Charles John Corfe (1843 – 20 June 1921) was the inaugural

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Bishop in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

from 1889 to 1904.

Biography

Corfe was one of the four "Bible Clerks" educated as an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

. After graduating he had a brief spell teaching at St. Michael's College, Tenbury before being ordained in 1866. For the next 22 years he was a Royal Naval Chaplain. On

All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints of the church, whether they are kno ...

(1 November) 1889 he was consecrated by

Edward White Benson Edward White Benson (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first Bishop of Truro, serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of Truro Cathedral. He was previou ...

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 ...

, as missionary bishop of Chosun (Korea, then spelled Corea) in Westminster Abbey and was awarded an honorary DD on his appointment in

. In 1890, he established the Church of St Michael and All the Angels in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

and started three hospitals, two in Seoul and one in

Jemulpo Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

(Incheon). Until 1891, he was also the bishop of

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

before the area was converted to the Chinese diocese of North China. In 1897, he baptized the first Anglicans and performed the ritual in Korean. He tendered his resignation to the Archbishop of Canterbury shortly before St James's Day (25 July) 1904, when he wrote a letter to his diocese; by 16 September, the Archbishop had accepted Corfe's resignation and named Arthur Turner his successor. On his retirement he published an account of his pioneering efforts entitled ''The Anglican Church in Corea''.Being documents ... issued by authority during the episcopate of the first Bishop of the Church of England in Corea between 1889 and 1905: Seoul, Hodge & Co, 1907

References

Korean bishops 1843 births 1921 deaths People educated at Lancing College Royal Navy chaplains Alumni of All Souls College, Oxford British expatriates in Korea Anglican bishops in Korea {{Korea-bio-stub