From email from Alexander Romanov-Hughes andes@melbpc.org.au
SKEVINGTON, John (Rev.) (c1815-1845) ( Wesleyan Methodist )
Born c1815 in the Nottingham area, England. (Possibly baptised on 5 February 1815 at Radford, Nottinghamshire, England, the son of Samuel Skevington and his wife Mary.) Received on trial as a preacher in foreign missions in 1839. Arrived at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land with his wife on 7 April 1840 per the missionary schooner "Triton" from Bristol, England. Proceeded to Melbourne, arriving on 1 May 1840 per "Lillias" from Hobart. Was stationed at the Buntingdale Mission station ministering to aborigines. Went to Sydney, New South Wales with his wife in December 1841 per "Seahorse". Later went to New Zealand as a missionary to the natives. At Taranaki South (Waimate), N.Z. Died on 21 September 1845 at Auckland, New Zealand after having travelled for twenty days to attend the Auckland District Meeting.
[National Archives, New Zealand; British Conference Minutes (1846)]
JOHN SKEVINGTON. He was one of the Missionaries who sailed in the "Triton", and joined the New Zealand Mission, where he was honoured by his Lord and Master with a large amount of success. His piety and zeal carried him through difficulties of no ordinary magnitude; and, though he did not possess those talents which are usually termed great, he was a good and faithful servant, whom the master owned in the salvation of many. He was greatly beloved by the natives, among whom he exercised the influence of a father and a friend. By his bretheren in the New Zealand Mission he was esteemed as a man of God, and a faithful Missionary. He had travelled a journey of twenty days to be present at the Auckland District Meeting, where he preached a useful sermon on the Wednesday, and died on the Sunday evening following, September 21st, 1845. His death was awfully sudden. He had gone with his host to the chapel; and, shortly after the sermon commenced, he fell down, and was carried into the vestry a dead man. His bretheren could only weep over him; and the natives of his charge, about seven of whom had accompanied him through the long journey, wept also, and said "Our father is gone to heaven: he has fulfilled his commission: but our sorrow is for his widow and child, and for ourselves, for we are now orphans. Where shall we look for another father and pastor?" He was a native of the neighbourhood of Nottingham, was in the thirty-first year of his age, and had exercised his ministry six years.
( British Conference Minutes [Wesleyan], Bristol, 1846 ) ( p.312 )
Bishop SELWYN met him oct 1842 at Manawapou NT, RMT
References from AC
"Memento Mori - John Skevington 1814-1845" by Donald Phillipps
Wesley Historical Society (New Zealand) Journal '89 PP 50-52
"Early Mission Days in South Taranaki" by Rev A B Chappell
Wesley Historical Society Vol 1 March 1942 No. 4 PP 5-15
"150th Anniversary 'Heretoa' Wesleyan Maori Mission Station Waimate South May 30th 1992"
by Gary Clover
Wesley Historical Society Journal 1991-92 pp 61-65
"Going Mihinare, Evangelical Religion and the Historians: A Phenomenological Critique" by Gary Clover
Thesis from The College of St John the Evangelist Auckland. 27 May 1980
"In the beginning the History of a Mission" by Rev T G Hammond
The Methodist Literature and Colporteur Society 1915 PP 30-33
"Memor of the Late Rev John Skevington"
The Local Preachers' Magazine and Christian Family record for ? Vol 7-8 - from the Internet Google Books
Correspondence between John Skevington and Sir Donald McLean - found on the Internet
"Heartland of Aotea" by Ian Church
Hawera Historical Society 1992 PP43-46; 54-68
"Missionary Wives" by Arthur Fryer
Hawera Historical Society
"Annie Winfrey Barrett: A Memoir" by Rev A J French
Experience Jul, Aug, Sep 1901. John (Rev) Skevington was baptized on 5 February 1815.
2 He was a Wesleyan Missionary in 1830.
1 He immigrated to to BOI on the Triton then to Waimate South, TAR, NZ, in May 1840.
2,3 He was a missionary in 1842.
2