Richard Blundell Comins (15 November 1848, Tiverton – 11 March 1919,

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest who worked as a missionary for the Anglican Mission to Melanesia. He became the first Archdeacon of Northern Melanesia in 1900. Born in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in 1848, Comins went to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

as a teenager to study farming. He arrived in

Auckland Harbour Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

on board the passenger ship in December 1862 and on his return did six months of surgical training at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

in London. He read for his licentiate in theology at Hatfield Hall, Durham and was ordained in 1873, going on to spend three years serving as a curate in

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

. Becoming a missionary in the South Pacific, he served successively in

Emae Emae is an island in the Shepherd Islands, Shefa, Vanuatu. Geography Maunga Lasi is the highest peak at 644 m. It forms the northern rim of the (mostly) underwater volcano of Makura, which also covers the nearby islands of Makura and Mataso. I ...

from 1877 to 1880, San Cristobal from 1880 to 1894, and

Siota Siota is a region on the north side of Nggela Island at the western end of Utuhu Passage in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a state in the southwest Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oc ...

from 1895 to 1902. In 1893 Comins was on board as it visited each of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

so its commander, Captain Gibson, could make the formal declaration of the

British Solomon Islands Protectorate The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of , declared the southern islands a British protectorate. Other islands were subsequently declared to form part o ...

. He was the Archdeacon of Northern Melanesia from 1900 to 1910 and additionally served as the Chaplain to the

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

ers from 1903 to 1912, after which he retired to

Shannon, New Zealand Shannon is a small town in the Horowhenua District of New Zealand's North Island. it is located 28 kilometres southwest of Palmerston North and 15 kilometres northeast of Levin. The main activities in the district are dairy, sheep, and mixed ...

. An amateur

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, Comins sent flowers from Norfolk Island and the Solomon Islands to

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

. He died in March 1919.

References

1848 births Anglican missionaries in Vanuatu Anglican missionaries in the Solomon Islands Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham English botanists 1919 deaths Archdeacons of Northern Melanesia Missionary botanists English Anglican missionaries English emigrants to New Zealand Anglican missionaries in Norfolk Island {{Christian-clergy-stub