Charles John Abraham (18144 February 1903) was the first Anglican

Bishop of Wellington The Diocese of Wellington is one of the thirteen dioceses and hui amorangi of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese covers the area between the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand up to the area of Mount Ru ...

. He married Caroline Palmer who became a noted artist.Caroline Harriet Palmer
NZ encyclopedia, retrieved 28 June 2014 Charles_John_Abraham

Life

Born in 1814, the son of the late

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

captain Abraham, of

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town in northeast Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is ...

, he was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and was later a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. He was admitted to the degree of BA in 1837, MA (Cantab) in 1840, BD in 1849, and received the degree of DD in 1859. He was made deacon on 11 March 1838, and ordained priest 26 May 1839, both times at Lincoln.Blain, Michael. ''Blain Biographical Direectory of Anglican clergy in the South Pacific — ordained before 1932'' (2019) p. 4 (Accessed a
Project Canterbury
25 June 2019) He was Assistant Master at Eton until 1850, when he went out to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

to become Master of the English department of St John's College, Auckland. In 1853, he was appointed

Archdeacon of Waitemata The Diocese of Auckland is one of the thirteen dioceses and hui amorangi of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Diocese covers the area stretching from North Cape down to the Waikato River, across the Hauraki Plains ...

by George Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand. Selwyn had for two or three years been offering to members of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

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 now in force. In the following year Abraham, who had also been acting as chaplain to the bishop, was appointed first Anglican

: he was

confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

(legally taking the See) on 4 September 1858 and

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

a bishop on 29 September by John Sumner,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

;

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

Bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his electio ...

; and

John Lonsdale John Lonsdale (17 January 1788 – 19 October 1867) was an English clergyman, who was the third Principal of King's College, London, and later served as Bishop of Lichfield. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, an ...

Bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Mi ...

, at

Lambeth Palace chapel Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

. He arrived back in New Zealand 30 March 1859 and was installed at St Paul's Pro-Cathedral on 3 April. When the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

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. On 20 October 1868, he returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with Selwyn, and assisted him in the

Diocese of Lichfield The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers of seve ...

; he resigned his See effective 1 June 1870 and was licensed as

assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

(described as a

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

) to Selwyn as

. This office he held until Selwyn's death in 1878. From 1872 to 1876, he was

Prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

Bubbenhall Bubbenhall is a village and civil parish in the Warwick district of Warwickshire, England. The village lies off the A445 road, about southeast of Coventry, and north-northeast of Leamington Spa. According to the 2001 Census it had a popula ...

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...

, and in 1875-6 was rector of

Tatenhill Tatenhill is an ancient village and a civil parish located in a deep valley, between two hills, which gradually descend from the eastern border of Needwood Forest, west-southwest of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Buildings The san ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. From 1876 he was

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

and

Precentor A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is ''præcentor'', from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first ...

at the cathedral. He 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 and cousin of

Sarah Selwyn Sarah Harriet Selwyn ( Richardson; 2 September 1807 – 24 March 1907) was the wife of George Augustus Selwyn, the first Anglican bishop of New Zealand and later of Lichfield. Often left behind to manage missionary stations while her husband tr ...

, the wife of Bishop George Selwyn. She died at Bournemouth on 17 June 1877. Abraham is the author of "Festival and Lenten Lectures in St. George's Chapel, Windsor," 1848-9 (Parker), and other works. He died on 4 February 1903. His son and

grandson Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

were also bishops. Abraham was involved in correcting an early edition of the Maori Bible translation.https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-GriHand-t1-g1-t4.html;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Charles John 1814 births People educated at Eton College Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Archdeacons of Waitemata Anglican bishops of Wellington 19th-century Anglican bishops in New Zealand 1903 deaths Translators of the Bible into Māori