George Knight-Bruce
George Wyndham Hamilton Knight-Bruce was an Anglican bishop serving in Southern Africa, first as bishop of Bloemfontein and then as the inaugural bishop of Mashonaland, in the late nineteenth century. Knight-Bruce was born in 1853 and, having retired early owing to ill health, died in 1896.
Education and early appointments[edit]
He was born in 1852 in Devonshire, was the eldest son of Lewis Bruce Knight-Bruce of Roehampton Priory, Surrey, and his wife, Caroline Margaret Eliza, only daughter of Thomas Newte of Tiverton in Devonshire. Sir James Lewis Knight-Bruce was his grandfather.[1]
He was educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford,[2] and ordained in 1887.[3] He began his career with curacies at Bibury and Wendron. He then held incumbencies at St George's Church, Everton and Bethnal Green. During this period the Oxford House Settlement was established.[1]
Southern Africa[edit]
On 25 March 1886, he elevated to the episcopate, Knight-Bruce went to South Africa as bishop of Bloemfontein in 1886.[4] Translated to Mashonaland as its first bishop in 1891,[5][6] he resigned in 1895.
Knight-Bruce was accompanied by the lay catechist and, ultimately, martyr, Bernard Mizeki, (c 1861-1896) who under Knight-Bruce and his successor Bishop Gaul would carry out missionary work amongst the Shona people.
Knight-Bruce left an account of this missionary endeavour in his published Journals of the Mashonaland Mission 1888 to 1892,[5] and in subsequent reminiscences under the title Memories of Mashonaland.[7]
The Bishop retired early due to ill health.
Return to England[edit]
On his return to England he was appointed rector of Bovey Tracey and an assistant bishop within the Diocese of Exeter, posts he held until his death on 16 December 1896.[8]
Family[edit]
On 21 August 1878, he married Louisa, daughter of John Torr of Carlett Park in Cheshire. By her he had a daughter.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Carlyle 1901.
- ^ "Who was Who" 1897–2007 London, A & C Black, 2007 ISBN 978-0-19-954087-7
- ^ "The Clergy List, Clerical Guide and Ecclesiastical Directory" London, Hamilton & Co 1889
- ^ Stubbs, William (1897). Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum: An Attempt to Exhibit the Course of Episcopal Succession in England from the Records and Chronicles of the Church. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- ^ a b Knight-Bruce, G. W. H. (1892). Journals of the Mashonaland Mission 1888 to 1892. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts – via Project Canterbury.
- ^ Wits Historical Papers
- ^ Knight-Bruce, G. W. H. (1895). Memories of Mashonaland. London and New York: Edward Arnold – via Project Canterbury.
- ^ The Times, Thursday, 17 Dec 1896; p. 6; Issue 3576; col C Obituary Bishop Knight-Bruce
- Attribution
Carlyle, Edward Irving (1901). "Bruce, George Wyndham Hamilton Knight-". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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