In Memoriam

 

Arnold Melville Hewlett (1850–1893)

(From a contemporary obituary)

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On January 16th, at the beautiful hill station of Salazie, in the island of Réunion, there passed to his rest a holy priest of God—Arnold Melville Hewlett—in the forty-third year of his age.

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Just ten years and one month before, Mr. Hewlett had arrived at Réunion, full of life and vigour, on his way to Madagascar, having devoted himself to foreign mission work in that African island under the auspices of the S.P.G. He was one of the pioneers of the Madagascar Prayer Union and, in 1881, accepted the office of honorary assistant secretary for the dioceses of Exeter, Truro, and Bath and Wells.

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In the spring of 1882, news reached England of the sudden bereavement of the Bishop of Madagascar through the death of Mrs. Kestell Cornish. This event at once decided Mr. Hewlett to cast in his lot with the Madagascar Church Mission and to do all in his power to comfort the Bishop, who was also his personal friend. It was a great sacrifice.

 

For three years he had worked in perfect harmony at St Sidwell’s, Exeter, where he had made many warm friendships and where his presence seemed greatly needed. An Oxford man of no mean ability, he might well have expected preferment had he remained in England. He also had to leave his widowed mother, who had made her home with him. But the missionary spirit prevailed over all other considerations, and on 23 December 1882 he became an inmate of the Bishop’s house at Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.

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At Antananarivo he soon made his mark. A good musician, he improved the cathedral services, and the country churches under his charge grew and prospered. His life during five years at the capital was a happy one, enjoying the love and confidence of his fellow-workers and of the Bishop, who in time appointed him precentor of the cathedral and one of his examining chaplains. He seemed indeed to be the right man in the right place. Here also he found his wife, who proved his help and comfort to the end of his earthly pilgrimage.

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In 1887 a crisis occurred which suddenly cut short his happy work at the capital. Tamatave, the principal port of Madagascar, lost its priest, and as no one was available to fill the post, Mr. Hewlett, with characteristic self-denying devotion, volunteered to go. On 12 September he left Antananarivo and his beloved cathedral for the seaport town.

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The sacrifice was considerable. The climate of the coast was unhealthy, church life at Tamatave was weak, and the work had to be carried on single-handed among a less receptive population. After settling himself, he returned to England on furlough to regain strength and to plead for funds following losses caused by a severe hurricane, returning again to Tamatave in May 1890.

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Here his life’s work was accomplished. With untiring care he prepared the ground, visiting station after station, heedless of fatigue and frequent attacks of fever. Under his supervision, clergy and catechists were placed in various stations throughout the region.

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In January, he, his wife, and their two young daughters travelled to Réunion for a short period of rest and change, hoping to gain fresh strength for the work so dear to him. The Master ordered otherwise. After only two days of severe malarial fever, his earthly life came to an end.

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His work remains, and his people still send forth the appeal: “Come over and help us.” The secret of Arnold Hewlett’s life was his trust in God and his spirit of prayer. Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God was very dear to him, and he seemed to have made its teaching his own.

He was gentle and loving, firm in will and purpose, and of great integrity. His life was truly hidden with God, and all who knew him were made better by his influence.

May he rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon him.

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A Tribute

Arnold Melville Hewlett (1850–1893)

By the Bishop of Madagascar, writing from Ambatove,
Antananarivo, 26 January 1893

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I have just received a telegram informing me of the death of the Rev. A. M. Hewlett at Salazie in Réunion. We lose in him one of the ablest, most conscientious, and most spiritually minded members of our mission staff. He was a man who left his mark upon all who came within his influence.

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Mr. Hewlett had been for more than three years in charge of the town and district of Tamatave. He was a good musician and a man of very remarkable power, as was made evident by the manner in which he commended himself to the little world among which he lived and worked.

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It was said to me about him by a man who is a very shrewd observer: Mr Hewlett was always courteous and kind, always ‘jolly’, but he never forgot that he was a clergyman.”

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A member of the Society of Friends writes to me concerning him:
“Knowing him, who could help loving him?”

And again:
“You told me when he first came that Mr Hewlett was a holy man; as I have thought of him, and seen his consistent life and conversation and his earnest religious zeal, very often have I remembered your words.”

There was nothing in his health, apparently, to cause any serious anxiety. He had been suffering from malarial fever, but not, as we supposed, so seriously as on former occasions, and we looked forward without misgiving to his return to his work, invigorated and refreshed by his month’s holiday. He had been only a week at Salazie when he succumbed to what is described as a bilious attack and breathed his last on 16 January.

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He was respected by all, loved by many, and will be universally mourned. Is it too much to hope that someone may be found to volunteer for the work for which he lived and died?

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Arnold Melville Hewlett’s life was one of sincere devotion and sacrificial service. At the same time, his work took place within a wider colonial world whose economic structures—particularly in islands such as Réunion—could involve hardship and injustice for local populations. It is fitting to acknowledge those whose lives were shaped by these conditions, even as we honour his faithful ministry.