41 Facts About Rutherford Waddell

Rutherford Waddell was a notable New Zealand Presbyterian minister, social reformer and writer.

Rutherford Waddell was born in Ireland and after failing to finding a position as a missionary or a minister Waddell and his wife migrated to New Zealand in 1877.

Rutherford Waddell was a believer in the value of trade unions, and became the first president of the Tailoresses' Union of New Zealand in July 1889.

Rutherford Waddell was born in 1849 or 1850 in Glenarm, in County Antrim, Ireland.

Rutherford Waddell's parents were Margaret and Hugh Waddell.

Rutherford Waddell's mother died when he was young and his father was largely absent, which lead to him being brought up by his spinster aunt, Jean Reid, in a farmhouse at Annaghbane near Donaghmore in County Down.

Rutherford Waddell continued to care for him when his father married Anne Atkinson and had two more children.

Rutherford Waddell did not enjoy his time at school, largely due to the cruelties of an abusive teacher.

Rutherford Waddell graduated with an MA from Queen's University in Ireland in October 1875.

Rutherford Waddell studied at the Presbyterian Theological College, Belfast, from 1874 to 1876.

Rutherford Waddell sailed with his wife Kathleen, to Lyttelton, New Zealand, on the Piako.

Rutherford Waddell was then inducted to the charge of Prebbleton and Lincoln on 25 September 1877.

One planned temporary minister was Rutherford Waddell, who came with the recommendation of the Rev John Elmslie, the minister of St Paul's in Christchurch.

The congregation was electrified by the first sermon Rutherford Waddell preached and issued a call on the spot.

In January 1879 two hundred and one members of St Andrew's congregation signed to call Rutherford Waddell to become their minister with not a single dissenter.

Rutherford Waddell accepted in early March and was inducted as the parish's minister on 18 April 1879, at a time when the congregation numbered about 300 members.

Rutherford Waddell threw himself immediately into the life of his challenging parish, reinvigorating St Andrews after its hiatus without a permanent minister with the impassioned directness of his sermons soon won the confidence of the congregation.

Early in 1888, Rutherford Waddell delivered a series of lectures on social issues in the St Andrews Church Hall.

The resulting articles in the newspaper on the working conditions in clothing manufacturing and shoe making industries galvanized church, labour leaders and the public, In November 1888 Rutherford Waddell took the matter to the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland which passed a motion passed deploring the existence of sweating in New Zealand.

Rutherford Waddell was offered the position of its first president, which he accepted.

Rutherford Waddell campaigned to reduce the long hours being worked by shop assistants and urged people to pledge to abstain from shopping after 6 pm.

Rutherford Waddell encouraged the formation of the New Zealand Domestic Servant's Union and in 1892 supported the Dunedin Shorthand Writer's Association.

Rutherford Waddell abstained from drinking alcohol and was a supporter for the Women's Suffrage he worked with Harriet Morison and Rachel Reynolds in the temperance and female suffrage campaigns of the early 1890s.

At his trial in June 1890 before the Presbytery of Dunedin Rutherford Waddell, spoke in defense of Gibb, arguing that his only crime was to have made public views discreetly held in private by many members of Presbytery.

Rutherford Waddell was a supporter of a law change in 1894 to the country's divorce laws, which made it difficult for women to divorce their husbands, while it was relatively easier for the husband to divorce his wife.

Rutherford Waddell wanted desertion and drunkenness to be incorporated into the legislation.

Rutherford Waddell was so highly regarded that 700 people attended a function in Agricultural Hall on 26 April 1900 to celebrate his 21 years of service as minister of St Andrew's.

Rutherford Waddell wrote to the Principal of the Presbyterian Deaconess Training Institute in Melbourne, to select a suitable person for Dunedin.

Lightly built and with a slight speech impediment, Rutherford Waddell pushed himself to his physical limits, which forced him to take sick leave in 1882,1886,1902 and 1913.

Rutherford Waddell retired from active work on 30 June 1919, citing old age.

Rutherford Waddell wrote on a number of theological and social subjects, and was contributor to various magazines.

Rutherford Waddell's first important publication was a volume of sermons, entitled Behold the Lamb of God which had a wide circulation.

Rutherford Waddell was one of the founders of the Prison Reform Association.

Rutherford Waddell was a founding member in September 1888 of the Dunedin Suburban Reserves Conservation Society and was a member of the movement that resulted in the formation of the Technical Classes' Association.

In late March 1932, Rutherford Waddell was admitted into Stafford Hospital in Dunedin for a minor operation.

The Christabel and Rutherford Waddell Chapel was dedicated two years later.

Rutherford Waddell married 22-year-old Kathleen Maud Ashton Newman of Listowel in County Kerry on 22 January 1877 in Dublin, Ireland.

At the age of 72 Rutherford Waddell married 47 year old Christabel Duncan at Melbourne on 3 December 1923.

Rutherford Waddell served as deaconess at St Andrew's from 1901 to 1923, with the exception of two years leave to work for Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union from 1919 to 1921 during which she was actively involved in its expansion and served as its travelling secretary.

Rutherford Waddell later served as secretary of the PWMU from 1935 to 1943.

Rutherford Waddell died at the age of 86 on 20 September 1962 in Sydney, Australia.