George B. Stallworthy

George Burnett Stallworthy was born in Samoa in 1844 to Rev. George Stallworthy, a missionary, and Charlotte Burnett Wilson. After the death of his mother in 1845 from tuberculosis, George B. Stallworthy was raised by his maternal grandparents and his nurse Eunite in Falealii, Samoa until 1855 when he was sent to England for school. From 1855 to 1860, Stallworthy attended the School for the Sons of Missionaries at Blackheath. He later assisted in the formation of the Old Boys’ Association of this school, and was elected as its second President in 1909.

Stallworthy later attended New College until 1873 in preparation for Congregational Ministry, with his first pastorate at Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, where he remained for ten years. In 1883, he took charge of the Haslemere Congregational Church, where he was well respected by the members of his congregation and the town because of his active contributions to both church and civic life. In 1883, he was appointed as one of the first Trustees of the recently formed local Court, “Pride of Hindhead” of the Ancient Order of Foresters. He held this office until 1911. Stallworthy resigned the pastorate at Haslemere in 1892 to take up work at Longfleet, Poole in Dorset. In 1896 he returned to the parish of Haslemere to become superintendent of the newly built Hindhead Congregational Hall.

Stallworthy was deeply interested in education and for several years starting in 1903 was the chairman of the managers of the Hindhead Council Schools. He was an active participant in the Haslemere Microscope and Natural History Society, serving as secretary from 1899 for several years. In 1909 Stallworthy resigned from the position at Hindhead due to health reasons, and resided for a time at Richmond, later moving to Tunbridge Wells where he undertook the work of morning preacher to the little Free Church Community. Five years later he returned to Longfleet, Poole and in 1921 went to Billinghurst until his death.

Stallworthy was also a poet, publishing verses from his lectures services. These include “Buddha, the Enlightened, his Legend re-told in Verse,” and “Legends of Samoa,” which was published as a volume of his Hindhead sermons.

Stallworthy married Alice Clark, the daughter of a Leeds tradesman, in September 1875. They had three children, George Hudswell Stallworthy, William Wilson Stallworthy, and Alice Mary Stallworthy.

Stallworthy died in 1922 in Billinghurst.