DEATH OF PASTOR

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 10490, 15 October 1926, Page 4

DEATH OF PASTOR

(.Special to the Times.) AUCKLAND, Oct. 13

The late Mr George Aldridge was born seventy-two years ago in a Suffolk village, and his school education finished when he was nine years of age. He represented, bbwever, a striking example of natural ability and self culture. Yvhen_ the family moved to Bradford in Yorkshire he was employed in a large textile warehouse, but in his spare time obtained such proficiency in French and Italian that in his _ teens the firm planned to attach ,him to their Continental agency. _ His platform ability and fine singing voice had, however, attracted the attention of the famous Charles Haddan Spurgeon, and he was induced to consider the ministry as his lifework. Differing from his Baptist contemporaries on the doctrinal aspect of man’s nature. Mr Aldridge identified himself with conditional immortality. A mission was then active in England, and tins ultimately led to him turning to N-w Zealand "at the age of twenty-eight to the pastorate at Hamilton, then a struggling village. When Mr Geo. A. Brown resigned from the Auckland Church of Christ, Mr Aldridge was called to the position, and with chexception of two absences in England he had that position without a " reck until his tragic decease. Mr Aldridge’s activities had i: y. been confined to the theological field. During Sir George Grey’s Liberal campaign, Mr Aldridge threw himself wholeheartedly into politics, and was one of the foremost Labor advocates of that day. The great pro-Consul offered him political opportunities, but in deference to what Mr Aldridge considered his life work, they wercdeclined. His active interest in the political field in later veers was centred in the Prohibition movement, while as the editor of the “Sentinel” he was a fervent supporter of the Protestant viewpoint. As one of the events that have marked Mr Aldridge’s ministry in Auckland, it is recalled that he is the only pastor who has addressed meetings in Mount Eden crater. During the industrial trouble of 1890 the crater was the natural amphitheatre in which he spoke to large gr,merit; gs of workers.