, in repair, and clean. He was a man, too, of unusually sound judgement, and at the various meetings he attended his words were always a power amongst his brethren in the Diocese in which he lived. Many letters of sympathy and condolence from Fitzroy and Collingwood, as well as his friends at home, all speak of his death as not only a loss to the church and community, but a personal loss - the loss of one in whose judgement confidence could be placed at all times.

His correspondence with me since he left Fitzroy has been at wide intervals of time, but in every letter there is evidence of zeal, earnestness and love for his fellow men. His letters are 'letters to be preserved,' not destroyed, they are as fresh and good after ten years as when first written. I have often wondered what was the secret of his being so much beloved by all wherever he went, at home, or in the Colonies abroad, and can only arrive at one conclusion, i.e. HAVING THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN HIS HEART, it flowed out in love - pure disinterested love - to others.

I might add that, from a personal knowledge of the fact, how much he was esteemed as a preacher from the time of his ordination when at St. Mark's, Fitzroy to the day of his death at Boyton Rectory, and especially so in the latter place where he had more time for careful preparation and study. This is important in these days of advanced education. It is a great mistake for Ministers to suppose that the humbler classes will be satisfied with 'plain talk' or makeshifts for the pulpit. They may listen attentively and, out of charity, may not give public utterance to their criticisms: but get them into conversation and ask their opinion, and they will say "There is nothing in them, the man could not have given much time for preparation or study of his subject."

A sermon should proceed from heart to heart, and not from mouth to ear. This I have often heard. Mr. Clowes's sermons were always most expressive, and delivered, after the most careful preparation, though he often preached extempore with nothing before him but the Bible, with sometimes a few short notes. The people were most regular in their attendance, and most attentive listeners as is always the case with such preachers as the late respected first incumbent of St. Mark's, Fitzroy. His power in the pulpit has not waned by age, but improved by a ripened experience of more than 'three score years and ten.'

In these concluding remarks on the life and labours of a valuable minister of the gospel, I come to his death and burial. He expired on the 8th and was buried at 1.30 pm. on the 13th February last, in the churchyard of Westleton Church, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. G. Iving Davies, Rural Dean, and Rector of Kelsale, assisted by Rev. S. B. Field, Rector of Woodbridge, the Vicar of Westleton being unavoidable absent through illness.

The "Westleton Parish Magazine" of March last, says: - "The church was filled; the great numbers gathered around the grave, the solemn stillness, broken only by the words of our beautiful burial service, rendered the whole scene one which will doubtless remain in the memories of all present so long as life shall last!"

The Rev. F. H. Nicholls, Vicar of Westleton, who succeeded the late Rev. J. A. Clowes in that parish, makes the following remarks in the magazine above named, and thus speaks to his parishioners on the sad occasion:- "This month (March) we have to make a record of the death of the Rev. J. A. Clowes, the much lamented and greatly respected former Vicar of this parish. It was but September 25th not five months before his death, that he occupied his old pulpit, and preached the sermon of our Harvest Thanksgiving Service. His last official and ministerial act in connection with his old parish (Westleton) was his attendance at the meeting of the Church Restoration Committee on 30th of October, which, on having been invited he had readily consented to join. On that occasion he spoke kindly words of sympathy with your present Vicar, in regard to the work of repairing the church, and expressed his own personal and hearty interest in the undertaking. The committee have thus lost the kind services of one whose sound judgement and wise counsel were of very great value."

"For 29 years the Rev. J. A. Clowes was minister of this parish; for the first three of which time he was Curate, and for the remainder, the Vicar. Exactly four years from the date of leaving Westleton for Boyton, he passed away from this earthly scene. His labours in the vineyard below ended; he has now entered into rest in the Paradise above. The parishioners of Westleton cannot but well remember the familiar form of their late pastor, and as they call him to mind and think of the past, do not solemn reflections suggest themselves? How did I treat my old Minister and his ministrations? He was the messenger of God to me. Did I receive him as such? He was here in Westleton for the express purpose of leading me to Christ as my Saviour, and of promoting holiness in my life, and helping me on the road heavenward. Did I receive his teaching and allow him to be to me all that God sent him to be to me? Thus let us improve the (to us, not to him) sad event we all so greatly deplore, and by the grace and blessing of God, His servant being dead shall yet speak to us."

The parishioners of Westleton, Boyton, and St. Mark's, Fitzroy, will, I am sure, heartily sympathise with Mrs. Clowes and family on their heavy bereavment, and join in earnest prayer that our Heavenly Father will support them in their present sorrow and time of trouble. A Memorial brass plate has been erected in Boyton Church, with a simple inscription; and a marble head stone erected over his grave in Westleton Churchyard.

Here I would ask, in concluding these remarks, will anything be done in St. Mark's Church to perpetuate the memory of this pioneer of the Church in the Cities of Fitzroy and Collingwood? Will the few friends still left, who knew him and his labours, allow the name of the Rev. James Aaron Clowes to die out, and leave no record of the first incumbent's labours on the page of history? I think not; and hope those who knew him, and were witnesses of his indefatigable zeal, energy, and loving kindness to all classes, who are still spared here below will express their remembrance of him in some way. I know it would delight the hearts of the widow and orphan family of the Rev. J. A. Clowes, and soothe their sorrow, to hear that a Memorial brass, with inscription, or mural tablet, had been erected in St. Mark's Church to his memory. To this object I would be delighted to contribute.

P.S. - Since writing the foregoing remarks I have been often asked by the present generation, "What sort of a man was the Rev. J. A. Clowes in appearance?" To this I reply, he was tall, rather above the average height, over 6 feet. I think, pleasant features indicating all the characteristics of a real Christian pastor, meekness, love, gentleness; while at St. Mark's he was clean shaved; but like our dear old Dean of later years, according to a well executed cabinet photo received this day, he died adorned with a quite patriarchal beard.

C. Baker