Bishop John William Colenso (1814 – 1883)

At the September meeting of Forncett History Group, David Kirk, from Wreningham Heritage Group, gave an excellent illustrated talk on the life of Rev. John William Colenso. Colenso is best known for his time as Bishop of Natal in South Africa from 1853 until his death in 1883 but he served as rector of Forncett St Mary from 1846 to 1853. 

David has carried out extensive research about Colenso, initially at the request of St. Mary's church in Forncett, and his work has brought together a great deal of information that is missing from many modern records of Colenso's life, which tend to focus largely on his religious views and influence.

One of the notable features of David's talk is that much of what he told us had been gleaned from contemporary writings at the time, that were later published and can now be found by diligent research on Google Books. As a consequence, we heard first-hand descriptions of one of Colenso's early sermons in Natal in February 1854 (before he had moved his family out there) and of the arrival of Colenso's ship in Natal on 20th May 1855. Both of these reports were written by residents of Natal at the time and were later published. For local historians everywhere, this is a remarkable example of what can be found on the internet today with time and persistence.

David covered all of Colenso's life; from his early childhood in Cornwall where his considerable intellect was first recognised, to his time studying in Cambridge, his brief period as the first Mathematics master at Harrow School, leading up to his time as rector here in Forncett.

Colenso might have spent many years in Forncett had he not been head-hunted for the post in Natal. It was in South Africa that Colenso really made his name, printing the first English/Zulu dictionaries and a number of biblical texts in Zulu. His controversial explanations of stories from the Old Testament for some of his Zulu parishioners brought him into conflict with the established church in both Cape Town and England. In 1863 Bishop Robert Gray charged Colenso with heresy and demanded Colenso appear before him in Cape Town. Colenso appealed to the Church Privy Council in England and was acquitted. Further debate took place at the very first Lambeth Conference in 1867 but the result was not clear-cut. Although excommunicated by Bishop Gray, Colenso ended up as one of two bishops in Natal – each with a different status.

We learned many fascinating things from David's talk but perhaps one of the most unexpected was when David reminded us that the sculptor, Laurence Bradshaw (1899-1978), who made the bust of Colenso which sits in St. Mary's church (see photo above) was also the person who created the famous bust of Karl Marx which adorns Marx's tomb in Highgate Cemetery in London!

In due course, we hope to use some of David's material to extend the description of Colenso's life currently on this website.