THE TRUE STORY OF THE FIRST WEST AFRICAN BISHOP OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH
A grandson of King Abiodun, through his mother, Afala, Ajayi was around 12 years old when he and his family were captured, along with his entire village, by Fulani slave raiders in March 1821 and sold to Portuguese slave traders. His mother Afala, who was later baptized with the name Hannah, toddler brother, and other family members were among the captives.
His father, Ayemi, was most likely killed in the raid of his village or shortly afterwards.
The British outlawed the Atlantic slave trade in 1807 and used their navy to patrol the coast of Africa. During that period, Spain and Portugal still allowed the Atlantic slave trade in their colonies in the Americas. Before the slave ship left port for the Americas, it was boarded by crew from a British Royal Navy ship under the command of Captain Henry Leeke. They freed the captives, and took Ajayi and his family to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where they were resettled by local authorities.
While in Sierra Leone, Crowther was cared for by the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) and was taught English. Due to his remarkable intellectual qualities, Ajayi was sent to school, and within a short time, he was able to read the Bible with ease. He converted to Christianity. On 11 December 1825 he was baptized by John Raban.
He named himself after Samuel Crowther, vicar of Christ Church, Newgate, London, and one of the pioneers of the CMS
In 1888
While in Freetown, Crowther became interested in languages. In 1826 he was taken to England to attend the school of St Mary’s Church in Islington, which had established a connection with free Africans in the 18th century. He returned to Freetown in 1827.
He was the first student admitted to the newly opened Fourah Bay College, an Anglican missionary school. Because of his interest in language, he studied Latin and Greek of the classical curriculum, but also Temne of West Africa. After completing his studies, Crowther began teaching at the school.
Crowther’s missionary journey to Nigeria began in 1841. He represented the missionary arm of the Niger Expedition alongside Rev. J.F. Schon. He was ordained a priest and selected for the C.M.S project in the Yoruba mission on his second visit to England in 1843, after his brilliant account of the expedition and the rare qualities he displayed.
In 1846, Crowther and Rev. Townsend opened the C.M.S mission in Abeokuta. During the 1854 Niger Expedition, Crowther had a hand in the founding of the missions in Niger.
Crowther married a schoolmistress, Asano (i.e. Hassana; she was formerly Muslim), baptised Susan. She had also been liberated from a Portuguese slave ship as mentioned in Crowther’s 1837 letter. He writes: “She was captured by His Majesty’s ship Bann, Captain Charles Phillips, on the 31st October 1822.” Asano was therefore among the captives resettled in Sierra Leone. She had also converted to Christianity. Their several children included Dandeson Coates Crowther, who later entered the ministry and in 1891 became archdeacon of the Niger Delta.
Their second daughter Abigail, married Thomas Babington Macaulay, a junior associate. Their son and Crowther’s grandson, Herbert Macaulay, became one of the first Nigerian nationalists.
1864, Crowther was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church; he was consecrated a bishop on St Peter’s day in 1864, by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral.
The licence from Queen Victoria for his consecration as a bishop authorised and empowered him “Bishop of the United Church of England and Ireland in the said countries in Western Africa beyond the limits of our dominions.”
He had continued his studies and later received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Oxford.
He later met Queen Victoria and read the Lord’s prayer to her in Yoruba, which she described as soft and melodious
Crowther died of a stroke in Lagos on 31 December 1891. He was 82 years when he died.
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