John Mitchinson (23 September 183325 September 1918) was a British teacher and Anglican priest who was

Bishop of Barbados The Diocese of Barbados is one of eight dioceses of the Anglican Communion that is part of the Province of the West Indies. History The diocese was established in 1824 as one of a pair, the other being the Diocese of Jamaica, which covered the ...

and later served as

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of Pembroke College, Oxford.

Education

He was born in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

on 23 September 1833 and educated at

Durham School Durham School is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Durham, North East England and was an all-boys institution until 1985, when girls were admitted to the sixth form. The school takes pupils ...

and at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he gained

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in '' literae humaniores'' (

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

) and

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

Career

He was an Assistant Master at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, then

Headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

of the

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

from 1859 to 1873.

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 va ...

in 1860, he became part of the staff of St Philip's Church, Clerkenwell, under Warwick Reed Wroth. In 1873, he was appointed

, holding the post for eight years, but becoming known as Bishop of Barbados and the Windward Islands from 1877, when he created the separate

Diocese of the Windward Islands The Anglican Diocese of the Windward Islands is one of eight dioceses within the Province of the West Indies. The current bishop is Leopold Friday. History Source: The diocese was established on 8 November 1877 from the islands of St Vincent an ...

but remained as bishop over that diocese too. He also served as

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

(1879–1882) for Walrond Jackson, Bishop of Antigua, visiting those islands on Jackson's behalf because he was forced to remain in England in illness. During his time in Barbados, he secured the affiliation of

Codrington College Codrington College is an Anglican theological college in St. John, Barbados now affiliated with the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill. It is one of the oldest Anglican theological colleges in the Americas. It was affiliated to the Un ...

to the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

. In 1881, his health forced him to return to England, where from July 18811899 he was

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Sibstone; Assistant Bishop of Peterborough, August 1881November 1900 (he "administered the See", i.e. temporarily acted up as Bishop of Peterborough, for a short time during

Edward Carr Glyn Edward Carr Glyn (21 November 184314 November 1928) was an Anglican bishop in England in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. He was the Bishop of Peterborough from 1897 to 1916. Life Glyn was a younger son of George Glyn, 1st Ba ...

's illness); and

Archdeacon of Leicester The Archdeacon of Leicester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Leicester. History The first archdeacon of Leicester is recorded before 1092 – around the time when archdeacons were first appointed in England ...

, 1886–1899. During the 1885 vacancy in the See of Manchester, he served as the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

's episcopal commissary in that diocese — effectively its acting diocesan bishop. In 1899 he returned to his former college as

, where he was credited with recovering the fortunes of the college. The mastership brought with it an ''ex officio'' canonry of Gloucester Cathedral, in which diocese he also undertook some limited episcopal duties. He was on the governing body of

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

from 1899 to 1912 and was Chairman of the Governors from 1900 to 1908. He had a reputation as an antiquary, and visited all the monastic ruins in England and Wales, assembling an extensive collection of photographs and drawings of them which is now kept by the

Bodleian library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

. He was also a skilled musician, and a scientist, having discovered and given his name to a

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

(''trilobites mitchinsonii''). He remained at Pembroke until his death on 25 September 1918.

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 ...

, Thursday, Sep 26, 1918; pg. 9; Issue 41905; col C Death of Bishop Mitchinson. He had become a Doctor of Divinity (DD).

Education

Career

Notes and references

Further reading