Alexander Robert Edgar
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Alexander Robert Edgar (8 April 1850 – 23 April 1914) was an early
Biography
Edgar, was the second of five sons of Edward and Mary Edgar (who also had four daughters) and was born in County Tipperary, Ireland. The family moved to Melbourne in February 1855, and about two years later his family settled at St Arnaud, then a small mining town. He attended the local school until he was about 14, when he became a pupil-teacher in it. Edgar resigned due to the small salary and tried gold-digging, but he had outgrown his strength and found the work too hard. A year of tutoring followed, and then gold-mining again, farming work, quarrying, and other occupations, until in 1870 he obtained a share in a gold-mine which gave very good returns.
His family belonged to the
Edgar had proved his worth during his 19 years in the ministry, but at 43 years of age he was only on the threshold of his greatest work. About this time the future of Wesley Church, Melbourne, was giving great anxiety. It was on the edge of a slum neighbourhood and for some years the congregation had been steadily declining. About the end of 1892 it was decided to found a central mission, and that Edgar should be its superintendent. In April 1893 Edgar took up his new work. He had no defined plans, but after a few weeks began the series of afternoon conferences afterwards known as the "
Later a Boys' Farm was established at Burwood, Victoria, where hundreds of boys were trained as good citizens. Edgar had much experience of the evils arising from alcohol and drug-taking, and arranged to take over a system known as the bichloride of gold treatment, which under the supervision of qualified medical men was found helpful in some cases. In 1913 Edgar's health deteriorated and he died at Melbourne on 23 April 1914 of heart disease. He had married 3 April 1878 Katharine Haslam who survived him with two daughters. There is also a stained-glass window to his memory in Wesley Church.
References
- Ian F. McLaren, 'Edgar, Alexander Robert (1850 - 1914)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp 408–409. Retrieved on 7 October 2008.
- Serle, Percival (1949). "Edgar, Alexander Robert". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 7 October 2008.