Charles Abraham (bishop of Wellington)
First Anglican Bishop of Wellington; artist
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Charles John Abraham (1814 – 4 February 1903) was the first Anglican Bishop of Wellington. He married Caroline Palmer who became a noted artist.[1]
Life
Born in Farnborough, Hampshire, in 1814,[2] the son of Royal Navy captain Abraham, he was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge and was later a fellow.[3] He gained his BA in 1837, MA (Cantab) in 1840, BD in 1849, and received the degree of DD in 1859.[4] He was made deacon on 11 March 1838, and ordained priest 26 May 1839, both at Lincoln.[5] He was Assistant Master at Eton until 1850, when he went out to New Zealand to become Master of the English department of St John's College, Auckland.[4]
In 1853, he was appointed Archdeacon of Waitemata by George Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand.[6] Selwyn had for two or three years been offering to members of the Church of England a Church Constitution, under which they were to govern themselves; and during the two years which followed, while absent in England, he left Abraham to set out its principles.
In 1857, a convention of churchmen was held in Auckland, which resulted in the framing of the Constitution.[clarification needed] In the following year Abraham, who had also been acting as chaplain to the bishop, was appointed first Anglican Bishop of Wellington:[7] he was confirmed (legally taking the See) on 4 September 1858 and consecrated a bishop on 29 September by John Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury; Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford; and John Lonsdale, Bishop of Lichfield, at Lambeth Palace chapel. He arrived back in New Zealand 30 March 1859 and was installed at St Paul's Pro-Cathedral on 3 April.[5]
When the New Zealand Wars broke out by reason of the purchase by the government of the Waitara block, Abraham presented a protest to the governor, claiming for the Maori as British subjects the right to be heard in the Supreme Court.[4]
On 20 October 1868, he returned to England with Selwyn, and assisted him in the Diocese of Lichfield; he resigned his see effective 1 June 1870 and was licensed as assistant bishop (described as a coadjutor bishop) to Selwyn as Bishop of Lichfield.[5] This office he held until Selwyn's death in 1878. From 1872 to 1876, he was Prebendary of Bubbenhall in Lichfield Cathedral, and in 1875-6 was rector of Tatenhill, Staffordshire. From 1876 to 1890 he was canon and precentor at the cathedral.[4]
Abraham wrote "Festival and Lenten Lectures in St. George's Chapel, Windsor," 1848-9 (Parker), and other works.[4] He was involved in correcting an early edition of the Māori Bible.[8]
After he resigned the canonry in 1890, he lived with his son who was vicar of Bakewell. He died at the vicarage, Bakewell, on 4 February 1903.[9][10]
Family
Abraham married in 1850 Caroline Harriet, daughter of Harriet Pepperell and Charles Palmer, 2nd Baronet, of Wanlip Hall, Leicestershire. Caroline "Cary" Abraham was a talented artist[1] and cousin of Sarah Selwyn, the wife of Bishop George Selwyn. She died at Bournemouth on 17 June 1877.[11]
Their only son was Bishop Charles Abraham of Derby,[12] and their grandson Philip Abraham was Bishop of Newfoundland.[13]