John Martindale Speechly (13 November 1836 – 22 January 1898) was the first

Bishop of Travancore and Cochin The Madhya Kerala Diocese is one of the twenty-four dioceses of the Church of South India (commonly referred to as CSI) (successor of the Church of England) covering the central part of Kerala. When the Church of South India was formed on 27 S ...

. Speechly was born on 13 November 1836 in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, the son of Thomas Kelfull Speechly and Sarah, née Bellars. He was educated at Oundle School and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, and ordained in 1860 to a curacy in Peterborough. In 1862 he went to India as a Church Missionary Society missionary, and was stationed at

Kunnamkulam Kunnamkulam is a municipal town situated in the Thrissur District of Kerala in India, spread over an area of 34.18 km2. It is an old commercial town, with an ancient history, famous for its printing and book binding industry. In the past, t ...

until 1863 when he became Principal of the Cambridge Nicholson Institute (diocesan College), Cottayam ( Kottayam) a post he held until 1869, and again from 1873 to 1876. He was curate of

Hatford Hatford is a village and civil parish of some in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Amenities As Hatford is so small it has almost no amenities. Hatford has no vil ...

, Berkshire 1871–2, of St Mark's, Cambridge 1876–7, and of Horringer, Suffolk 1878. When the See of Travancore and Cochin was erected under the Jerusalem Bishopric Act in 1879, Speechly was consecrated a bishop, by Archibald Campbell Tait,

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 ...

, on 25 July at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

; he returned to Kottayam on 27 January 1880 and served as the first Bishop of Travancore and Cochin. After returning to England in 1888–1889, he was unable to return to India and resigned his See; he was later Bishop Commissary

Diocese of Truro The Diocese of Truro (established 1876) is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury which covers Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and a small part of Devon. The bishop's seat is at Truro Cathedral. Geography and history The di ...

from 1889 to 1891 in the absence of the bishop,

George Howard Wilkinson George Howard Wilkinson (1 May 1833 – 11 December 1907) was Bishop of Truro 1883-1891 and then of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane 1893–1907. He was Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1904, until his death. Life Wilkinson was b ...

; then Vicar of Faversham from 1892 until his death on 22 January 1898. He is buried at Whittlesey Cemetery.

Family

Speechly married Mary Gray Grove (1835

Bolton, Lancashire Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th centu ...

– 1913 Richmond, Surrey), daughter of Major Henry Jones Grove and Mary Anne Sinclair, in Trivandrum, India on 6 January 1863. They had 4 daughters and 4 sons: # Alice Mary Speechly, born 1 April 1864 Trivandrum, India, who married 25 July 1904 Rev. David Ewart Johnstone at St Philip's Church, Kensington. # Bessie Sinclair Speechly, born 31 August 1865 Cottayam, India, who married 1889 Franklin Frank Ranger in Croydon and died 18 March 1949 Honiton, Devon. #

Harry Martindale Speechly Harry Martindale Speechly (1 November 1866 – 17 March 1951) was a Canadian medical doctor. Speechly was the son of John Martindale Speechly, the first Bishop of Travancore and Cochin, India, and Mary Gray née Grove. He was born in Cochin o ...

, born 1867 Cochin, India, who married 30 July 1895 Mary Barrett in Wirral, and died 17 March 1951 Winnipeg # Katharine Emily Speechly, born 28 October 1868 Cottayam, India, who married 18 January 1913 to Randolph Henry Wylde Curtis, and died 1948 Kensington. # John Montgomery Speechly, born 28 April 1870 Ipswich, Suffolk, who married about 1923 Anne Bell Saunders and died 12 November 1953 Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. # Andrew Leslie Grove Speechly, born 1872 Cambridge, who married firstly 1901 Angela Alice Brockell and secondly 1945 Gladys E. Bell, died 28 December 1949 Bromley # Hilda Etheldreda Speechly, born 1877 Cambridge,GRO Register of Births: DEC 1877 3b 519 CAMBRIDGE - Hilda Etheldreda Speechly married 1908 Charles Henry Wharton, died 26 September 1949 Honiton, Devon. # Clive Aveling Speechly, born 1879 John Martindale Speechly died 22 January 1898 at Faversham, Kent.

References

External links

* http://anglicanhistory.org/india/chatterton1924/20.html. (A History of the Church of England in India Since the Early Days of the East India Company by Eyre Chatterton, Bishop of Nagpur. Chapter XX: The Diocese of Travancore and Cochin, 1879. The Country of Fiords, Mountains, and Moplahs) * http://www.csimichigan.org/CKD_Chapter2.htm. (The CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese by Rev. C. Y. Thomas. Chapter 2: Diocese of Travancore and Cochin) * http://www.ellumpuramcsichurch.org/our-church.html: (St Mathias CSI Church Ellumpuram) {{DEFAULTSORT:Speechly, John Martindale 1836 births 1898 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Anglican bishops of Travancore and Cochin People from Whittlesey People educated at Oundle School British people in colonial India