GREEN, MATTHEW WOOD (1840-1914) was born in Manchester in 1840. Brought up in the doctrines of the Church of England to the age of 14, he associated much with the Wesleyans, and finally joined the Church of Christ. At the age of 18 he was preaching, and in 1862 he came to New Zealand with his family and spent five years preaching for the Church of Christ in Auckland. He was then for three years in Sydney and in 1869 accepted an invitation to the Swanston Street church, Melbourne, and founded a new church in North Melbourne. After a visit to England for his health Green worked in Dunedin (1878) for five years, erecting the fine tabernacle in Great King Street. He represented Dunedin East in Parliament (1881-84). He then spent 12 years in Adelaide, where he was secretary of the South Australian Alliance (1889), returned on a visit to Dunedin (1902) and had charge of the tabernacle for a year, and then resumed his post in Melbourne where he died on 29 Sep 1914. In later life he was an Anglo-Israelite.

Cycl. N.Z., iv.; Melbourne Argus, 30 Sep 1914. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 177

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