Daniel Gateward Davis (1788–1857) was an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and the inaugural

Bishop of Antigua The Anglican Diocese of North East Caribbean and Aruba was originally established in 1842 as the Diocese of Antigua and the Leeward Islands when the Anglican Diocese of Barbados, then with the Diocese of Jamaica, one of the two dioceses covering th ...

from 1842 until his death.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, Wednesday, Oct 28, 1857; pg. 6; Issue 22823; col F ''Death Of The Bishop Of Antigua''

Early life

Daniel Davis was born in 1788, the youngest of six children of William and Anne Davis of

St Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

. His father was a planter. Davis began studies at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

in 1808. There he became an abolitionist and a friend of

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 ...

Ministry

Davis returned to the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

and worked strongly, but quietly, for abolition in St. Kitts and Nevis. He later became a minister at St. Paul's Anglican Church in

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Ne ...

, and in 1824, became the first minister at the newly built Cottle Church. He found that St Kitts and Nevis were playing a part on behalf of the abolitionists out of all proportion to their size and importance. This was due to two prominent residents of St Kitts, James Ramsay (who had introduced William Wilberforce to the abolition movement) and James Stephen, a lawyer. Both these men were so outspoken in their abhorrence of slavery that after much persecution from other members of the plantocracy they were forced to leave the island; but not before they had been able over a long period to send detailed accounts of the ill treatment of slaves in the two islands to Wilberforce and other abolitionists fighting for the cause in England. Events in these two small islands became very influential in determining the final victory for abolition. By 1812 when he was ordained Davis was in two minds whether to take up the rectorship he had been offered of St. Paul’s, Charlestown. He wished to see his family again but this feeling was dampened by the idea of returning to a land of slaves. But he came back, and stayed. In a letter to an abolitionist friend he wrote, “it will be my great objective to encourage the extensive propagation of our religion among the negroes, as well as to improve the impression which has already been made on the white inhabitants. It ought indeed to be considered disgraceful to the policy of any society, that the space of nearly three centuries should have expired since one people or other, professing civilization and Christianity, have made but feeble efforts, or rather no efforts, for the extension of their blessings among the laborious and ignorant”. But it was not to be an easy ministry. He found that neither planters nor their field slaves were much interested in his invitations to come for worship and instruction. It was not until 1818 that, under the pressure of the ameliorative policies of the British government, local political circles were forced to accept that attitudes had changed back in Britain. With the help of the vigorous leadership in the church of

Beilby Porteus Beilby Porteus (or Porteous; 8 May 1731 – 13 May 1809), successively Bishop of Chester and of London, was a Church of England reformer and a leading abolitionist in England. He was the first Anglican in a position of authority to seriously c ...

, the Bishop of London, Davis was slowly able to make progress. By 1822 there were Sunday schools in every parish in Nevis. Slaves on enlightened plantations were allowed markets on days other than Sundays that had otherwise prevented them from attending church. But above all Davis had begun to win the support of a growing number of planters to the cause of conversion. Towards the end of 1821

Thomas Cottle Thomas Cottle, Esq. (1761–1828) was a lawyer on the island of Nevis. In 1822, Thomas started to build a church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local co ...

, a former President of the Island Council and a prominent planter, came forward with a proposal to build this church. In 1824 two Bishops (known for their opposition to slavery) were appointed for the newly created Sees of Jamaica ( Bishop Lipscomb) and Barbados with the Leeward Islands ( Bishop Coleridge). This was a signal to the local plantocracy that the British government was now fully committed to the policy of improving the condition of slaves in its colonies and was conscious that full freedom could not be very long delayed. By the time Davis left the island for St Kitts 19 schools with an aggregate attendance of 1,247 slave pupils had been established; and just before his departure he founded, along with those who supported his views, a branch society of the Society for the Conversion of Slaves. The most active promoters of the new society’s first meeting were

and Norton Herbert, the nephew of Frances, Lady Nelson. Davis remained in St Kitts until 1838 and later became the first

. On 24 August 1842, Davis was

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 at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. Fierce to the end in attacking racial prejudice from whatever quarter it appeared, Davis died in London, aged 70, in 1857.

References

* Hubbard, Vincent K. 2002. "Swords, Ships & Sugar". Premiere Editions International, Inc. , p. 156. A complete history of Nevis. * G P J Walker, “The Life of Daniel Gateward Davis – First Bishop of Antigua” {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Daniel Gateward 1788 births Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford 19th-century Anglican bishops in the Caribbean Anglican bishops of Antigua 1857 deaths