Arthur Edward SelwynPrint Page

The stained glass window commemorates Arthur Edward Selwyn (1823 - 1899), who was the Parish Priest from 1853 to 1867.

Late in 1850 Bishop Tyrell of Newcastle persuaded Selwyn to prepare for the ministry and in May 1851 he began training at Moreton Bay. He described the primitive conditions and onerous reading course prescribed by the bishop and complained bitterly of four months teaching at Tamworth to his fiancée, whom he married at Tamworth on 30 June 1852. In December next year he was ordained priest. In 1854-67 Selwyn was in charge of the large parish of Grafton; in July 1867 he was appointed to Christ Church, Newcastle, and was made a canon of the cathedral in 1871.

Commissary and vicar-general in 1887-89 while Bishop Pearson was incapacitated in England, Selwyn coped with serious financial problems and administered the diocese quietly and confidently. He wanted promotions for clergy used to Australian conditions rather than inexperienced Englishmen and sought the election of William Chalmers as bishop of Goulburn and G.H. Stanton to Newcastle. Selwyn's appointment as dean by Bishop Stanton marked the start of fresh policy for the diocese. He was involved in disputes with J.H. Hunt and F.B. Menkens over designs for the cathedral, and also in the chronic debate over the relation between cathedral and parish. He was again administrator of the diocese in 1897-98.

GRAFTON, Monday.
At the Cathedral yesterday Archedeacon Moxon unveiled two memorial windows, one to the late Dean Selwyn, of Newcastle, who for many years nearly half a century ago was incumbent of the Grafton parish, when it extended to the Queensland border. The other memorial was to the Rev R W Stockdale, assistant curate of the Grafton parish.
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW ), 3 October 1905.

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