Archdeacon Francis HalesPrint Page

The stained glass window, erected by public subscription, commemorates Archdeacon Francis Hales (1821-1900). The window was unveiled at the consecration of the new church in 1902 and depicts "The Ascension."

Francis Hales was born in Newcastle, Co. Limerick, Ireland, on 25^th December 1821, the eldest of six children born to Captain Francis Hales and Catherine, his wife.   Francis travelled in the company of his parents and sister and brother on the 'Minerva', when the regiment was posted from Ireland to a tour of duty in New South Wales. They arrived in November 1826. 

The family, now six children, returned to Britain on the 'Victory' in 1829. There Francis lived for ten years on the Isle of Man, and in 1842 he entered Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated B.A. in 1846 and entered the church, being made priest in February of the following year, 1847. This same year on 2nd September he married Anna Augusta Stoney, daughter of a clergyman. A month later they set sail in the 'Stag' for Port Phillip.

The Reverend Hales held appointments in Melbourne, Gippsland and Heidelberg. His next appointment was at Holy Trinity Church, Launceston. He and his family arrived in November 1853, firstly as locum and was appointed rector when the Revd Yorker resigned from the post in 1856. The Revd Hales was also chaplain at the gaol. This appointment ceased in 1867. During his many years at Trinity he served under four bishops from 1854 to 1900. He was made one of the first canons of St. David's Cathedral in 1872, and Archdeacon of the north of the Diocese and was administrator of the whole Diocese in 1882-83 and 1888-89. He was a very successful organiser of fundraising appeals for missions and church buildings; when in Heidelberg he had raised enough to build St. John's Church there, and in Launceston to successfully replace his old church with the present Holy Trinity.

He took a keen interest in public affairs and initiated several movements, exposing lotteries, decrying capital punishment and government interference with church affairs. After the University of Tasmania was erected in 1890, he became a member of the Senate and was its warden from 1896 to 1900. Several of his sermons were published and he was able to celebrate the jubilee of his ordination in 1896.

 He died on the 9th July 1900, aged 78 years.  

At a meeting held last Wednesday it was decided to erect, as a memorial to the late Archdeacon Hales, of Launceston, the eastern window in the new church of the Holy Trinity now being erected to replace the old one, with which he had been so closely connected for nearly 50 years.  The cost of the stone work alone of this handsome window will amount to £300, but it is hoped that the funds subscribed will so far exceed this sum that stained and figured glass may also he added in order to make the same a fitting memorial of the man who was so universally respected and known throughout Tasmania.
The Mercury (Hobart), 3rd October 1900.

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