A. J. Chesswas is a Wikipedia editor from Stratford, New Zealand, with a particular focus on the fields of history, geography, anthropology, sociology, theology, philosophy, religious studies, politics and environmental planning. He is a 5th generation Taranaki hill country sheep and beef farming British New Zealander (Kiwi), a qualified (Massey University BRP) and practising (Stratford District Council) Environmental Planner, and a committed member of his local Anglican parish.
Biography
Date and Place of Birth
A. J. Chesswas was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 20 August 1980, to J. A. and C. A. Chesswas (nee McConnell), the descendants of British settlers. He and his younger sister grew up on the family farm “The Makuri” in Tututawa, approx. 20 minutes east of Stratford. This 324 Ha farm was part of a block purchased by his grandparents in 1963, on the heels of the New Zealand wool boom. The original block was later subdivided between sons.
Family History
Chesswas
A. J. Chesswas’ grandfather, W. A. Chesswas, was a third generation Taranaki hill-country farmer himself, having grown up at “Mahoe” near Ngamatapouri in the Waitotara Valley, where his emigrant grandfather John Chesswas had settled in 1894. John’s son Walter took over the farm upon his death in 1916, and when Walter fell sick two decades later it was W. A. Chesswas’ turn to step up, at just 15 years of age. After two and a half decades of land development in the Waitotara Valley and at Okoia, W. A. Chesswas & Sons moved to Tututawa, Stratford district in 1963, where they purchased a block from John Arkwright, a descendant of Richard Arkwright of industrial revolution fame. Here they transformed a run-down wasteland full of scrub and swamp into the lush and productive pasture which J. A. Chesswas continues to farm today.
English Origins
The Chesswas family trace their English ancestry back to John Chessowes of Whitchurch, Shropshire (b 1608), and possibly to Thomas Chessewes of Wrenbury, a yeoman farmer in Cheshire c1560. The original meaning of the name is not known. Alternative meanings include cheese farmers (from chesse (cheese) and worth (farm), or chesse and wisse (knowledge)), and cheese farmers of the swamp (from chesse and waesse (swamp)).
The family lived around the borders of Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire for at least two centuries, and for a number of generations in the 18th century were hatmakers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In the early-mid 19th century William Chesswas and his wife Ann Chesswas (nee Ellen) moved to greater London, where they had eleven children.
Colonial Pioneers
John (“Jack”) Chesswas was born in Twickenham in 1861, where he received a building apprenticeship before emigrating to Oamaru, New Zealand, in 1884. He married Emily Bignell (nee Foy) in 1887, and worked with her brother Arthur Bignell. After building the Oamaru Railway Station, Bignell & Sons won a bridge-building contract for the Midland Line, and then continued as bridge-builders on the West Coast, before moving to Wanganui in 1892 where they built the original Wanganui Hospital. Bignell went on to serve as Mayor of Wanganui from 1904 to 1906, while Chesswas with his growing family of boys opted to purchase a block in the new settlement of Ngamatapouri.
Notable Chesswas Men
Notable Chesswas men descended from Jack Chesswas include Luganda language orthographer and educational evaluation theorist J. D. Chesswas (author of Essentials of Luganda (1963) and An explanation of the Standard Orthography of Luganda (1976)), his son Dr. Roger Chesswas, also a leading educational evaluation theorist and sociologist, and Roydon Chesswas, a missionary and food technologist with United Mission to Nepal. Jack's uncle James Chesswas was a leading pioneer of Penshurst, Victoria, where a street was named after him, and counted among James' descendants is leading software developer Mike Chesswas, Managing Director of Ascend Business Solutions. Another Australian branch of the family produced Harold "Bottles" Chesswas, a representative Australian Football League player for the Collingwood Football Club in the 1920s.
Wilson
Through his paternal grandmother B. Chesswas (nee Wilson), A. J. Chesswas can trace his ancestry to a number of interesting characters, including: the first New Zealand-born European couple to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary – Scottish settler George Morris (Plimmerton, 1841) and his wife Agnes Morris (nee Turner) (Akaroa, 1845) who had been baptised by Bishop Pompallier; their daughter Agnes Ann Wilson (Auckland, 1868) who lived most of her 105-year life in Hunterville, Rangitikei; Zachariah Meads, born in Te Aro in 1843, whose English father claimed to have seen a moa near Mt. Egmont and who is also the ancestor of Colin Meads; William Gray (1818, Ireland), an Irish missionary who served in Mauritius educating freed slaves after the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was passed, and married a French Creole Mauritian (an ancestor shared with Kristen Williams); and great-great-great-great-great grandmother Jean Wilson (nee Duff), Scottish daughter to James Duff, 2nd Earl of Fife, by his maid Margaret Adam. Through the Earls of Fife Chesswas is related to the acting sisters Haylie Duff and Hilary Duff, and can trace his ancestry to the royalty and nobility of Great Britain and Europe, and inevitably back to Adam and Eve.
B. Chesswas’ father, Vivian Wilson, served in the New Zealand forces in World War I.
McConnell
Chesswas’ grandfather on his maternal side, Dr. W. F. McConnell, was a general medical practitioner in Mt. Albert for nearly 50 years, and a returned serviceman from World War II, and is now retired and still in Mt. Albert. He studied medicine at Otago University before serving with the 28th Maori Battalion in Italy, Crete, Egypt and New Caledonia. His grandfather John McConnell emigrated to New Zealand from Northern Ireland during the gold rush era of the mid-19th century. His father William McConnell owned a number of pubs around Thames, including the Puriri and a hotel in Whitianga, and also owned the peak of the Moehau Range and the old granite wharf below. However he went bust when a Kauri logging venture failed and a business partner ripped him off, and lost many of his assets.
John McConnell was the son of Robert McConnell of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and the brother of Sir Robert John McConnell who went on to become Lord Mayor of Belfast and receive a baronetcy from Queen Victoria. The Parliament Buildings of Northern Ireland are built on what was once family land. The McConnell baronetcy is now held by Sir Robert Shean McConnell, 4th Baronet McConnell, who incidentally is a leading environmental planning theorist in the UK in the tradition of Radical planning, and author of the book Theories for Planning (1981). [[[Brian McConnell, Baron McConnell], Ulster Unionist MP in the Northern Ireland House of Commons from 1953 to 1966, Minister of Home Affairs from 1964 to 1966, and active member of the House of Lords, was also descended from Sir Robert John McConnell.
Hosking/Butler
Chesswas’ maternal grandmother E. McConnell (nee Hosking) was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1921, moving to New Zealand with her parents Arthur Hosking and Sarah Hosking (nee Butler) as a child. Sarah was the daughter of Richard Butler and Sybella Butler, cockney immigrants from London, and the brother of James Butler, a pioneer in the Bible College movement in Adelaide at the turn of the 20th century. A sister of James and Sarah, Laura, married Sam Barrett, another pioneer of the Bible College movement and member of a prominent evangelical family. Many of the Butler family were involved in various roles with the Church of Christ, Adelaide. James’ son Rowland was a missionary to China with the China Inland Mission in 1928.
Parents
Chesswas’ mother, C. A. Chesswas (McConnell), studied English and Classics at Auckland University, the latter under Professor E. M. Blaiklock, a leading Christian apologist who engaged in debate with Presbyterian controversialist Lloyd Geering. She taught Aboriginal children at Collarenebri, New South Wales, and traveled around Australia. She was converted to a saving faith in Jesus Christ while hitch-hiking from Adelaide to Darwin, and returned to Sydney where she attended Metropolitan Baptist Church under Pastor Marvin R. Matthews, a graduate of Springfield Bible Baptist. Upon returning to New Zealand McConnell completed a second degree, studying Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland. While in Auckland she became involved in the Charismatic Renewal under the leadership of Father Ken Prebble at St. Pauls Anglican Church, and latterly at Sandringham AOG.
In 1978 McConnell attended a Christian camp run by WEC in Ngaruawahia, where she met J. A. Chesswas. He, too, had come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ under the preaching of Billy Graham during his 1959 crusade, and went on to play a prominent role in the Presbyterian Bible Class movement in Taranaki in the 1970s. During this time the Presbyterian Church was feeling the disruptions that had arisen from the liberal ideas of Professor Lloyd Geering, which had turned many congregations away from evangelical convictions and isolated those who like Chesswas remained in the fold. McConnell’s parents followed the Catholic faith, and this too resulted in a sense of isolation for McConnell as for Chesswas. Their evangelical convictions and their experiences of living out those convictions served as the common ground for a friendship that in 1979 became a marriage.
J. A. and continues to farm in Tututawa to this day, and C. A. Chesswas is an accomplished artist in the impressionist tradition. Both are committed members of a local Vineyard church.
Education
Chesswas received his pre-school education at Toko Playcentre and Avon Kindergarten, his primary education at Douglas Primary School, and his high school education at Stratford High School. He then moved to Palmerston North where he studied a Bachelor of Resource and Environmental Planning (BRP) at Massey University, followed by a Diploma of Biblical studies at Bible College of New Zealand (still to be completed).
Work
Having completed his BRP at the end of the 2003, and most of his DipBS, Chesswas found employment as a planner with Harrison Grierson Consultants Ltd. in Wellington. He worked there a year in 2004, and was also an active member of The Street City Church, but after a year in the capital decided to return to the rural lifestyle of the Stratford district. Following a stint of casual agricultural employment, as well as part-time work with New Plymouth District Council, Chesswas was offered a full-time position at Stratford District Council in his home town. He continues to manage a small flock of ewes on his father’s farm in his spare time.
Christian Faith and Ministry
Childhood
Chesswas was raised in Taranaki East Co-operating parish, based in Toko. His Presbyterian grandfather W.A. Chesswas had been a leading elder in the ministry of that parish. Although it had suffered during the liberal movement of the 1960s and 70s, by the early-mid 1980s it had taken on a much more evangelical, even charismatic, character under the leadership of Revs. Wilson Orange and Graeme Turnbull. Family life centred on church, as well as bible reading and Scripture in Song at home. The music of charismatic Christian artists such as Keith Green, Second Chapter of Acts, the Bill Gaither Trio, Dave and Dale Garratt and Randy Stonehill was a prominent feature in family life, as were the TV ministries of Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn.
Conversion
Although raised in the church, Chesswas moved away from the church as he grew older, abandoning the faith altogether in his teenage years. Although making a commitment at an Easter Camp in his final year of school, and writing his history project on Martin Luther, it wasn't until he reached Massey University, Palmerston North, that Chesswas came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, making a commitment in May 1999. The ministry of Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF) on campus played a formative role in his spiritual growth, and he regularly attended All Saints Anglican church. In May 2000 Chesswas was drawn to the Pentecostal expression of church life, after hearing itinerant Third Wave preacher Kristen Williams. As a result he joined Christian Community Church, and was baptised in August, remaining there for the remainder of his time in Palmerston North under the pastorates of Fraser Hardy and Nigel Dixon.
Student Ministry
Following his conversion Chesswas quickly became involved with Massey University Christian Fellowship. He served as a Bible study leader in 2000, Evangelism Coordinator 2000-2001 and President 2001-2002. Following the cue of fellow TSCF members at Victoria University, Wellington, he organized the first Massey University “God Week” (now known as “Jesus Week”). Chesswas emphasised the importance of placing mission and evangelism at the centre of TSCF ministry, always advocating the importance of unity and prayer in this task. Formative influences at this time included the works and historical examples of John Wesley, Charles Finney, William Booth, Smith Wigglesworth, Keith Green, Winkie Pratney, Rick Joyner and Philip Yancey.
Reformation
Following his time at the helm of Massey University Christian Fellowship, Chesswas spent a period of time investigating the claims of other religions and closely scrutinising and re-evaluating the validity of the Christian religion. In 2003 he attended the Palmerston North branch of the Bible College of New Zealand, and undertook a Diploma of Biblibal Studies which he has not yet completed. While in Wellington in 2004 he attended The Street City Church, an Open Brethren church with a contemporary flavour, and led a Bible study group in his home. Upon returning to Stratford in 2005 Chesswas spent a year visiting all of the churches of his home town, before committing to the Anglican Communion of New Zealand in 2006. As a result of this journey his faith has taken on more of a Reformed flavour, and Chesswas counts as influences during this time the works and historical examples of St. Augustine, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, C. S. Lewis, Mark Noll, Ray Comfort, Peter Jensen, Brian Tamaki and John Eldredge.
Ministry
Chesswas continues to worship with the parish of Holy Trinity parish, where he serves on vestry. Chesswas also leads the interdenominational youth ministry “The Cross”, and is chair of the Eltham Easter Camp Committee, also an interdenominational venture. He often writes on Christian topics in his blog “Put up thy Sword!”[1]
Politics
Raised in one of the safest National seats in the country, Taranaki-King Country, held by Jim Bolger from 1972 (National party leader 1986-1997, Prime Minister 1990-1997), and Shane Ardern from 1998, Chesswas quickly learnt to prefer blue to red.
After a brief flirtation with Socialism during his introduction to environmental planning and sociology, Chesswas became drawn to a more centrist position and supported the United Future party at the 2002 election. During this time he became acquainted with the Maxim Institute, and became more involved and engaged with political issues, particularly as the Fifth Labour Government passed into law the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 and the Civil Union Act 2004. Over this period, while completing his studies in environmental planning, sociology and theology, participating in Christian Community Church, and working part time for Child, Youth and Family, Chesswas began to develop agrarian, localist and communitarian convictions, integrating these within a right-wing and voluntarist paradigm rather than the coercive left with which they are often associated. As well as the Maxim Institute, Chesswas counts as formative influences the works of Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, Jean Baudrillard, John Friedman and Wendell Berry.
At the beginning of 2005, coinciding with his return to Stratford, Chesswas began "Agri-Christian NZ", a blog providing comment and discussion on theology, politics and current events from a Christian fundamentalist perspective, with an agrarian slant. Being election year, Chesswas used this blog to support and promote the National Party under Don Brash for the 2005 election, on the basis that a vote for National, together with mobilised community-level action, would better strengthen families and community-based institutions for the good of civil society.
In early 2006 Chesswas took some time away from blogging to reconsider views on biblical literalism and feminism. He closed Agri-Christian NZ in March, and in July 2006 created a new blog "Put up thy Sword!"[2] Although retaining Christian and agrarian ideals, Chesswas moved from Christian fundamentalism to a paleoconservative position, continuing his support for the National Party on this basis. However the blog focuses more on theology, while the emphasis of Agri-Christian NZ had been on politics.
Other Interests
Chesswas continues to take an academic interest in the fields of history (particularly local and family history), anthropology (New Zealand identity, British identity), sociology (agrarianism, localism, communitarianism), theology (Reformed), philosophy (existentialism), religious studies, politics (neo-conservatism) and environmental planning (urban design, participatory planning).
External Links
- Put up thy Sword! - Perspectives on life from a cultured Kiwi bloke
- A.J. Chesswas Bible Commentary - My seldom attended to bible commentary blog
- Chesswas Family Weblog - My family history and genealogy blog
|
This user is an adherent of Anglican Christianity. |
 | This user is a New Zealander. |
 | This user is from Taranaki. |
 | This user is proud to be British. |
 | This user is of English ancestry. |
 | Éireannach This user is Irish. |
Template:User never left Southern Hemisphere
 | This user is a history buff. |
| This user is interested in their local history. |
 | This user is interested in the British Empire. |
 | This user is interested in the Middle Ages |
 | This user enjoys philosophy. |
 | This user is a Christian. |
User:Danbarnesdavies/Userboxes/Religion/User saved
|
|
This user is a Born Again Christian. |
|
This user is an evangelical or conservative adherent of Anglican Christianity. |
 | This user is a Bible reader. |
|
This user is a Calvinist. |
|
This user is a Pentecostal or Charismatic Christian. |
.svg){kind=small} | This user is male. |
| This user is repulsed by most forms of body modification. |
|
This user is interested in environmentalism. |
 | This user is interested in Peak Oil Theory. |
 | This user supports recycling. |
|
This user believes in logic. |
 | This user is interested in moral realism. |
 | This user is interested in Neo-Tribalism |
 | This user is interested in existentialism. |
 | This user is interested in politics. |
 | This user doesn't believe in the ownership of culture and knowledge. |
User:Tedius Zanarukando/Userboxes/User longhair4womenUser:Tedius Zanarukando/Userboxes/User notrousers4women
 | This user is Pro-Life. |
|
This user is interested in Nature. |
|
This user prefers that the death penalty be used far more often. |
...................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Articles I've created
Christendom
New Zealand Society
Biography
Movements, Schools & Disciplines
British Society
Biography
Movements, Schools & Disciplines
USA
Biography
India
Organisations
International Society
Movements, Schools and Disciplines
Institutions
Stratford
Biography
- Charles Stuart Curtis
- John Edward (Ned) Shewry
- John Walter
- Emily Stevens
- Alice Copping
- John Daniel Bergin
- Arthur Collins
- John McCullough
- Alan Smith
- John Graham
- Lane Penn
- Graham Gordon
- David Walter
- Brian Jeffares
- Mel Brieseman
- Michele Leggott
- Greg Whyte
- Michael Hight
- Mark "Bull" Allen
- Jeremiah Trueman
Geography
Taranaki
Biography
Geography
Institutions
New Zealand
Biography
Religion
Politics
Environmental Planning
Media
Rugby
Anthropology
Geography
Events and Eras
Institutions
Environmental Planning
- New Zealand Planning Institute
- Harrison Grierson Consultants Ltd
- Bachelor of Resource and Environmental Planning
- Resource Management Law Association
Legislation & Policy
Religion
Environmental Planning
British Society
Biography
Military
Law
Geography
Environmental Planning
Movements, Schools and Disciplines
Institutions
Environmental Planning
USA
Biography
Environmental Planning
Reproductive Rights
Phenomena
Worldwide Web
Institutions
Reproductive Rights
Canada
Institutions
Environmental Planning
South Africa
Biography
Environmental Planning
Institutions
Environmental Planning
- South African Institute of Town and Regional Planners
- Development Planning Association of South Africa
- South African Planning Institute
European Society
Ethnic Groups
Theory & Literature
Environmental Planning
International Society
Biography
Environmental Planning
Phenomena
Anthropology
Movements, Schools & Disciplines
Sociology
Environmental Planning
- Natural resource management
- Sustainable regional development
- Integrated catchment management
- New urban planning
Institutions
Environmental Planning
- Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Housing
- Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers
- World Planners Congress