Henry ReedPrint Page

The foundation stone of the chapel is in memory of Henry Reed who died in 1880. The chapel commemorates 96 former pupils of the school who lost their lives in World War One. 

Henry Reed (1806-1880) was one of Tasmania’s leading businessmen, bankers and philanthropists. He was also an ardent evangelist who made a significant contribution to the Christian cause in Australia and in Britain.

Henry Reed was born in Doncaster, England, in 1806. At the age of 20 he sailed for Hobart arriving in April 1827. From Hobart he walked to Launceston, a distance of 120 miles. Reed had a deep religious experience in the early 1830's when a small boat he was rowing overturned on the Tamar River and he almost drowned. Once ashore, he knelt down to give thanks for his deliverance. This incident had an enormous influence on his religious life.

As a businessman he made his fortune through the acquisition of land and the use of convict labour. In 1828 Lieutenant-Governor Arthur granted Reed 640 acres along the Nile River. He soon acquired other properties near Launceston and established businesses in shipping, whaling, sealing and general trading out of Launceston to Hobart, Sydney, New Zealand and London. In 1831 Reed sailed for England where he married his cousin Maria Susanna Grubb.

Reed's enterprises helped the establishment of the new settlement of Melbourne with his loan of £3000 to John Batman. As a Wesleyan and a fervent evangelist he claimed to have preached the first sermon at Melbourne, his congregation being Henry and John Batman, William Buckley and three Sydney Aborigines.

In 1847 Reed returned to England where he remained for the next twenty-six years. He undertook many preaching engagements throughout the north of England and was deeply affected by the widespread poverty he encountered there. Reed's wife died in 1860 and three years later he married Margaret Frith an ardent church worker. After this marriage his philanthropic interest intensified. He became associated with General Booth and helped him with money and advice in the formative years of the Salvation Army.

In 1873, Reed returned to Tasmania settling at Mount Pleasant in Launceston, one of the finest houses in northern Tasmania. He also developed Mountain Villa at Wesley Dale which was completed in 1875.  In Launceston he bought Parr's Hotel in Wellington Street in order to replace it with a mission church. The adjoining skittle alley was renovated and opened for worship in July 1876, but the Memorial Church on the site was completed in 1885 after his death, as were the near-by Dunorlan Cottages built in his memory to provide free housing with a sustenance allowance for elderly indigent women.

Chapel Foundation Stone 1932

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