LATE MRS M. GILBERT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 717, 22 March 1933, Page 9

LATE MRS M. GILBERT.

Widow of First Vicar of Phillipstown.

Mrs Mary Jane Gilbert, whose death occurred recently at her residence, Dean Street, St Albans, was the widow of the Rev H. J. C. Gilbert, first vicar of Phillipstown. A daughter and granddaughter of Wesleyan missionaries, Mrs Gilbert was born at the Hutt, Wellington, in 1850. Her father was the Rev John Aldred, who came from England to New Zealand as a young missionary in IS4O, in the Triton, a brigantine of 119 tons. 'Mrs Gilbert’s mother was a daughter of the Rev Walter Lawry, the first Wesleyan missionary to Tonga, arriving there in 1822, and was in 1544 appointed general superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission in New Zealand. In the same year Mr Aldred and his family transferred to Lyttelton, crossing in the sailing vessel Duke of Portland. After some years in Lyttelton and Christchurch, where Mrs Gilbert (then Minnie Aldred) attended Mrs C. Thomson’s school on Oxford Terrace, the family lived for a term at the Hutt and in Manners Street, Wellington. Mrs Gilbert was educated at the school conducted there by Miss Hunt. In 1864 Mr Aldred was appointed to Dunedin, and afterwards lived in retirement at St Albans, Christchurch.

In 1879 Miss Minnie Aldred was married at St Luke’s Church, Christchurch, by the Rev W. A. Pascoe (afterward Canon Pascoe), to the Rev H. J. C. Gilbert, a clergyman of outstanding ability, who will be still remembered by many people in Christchurch. Here Mrs Gilbert delighted in fulfilling the manifold duties in home and parish of a clergyman's wife, and won the confidence of all who knew her. Following her husband’s death, Mrs Gflbert lived quietly with her two youngest daughters, the Misses L. and C. Gilbert. Two sons and one daughter predeceased her. She -was of cheerful disposition and of great personal charm.

Mrs Gilbert leaves two daughters, the Misses L>. and C. Gilbert, and two sisters, Mrs J. A. Luxford, of Auckland, and Mrs R. W. England, of Christchurch. The funeral took place quietly at the Linwood Cemetery, the officiating clergy being Canon S. Hamilton and the Rev Otho Fitz Gerald.