Cecil William Alderson was a British-born Anglican

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of (successively) Damaraland,

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

, and Mashonaland.

Early life

He was born on 11 March 1900, educated at Merchant Taylors' and St John's College, Oxford, and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

in 1926 after a period of study at

Ely Theological College Ely Theological College was a college in Ely, Cambridgeshire, for training clergy in the Church of England. Founded in 1876 by James Woodford, Anglican Bishop of Ely, the college had a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. Ely's "ritualistic" (i.e. ...

Clerical career

He began his career with a

curacy 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 w ...

at St Matthew,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. From 1925 to 1930 he was Vice-Principal of his old theological college then a

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

in Likoma. In 1938 he became

Warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

St Paul's College, Grahamstown The College of the Transfiguration in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, is the only provincial residential college of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, offering a contextual approach to theology studies. The college opened in 1993, following the amal ...

, then in 1944 archdeacon of Port Elizabeth. He was bishop of Damaraland from 1949 to 1951 when he was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

. His last post was as

bishop of Mashonaland The Anglican Diocese of Harare is a diocese of the Church of the Province of Central Africa. The Anglican Diocese of Mashonaland was formed in 1891 and its first bishop was George Knight-Bruce. He was succeeded by William Gaul (1895–1907), form ...

where he played a key role in the foundation of the

Bernard Mizeki College Bernard Mizeki College is an independent boarding school for boys situated in Marondera, Zimbabwe approximately 87 km east of the capital Harare and or 13.5 km north east of Marondera town. It was founded in memory of Bernard Mizeki, a ...

from around 1958 till the time of his death.

Honours

He was admitted as a Sub-Prelate to the

Order of St John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, he died on 12 February 1968.

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

St Matthew's Westminster
1900 births People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Alumni of Ely Theological College Archdeacons of Port Elizabeth 20th-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops Anglican bishops of Damaraland Anglican bishops of Bloemfontein Anglican bishops of Harare and Mashonaland 1968 deaths Sub-Prelates of the Venerable Order of Saint John {{UK-bishop-stub