John Mitchinson (23 September 183325 September 1918) was a British teacher and Anglican priest who was Bishop of Barbados and later served as Master of

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 aft ...

Education

He was born in Durham on 23 September 1833 and educated at Durham School and at

, where he gained first class honours 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 Small things grow in harmony , established = , closed = , coordinates = , pushpin_map = , type = Independent day school , religion = Church ...

, then Headmaster 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 ...

in 1860, he became part of the staff of St Philip's Church,

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redis ...

, under

Warwick Reed Wroth Warwick Reed Wroth (1825 – 11 April 1867) was an English clergyman and a cricketer who played in two first-class cricket matches, one each for Cambridge University Cricket Club and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), both of them in 1848. He wa ...

. In 1873, he was appointed Bishop of Barbados, 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 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 William Walrond Jackson (9 January 181125 November 1895) was Bishop of Antigua from 1860 to 1879. Life He was the son of William Jackson of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, and Mary Judith Walrond. Jackson was educated at Codrington College, ...

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 ...

, 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 , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

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

Sibstone Sibson (otherwise Sibstone or Sibston) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sheepy, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in western Leicestershire, England, close to the border with North Warwickshire. It is situated ap ...

; 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 Bar ...

'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 ...

's episcopal commissary in that diocese — effectively its acting diocesan bishop. In 1899 he returned to his former college as Master, where he was credited with recovering the fortunes of the college. The mastership brought with it an ''ex officio'' canonry of

Gloucester Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster dedicated to ...

, 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 sec ...

. 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 ...

(''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'' ( ...

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

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

(DD).

Education

Career

Notes and references

Further reading