Nigel Edmund Cornwall

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, (13 August 1903 – 19 December 1984) was an English clergyman in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. He held the post of

Bishop of Borneo The Church of the Province of South East Asia is an autonomous member of the Anglican Communion, created in 1996 with the four dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia. There are approximately 98,000 Anglicans within the pro ...

from 1949 until 1962.

Early life

Cornwall was the son of Alan Cornwall, who was

Archdeacon of Cheltenham The Archdeacon of Cheltenham is a senior cleric in the Diocese of Gloucester who is responsible for some pastoral care and discipline of clergy in the Cheltenham archdeaconry. The archdeaconry was created as the Archdeaconry of Cirencester in the ...

from 1924 to 1932. He was educated at Marlborough College, where his older brother Alan, a county cricketer for

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, was later a housemaster. He then studied history at

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, gaining a third-class degree in 1926. After

ordination 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 v ...

, Cornwall worked in England for four years, first at Cuddesdon Theological College in 1926–1927, then as

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in the

Diocese of Durham The Diocese of Durham is a Church of England diocese, based in Durham, and covering the historic county of Durham (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and excluding southern Teesdale). It was created in ...

and also in 1927 as curate of St Columba's,

Southwick, Sunderland Southwick is a former village and now a suburb on the north banks of the River Wear in the city of Sunderland in the county of Tyne and Wear, historically in County Durham. From 1894 to 1928, Southwick was administered by the Southwick-on-Wear Ur ...

in 1927–1930, and in 1928 as a

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

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 ...

Postings abroad

Cornwall's first posting abroad came in 1931 when he was appointed chaplain to the

Bishop of Colombo Bishop of Colombo may refer to: * Anglican Bishop of Colombo The Anglican Bishop of Colombo is the ecclesiastical head of the Anglican Diocese of Colombo, a diocese in the Church of Ceylon which is part of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican ...

, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), a position he held until 1938. He briefly returned to England for a year, as curate of St Wilfrid's Church, Brighton in 1938–1939. Thereafter came postings as a missionary priest of the Diocese of

Masasi Masasi is one of the six districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Lindi Region, to the east by the Newala District, to the south by the Ruvuma River and Mozambique and to the west by Nanyumbu District N ...

, Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in 1939–1949, during which time he also served as headmaster of St Joseph's College, Chidya in 1944–1949. Cornwall was ordained and consecrated a

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 ...

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(1 November) 1949 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 Unite ...

Geoffrey Fisher Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961. From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury, as the first to hold his post (

): after the devastation of the

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, the Diocese of

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capita ...

and the Bishopric of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

were merged as the Diocese of Borneo. Cornwall served as bishop based in Kuching for 13 years until 1962, when the diocese was again divided into the Diocese of Jesselton (later

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

) which included Labuan, and the Diocese of Kuching, which included

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

.Index to ''The Chronicle – A Quarterly Report of the Borneo Mission Association'', showing many contributions by Cornwall

Return

Cornwall then returned to England, where he served as

commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...

to the Bishop of Kuching, as assistant bishop in the

Diocese of Winchester The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Founded in 676, it is one of the older dioceses in England. It once covered Wessex, many times its present size which is today most of the historic enl ...

, and as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

residentiary of

Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...

from 1963 to 1973, when he retired. Cornwall was appointed a

in 1955. He married Mary Dalton, daughter of the Reverend C. R. Dalton, in 1959. They had no children. Mary died in 1981.

Bibliography

*Nigel E. Cornwall, ''Borneo, past present and future'',

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

(SPG), 1953, 61 pp. *Nigel E. Cornwall, "Opportunity in Borneo", ''East and West Review'' 19 (3), 1953, pp. 74–80

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwall, Nigel 1903 births 1984 deaths People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Anglican chaplains British chaplains Anglican missionaries in Tanzania English Anglican missionaries Anglican missionaries in Sri Lanka People from Kuching Anglican missionaries in Malaysia Anglican bishops of Borneo