Lionel Berners Cholmondeley (11 December 1858 – 21 January 1945) was an ordained Anglican priest, educator, historian and Rector of St. Barnabas' Church at Ushigome in Shinjuku, Tokyo. For thirty years he served as a minister in the Anglican Church in Japan, and variously as a lecturer at Waseda University and honorary chaplain to the

British Embassy in Tokyo The British Embassy, Tokyo (駐日英国大使館 ''Chūnichi Eikoku Taishikan'') is the chief List of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom, diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in Japan, with the List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom ...

. As a historian he published the first English-language history of the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

, now known as the

Ogasawara Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

Early life

Lionel Cholmondeley was descended from a younger brother of

Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster (26 June 1584 – 8 October 1659), was an English Royalist and supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War. Life Cholmondeley was born in Crouchend, Highgate, Middlesex, on 26 June 1584, the so ...

and Hugh Cholmondeley, father of

Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Viscount Cholmondeley Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Viscount Cholmondeley (died 22 May 1681) was an English peer. Lord Cholmondeley was the son of Hugh Cholmondeley and Mary Bodvile. Sir Hugh Cholmondeley was his grandfather and Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster, ...

, from whom the Marquesses of Cholmondeley descend. His grandfather was

Thomas Cholmondeley, 1st Baron Delamere Thomas Cholmondeley, 1st Baron Delamere (; 9 August 1767 – 30 October 1855), was a British peer and Member of Parliament.

. The baron's third son was Revd. Henry Pitt Cholmondeley (15 June 1820 – 14 April 1905), Rector of Broadwells with Adelstrop, who in 1848 married Mary Leigh, fifth daughter of the poet

Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh (27 June 1791 – 27 September 1850) was a British landowner and minor poet. He was Lord of the Manor of Hunningham. Early life Leigh was the son of James Henry Leigh, of Adlestrop, Gloucestershire, the son of Jame ...

. This marriage produced nine children; Lionel being the couple's second son, born in

Adlestrop Adlestrop () is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, east of Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, England, on the county boundary with Oxfordshire. The River Evenlode forms the southwest boundary of the parish. The village is on a strea ...

in Gloucestershire.Ion, A. Hamish. (1997)
"Lionel Berners Cholmondeley: Chaplain in Tokyo, 1887–1921," pp. 180
189 in ''Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits.'' Cholmondeley attended Uppingham School and graduated with a BA in 1882 (subsequently raised to an MA in 1885) from

Oriel College, Oxford 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, wh ...

Career

After graduation from Oxford and following in the footsteps of both his father and elder brother Francis, Lionel Cholmondeley followed a path to ordination in

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 Britain ...

. William the Conqueror database
/ref> Cholmondely became a Christian missionary in Japan (1887–1921), arriving in Tokyo under the auspices of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) to serve under Edward Bickersteth, the first Anglican

Bishop of South Tokyo The Bishop of South Tokyo was a historic title of a bishop in the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, or Anglican Church in Japan. Edward Bickersteth (1850–1897) was the first Bishop of South Tokyo from 1886 until his premature death in 1897. He was born at Bann ...

. In July 1902, Cholmondeley succeeded Archdeacon

Alexander Croft Shaw Alexander Croft Shaw M.A. (26 June 1846 – 13 March 1902) was a minister of the Anglican Church of Canada. He is remembered as Archdeacon Shaw, minister to the British Legation in Tokyo and a leading figure in the early years of the Anglica ...

as honorary chaplain to the British Embassy, Tokyo, a position he held until his retirement and return to England in 1922. Bibliography, Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands

Bonin Islands

Bishop Bickersteth was asked to send a clergyman to visit the English-speaking settlers on the Ogasawara Islands; and in response, he asked Cholmondely to sail to the islands in 1894. This initial trip was followed by sixteen others during the remainder of Cholmondeley's time in Japan.Cholmondeley, Lionel Berners. (1915).

London: Constable & Co. Among other changes he observed during these years was the completion of undersea cable connections which ensured telegraph communication between the islands and Japan after 1906. In 1915, Cholmondeley published ''The History of the Bonin Islands from the Year 1827 to the Year 1876'' which included detailed observations of the changes which evolved after annexation by Meiji Japan in 1875.

Chronology

* 1894—1st visit. Cholmondeley joins Anglican

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

Ishida-san, who had come by previous steamer. This Japanese colleague returned with Cholmondeley to Tokyo. * 1896—2nd visit. Cholmondeley joins Cameron Johnson, who was staying there at the time. The School-house built this year by settlers. * 1897—3rd visit.

Selected works

* 1915 – ''The History of the Bonin Islands from the Year 1827 to the Year 1876.'' London: Constable & Co
OCLC 4717954
* 1929 – ''A book of devotions, compiled from many sources and the growth of many years.'' London.

Notes

References

* Bickersteth, Samuel. (1899) ''Life and letters of Edward Bickersteth, Bishop of South Tokyo.'' London: Sampson, Low Marston. * Cholmondeley, Lionel Berners. (1915). ''The History of the Bonin Islands from the Year 1827 to the Year 1876.'' London: Constable & Co
OCLC 4717954
* Ion, A. Hamish. (1997). "Lionel Berners Cholmondeley: Chaplain in Tokyo, 1887–1921," pp. 180–189 in ''Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits'' ( Ian Nish, editor). London:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

. * ____________. (1990). ''The Cross and the Rising Sun: The British Protestant Missionary Movement in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, 1865–1945.'' Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
OCLC 22985041
* Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville Henry Massue. (1994). ''The Blood Royal of Britain.'' Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company.
OCLC 30572546
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cholmondeley, Lionel 1858 births 1945 deaths People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Anglican Church in Japan British expatriates in Japan Historians of Japan