Charles Theophilus Hahn

Charles Theophilus Hahn (also surnamed Headley; 1 March 1870

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

, London16 September 1930 Covent Garden, London), was an Anglican

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in South London, Yorkshire and Southern Africa. He was an amateur artist and botanical illustrator. He was the only son of Theophilus Sigmund Hahn and Helen Maxfield Hahn (née Walters), and grew up in the village of Headley in Hampshire. He was educated at

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey Londo ...

and Pembroke College, Oxford, acquiring a B.A. in 1892 and an M.A. in 1895. After Oxford, he embarked on a career in the ministry and trained at the

Leeds Clergy School Leeds Clergy School was a theological college of the Church of England which was founded in 1876 and closed in 1925. It was established by the Rev. John Gott, Vicar of Leeds and later Bishop of Truro, with the first principal being E C S Gibson, ...

in 1892-93. He was ordained a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1893 and a

in 1894. He served

curacies A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy ...

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

, Bradford,

Almondbury Almondbury () is a village south-east of Huddersfield town centre in West Yorkshire, England. The population of Almondbury in 2001 was 7,368 increasing to 18,346 at the 2011 Census. Almondbury appears in the ''Domesday Book'' as "Almondeberi ...

and Barnsley between 1894 and 1907 and became

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Dewsbury Moor in 1907.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory'' In 1908, he moved to the

Diocese of Zululand The Diocese of Zululand is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa which covers the part of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal that lies to the northeast of the Buffalo and Tugela Rivers. It is divided in ten archdeaconries. ...

in the Colony of Natal ( Natal Province from 1910), South Africa, where he served nine years as a missionary. After a year as curate of

Etalaneni Etalaneni is a settlement and former missionary station in the uThungulu district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the sout ...

, he became priest-in-charge of the Inhlwati ( ’Nhlwati) Mission station. He lived in

Nongoma Nongoma is a town in Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is the seat of the Nongoma Local Municipality. It is situated 300 km north of Durban and 56 km from Ulundi; it is surrounded by the Ngome Forest. It is a busy market town ...

, the largest town in his territory, and spent much time on the road to other areas. He was appointed a canon of St Peter's Cathedral,

Vryheid Vryheid ( zu, IVryheid) is a coal mining and cattle ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Vryheid is the Afrikaans word for "freedom". History After Boer farmers, who lived in the Vryheid area, had helped King Dinuzulu defeat his ...

, in 1912 and Archdeacon of

Eshowe Eshowe is the oldest town of European settlement in Zululand, historically also known as Eziqwaqweni, Ekowe or kwaMondi. Eshowe's name is said to be inspired by the sound of wind blowing through the more than 4 km² of the indigenous Dlinza ...

in 1913. In 1916, he was appointed priest-in-charge of Empangeni while retaining his responsibilities in Inhlwati. He went to England in 1917 to offer his services in the war effort. He was briefly Vicar of

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

, but a severe attack of malaria limited his effective time there. In November 1917, in response to the

anti-German sentiment Anti-German sentiment (also known as Anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, its culture, or its language. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment largely began wit ...

in the country, he changed his name from Hahn to Headley, the name of the village where he grew up. (His Hahn ancestor went to England from Germany in the 18th century and all his other forebears were English.) He went to France in March 1918 as an army chaplain and returned to England in early 1919. He returned to South Africa later in 1919 to take up the position of editor of the ''Church Chronicle for the Province of South Africa.'' He lived in the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town, and was Sub-dean of

St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town St George's Cathedral (also referred to as The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr) is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, and the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town. St. George's Cathedral is both the metropolitical chu ...

. He moved to

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

(Namibia since independence in 1990) in 1922. He was priest-in-charge of Keetmanshoop for two years after which he was priest-in-charge of

Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...

with

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The ci ...

for a further three years. He was also Archdeacon of Damaraland from 1924. His "parishes" were very large, and he spent much time away from home, usually travelling on unreliable trains and railway tracks. He returned to England in 1928 to a position as Public Preacher in the

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers Essex and the five East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest (most of which wer ...

. He lived in the village of

Hutton, Essex Hutton is an area of Brentwood and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Brentwood, in south Essex, England. It has good links to Central London (around to the south west) via Shenfield train station which is just from Hutton. Bren ...

, where he renamed his house Newlands to remind him of his time in South Africa. He hoped to return to South Africa and went on a visit at the end of 1929. But his health deteriorated and he died in hospital in Covent Garden in September 1930. He was an enthusiastic amateur artist, with a special interest in painting wildflowers and landscapes. In Zululand, he painted a remarkable series of about 300 watercolours of wildflowers which so impressed two botanists at the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens in Cape Town that they wrote an article about them. He read widely, especially during the long evenings in Africa. He read not only about theology and church affairs, but also about science, nature and religion. He wrote summaries of works that interested him in what he called the Book of Knowledge. He also wrote notes on nature and the weather. Together with some diaries, these journals provided the basis for the only biography of him. He married Marion Forrester in 1897 in

. Both her parents were the children of Britons active in the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

trade in Portugal. Marion shared her husband's love of travel, nature and Africa, and accompanied him in all his postings. They did not have any children. Marion died in London in 1955. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Hahn, Charles Theophilus 1870 births 1930 deaths Botanical illustrators Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Archdeacons of Damaraland Archdeacons of Eshowe Church Army people People educated at Charterhouse School 20th-century South African Anglican priests