Elias C Champion
Individual, P080
Biography
The Reverend Elias C. Champion (1832- 1898)Rector of St. John’s Church 1887-1890
The Revd. Elias Champion arrived in Tasmania from India in 1882, with his second son, Mr. G.R. Champion. He had been a missionary with the Church Missionary Society in India for twenty years. Mrs. Champion, with the rest of his family of five sons and three daughters, arrived a few months later.
Champion was in charge of the Forth and Leven parish until 1887, when he took up the incumbency of St. John's Launceston. Mrs Champion died at Leith in 1886.
Revd. Champion retired from the ministry in 1890, owing to failing health, and went to live with his son, Alfred, at Kindred until his death in 1898.
The eldest son, Alfred, was ordained priest on 16 December 1888, at St. John's, and was headmaster of the Launceston Grammar School at the time. Another son, Edward, lived at Ulverstone for many years and was manager
of the Bank there. The youngest son served in the first World War, and the youngest daughter was a nurse in England during the same war. The eldest daughter married James Fulton, son of Colonel Fulton of Tasmania.
The following entries relating to The Revd. Elias Champion were found in on a website covering the cemeteries of the North-West coast of Tasmania. They give further biographical details on the life of one of the former rectors of St. John’s.
Link to Elias Champion, Forth Anglican Pioneer Cemetery
Elias Champion – Forth Anglican Pioneer Cemetery
Died 3rd Jun 1898 Age 66 years. Headstone
DEATH
CHAMPION – On June 3, at “Fern Hill,” Kindred, the Rev. Elias Champion, formerly incumbent of Forth and Leven and latterly of St. John’s Launceston, aged 66 years.
The North West Post 4th Jun 1898
FUNERAL
The funeral of the late Rev. E. Champion will leave his late residence, “Fern Hill,” Forth, on Sunday, at 2 o’clock, for the Anglican Cemetery. Geo Bonner Undertaker
The North West Post 4th Jun 1898
Another old and honoured resident of West Devon has passed away in the person of the Rev. E. Champion, who was for many years rector of the parish of Forth and Leven. Deceased has been in feeble health for some years and the end was not unexpected. Whilst he was rector of Forth and Leven he was respected as a thorough Christian gentleman. After leaving the Forth he was appointed Rector of St. John’s Launceston, residing there on the break-up of his health and retiring to his son’s farm at Kindred. The deceased leaves a family, all of whom are grown up.
The North West Post 4th Jun 1898
The funeral of the Rev. E. Champion, Church of England minister, took place at the Forth on Sunday. The deceased was highly respected and that fact, together with the sad circumstances preceding his death, led to a large number of people attending the funeral. Death took place the previous Friday, after an illness of about ten years duration, the result of an accident, and during the greater portion of that period the rev gentleman was almost helpless. At the time mentioned he was riding along the Don tramway, going to conduct service in a part of his parish, when by some means, not yet explained, he was unseated and was in a semi-conscious condition. From that time creeping paralysis set in. He was removed to Launceston, but, continuing to get worse instead of better, he had to retire from the church and since then has lived at the Forth. The Rev. Mr. De Coetlogon conducted the burial service and delivered an impressive address in the church. Deceased was 66 years of age and had been a widower for many years, but he leaves a grown up family. One son, also a clergyman, is head master of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School; another is manager of the Bank of Australasia in Ulverstone, while others are engaged in pastoral pursuits in New South Wales and West Australia. One daughter is married to Mr. James Fulton, brother to Mr. G. A. Fulton, police clerk at Devonport
The North West Post 4th Jun 1898