Unlike the Houlgate family article in a previous issue we are all too young to remember the Guenetts. But not many people know that through them our church has a link to Sir Charles Halle of the world famous Manchester Halle orchestra, and also to Dame Nellie Melba, the famed Australian singer, (and ice-cream dessert). From the seams of useless information mined by one of our members come the facts that the son of one of Fleetwood Independent-Congregational Church’s earliest ministers, the Revd John Farnham Guenett (minister 1849-51), we had connections to both Charles Halle and Nellie Melba.
(Mr JF Guenett, a Devonshire man, received his training for the ministry at Western College, Plymouth. (It gave him a university level education at the time denied to Non-Conformists and Roman Catholics.) He was called from College to serve Newent, Gloucestershire. Fleetwood was his second pastorate. The Fleetwood church at the time was struggling to survive: numbers were low; growth was miniscule; money was tight. Perhaps, because of all three Mr Guenett stayed only two years. From Fleetwood Mr Guenett was called first to Bury St Edmunds and then Point of View, Lympstone, Devon. He died in 1889.)
Mr Farnham Guenett’s son, seemingly known only by his initials TH, was born in Devonshire. The records suggest that he was born in 1850 but his father was in Fleetwood in that year. (Perhaps Mrs Guenett was too delicate to make the move to Fleetwood.) TH Guenett received his musical education from Charles Halle (pictured).
Around 1874, therefore aged about 24, TH Guenett emigrated to Melbourne, Australia. For nearly 30 years TH was the music critic of “The [Melbourne] Argus and “The Australasian”. And here is a second claim to fame: TH Guenett introduced Nellie Melba (pictured) to audiences in Melbourne. He did so through a series of concerts which he arranged.
His biography states that the concerts were “to educate the musical taste of the city.” TH, so it seems from his obituary, made a European concert tour with Miss Melba. A renowned church organist, TH Guenett had held the position at the Toorak Presbyterian Church, Melbourne, and at the time of his death he was organist at the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church.
On his death in September 1902 at the comparative young age of 52 he left a widow, one son, and three daughters.
From a mine of useless information it seems our church family gets to everywhere you can get. Who’d have thought we had links to two, nay three, internationally famous musicians?
We have no images of the Guenetts. If anyone has one we would be pleased to hear from them.