Arthur Worthington

Arthur Worthington (? - 1917) was an American-born Australasian alternative religious leader, bigamist and fraudster in late nineteenth century Christchurch, Melbourne and Tasmania.

Early alternative religious period (1890-1895)

Arthur Worthington's documented life began when he settled in Christchurch in 1890, after emigration from the United States. He began to lecture at a local Oddfellows Hall, and rapidly amassed a following, given his views on matters such as metaphysics, natural philosophy and the human mind. Worthington's externally professed sexual ethics were surprisingly conservative and he preached celibacy and the value of the institution of marriage. He established an alternative religious faith entitled the "Temple of Truth."

Unfortunately, not even this professed social conservatism was enough to avert the suspicions of Reverend John Hosking, a fundamentalist minister at St Asaphs Free Methodist Church. Hosking investigated Worthington's background, and uncovered ample evidence of Worthington's commitment to the institution of marriage.

Worthington and bigamy

Hosking found that Worthington had contracted at least five bigamous marriages- to Miss Josephine Moore (New York, 1868), Miss Groot (Albany, New York), Mrs Lizzie Cowell (Troy, Michigan), Miss Joy Winfield (Chicago) and May Barlow (Xenia, Ohio). He had eloped with already-married Mary Plunkett to Christchurch, and had several pseudonyms employed in the previous recorded instances. Nor did Worthington stop his romantic dalliances with Mrs. Plunkett, for he soon eloped with Miss Evelyn Jordan, a follower at the Temple of Truth, leaving Mrs Plunkett to deal with the adverse publicity and debts that Reverend Hosking's exposure of his past matrimonial and financial fraud had generated in Christchurch. Mary Plunkett revealed all about her erstwhile lover before taking herself to Sydney.

Worthington in Australia (1897-1904)

Worthington then fled to Australia, where he settled in Tasmania (1895-1897). Unfortunately, he found that its rural and mining frontier society held little promise for an alternative religious entrepreneur, and returned to Christchurch in 1897, only to find that his estranged ex-lover had revealed all, and that the former Temple of Truth had closed down. He attempted to revive it, but faced a riot from Reverend Hosking and his own supporters, which was narrowly averted by police attention.

As a consequence of this hostile reaction, Worthington resettled back across the Tasman, in Melbourne. He refounded a new Temple of Truth, attracted new followers, and even found an "Isis" to compliment his newfound identity as a reincarnation of Osiris, an ancient Egyptian deity. Unfortunately, this relationship foundered when he tried to defraud this wealthy widow out of her spousal inheritance. He was then imprisoned for seven years.

After he served his sentence, Worthington returned to the United States, allegedly had an evangelical religious experience and became a Presbyterian Church minister, until his incorrigibility reasserted itself. He was imprisoned after expulsion from the ministry, on the basis of financial fraud. He died in prison in 1917.

Bibliography

*John Dunmore: "Wild Cards: Eccentric Characters from New Zealand's Past": Auckland: New Holland: 2006: ISBN 1-86966-132-X
*n.a, "Criminal Details of Worthington": Christchurch: Weeks: 1891.
*John Hosking: "A Christchurch Quack Unmasked": Christchurch: H.F.Weeks: 1893.