Reverend F. A. Marsh (1897-1976): Mission and the end of Empire

Rev F. A. Marsh is one of the most significant Australian and Victorian Baptist figures of the mid-Twentieth Century and worthy of a more thorough historical study than has yet been the case. 

This month, I commenced work on a doctoral thesis at the Australian Catholic University to examine his life and influences. 

Marsh's contribution grew from local congregational work to include state, national and international Baptist leadership, engagement, and initiatives during significant social, religious, and cultural changes. 

(Left to right) Pastor Neville Anderson, former missionary, Rev Frank Marsh, Geoffrey Moore, (son of missionaries Cyril and Edna Moore), J. D. Williams, secretary of the Australian Baptist Missionary Society.
Courtesy of Baptist Mission Australia.

Marsh was an active ecumenist in the pre-Vatican II era when many Protestants viewed Catholics and Orthodox Christians with suspicion. His travels and working life as a mission administrator and theological college comptroller brought him into contact with people of different faiths in the Asia-Pacific and those living 'behind the Iron Curtain' during the Cold War. 

Marsh’s experience and perspectives are credited by some as moderating more narrow fundamentalist theological views circulating in Australia at the time. His network included the following influential people; Rev Sir (Clarence) Irving Benson, Rev Halsey E. Dewey (Principal of Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling), Mrs Cecilia Downing, Rev Norman Faichney, Rev R. G. Nichols, Dr Lam Chi-Fung 林子豐 OBE, Archbishop Eris Michael O'Brien CMG, and Alfred Harold Wood. 

In addition, he worked with a large group of Baptist missionaries (now recognised for their cross-cultural skills), more than half of whom were women. Collectively they influenced a diverse range of people across what used to be known as Bengal, and later in New Guinea.

A particular feature of his work was a constructive engagement with American Baptists in both Bengal and Hong Kong.

This examination of his life is an opportunity to better understand these dynamics and shine a reflective light on one aspect of the waning of British and missionary influence in our region, the dynamics of social change in Australia and the place of India and Hong Kong in the Australian imagination.

If you have an interest in this project, please let me know. I hope to make occasional posts as the study progresses.