Bishop Samuel Adjai Crowther (c. 1809-1981)
/The Reverend Belinda Beckhelling introduced Bishop Samuel Adjai Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop of West Africa. From the notes of Arnold Awoonor.
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‘Few of Christ’s soldiers and servants have ever more remarkably from earliest years come into contact with the wickedness of this world, and few have more patiently carried on the battle against evil, and have maintained individually a more consistent course and a more unblemished reputation.’
This statement was made about an extraordinarily resilient, humble and Godfearing man who became the first black African Bishop in the Anglican Church. I have the great pleasure of telling you his story as told to me by his great, great, grandson Arnold Awonoor-Gordon, member of our cathedral congregation.
Adjai was born in a place called Oshogun in the year 1809 (so he claimed), the exact date is not known. He was of the Yoruba people, who traditionally came from Western Nigeria. His mother, Afala, was of a distinguished Royal House. When the youngest of his three sisters was still a babe in arms, he and his family were cruelly taken captive, ‘a noose of rope thrown over the neck of every individual, to be led in the manner of goats tied together under the direction of one man.’ (Pg 15) His captors were sadly his own countrymen, the Eyo Mohammedans, who brought much war, devastation and bloodshed, as they engaged in the only available employment, which was that of selling slaves to the Spaniards and Portuguese on the coast. In the space of twentyfour hours he became the property of three different men and three months later was completely separated from all of his family, whom he never expected to see again.
Having been bought and sold a few times, often bartered for tobacco, rum and other articles, Adjai became increasingly mentally tormented and physically sick. He tried many times to strangle himself, but admitted to lacking the courage to tighten the noose sufficiently. Finally having arrived in Lagos, a town occupied by Portuguese and Spaniards, and by now ‘a veteran in slavery’ he resigned himself to ‘being examined by white men and being chained together with other boys and men through iron fetters about their necks fastened at both ends with padlocks’. (Pg 24) Finally, sold to the Portuguese and embarked on a sea-faring vessel, he suffered severe bouts of seasickness and was unable to take in any food. In April 1822, two British Naval ships called ‘men-of-war’ laden with heavily armed soldiers rescued the slaves, numbering at least 187, all crowded together in the hold; Adjai among them; and after two and a half months of cruising the coast they landed in June 1822 in Freetown, Sierra Leone and the slaves incredulously were offered liberty and freedom. Unbeknown to Adjai, it was at this time that in a far distant country called England, the campaign for the abolition of the slave trade was being played out.
So began Adjai’s walk with the Lord as he was taken into the care of the Church Missionary Society, which was founded in 1799 to ‘Christianise the heathen peoples of the world, especially in Africa’. Within six months Adjai, now living with Mr and Mrs Davey , two missionary teachers, learned to read the New Testament fairly fluently and on 11th December 1825 he was baptised and given the English name Samuel Crowther, after a venerable clergyman and committee member for the CMS. He was taken to England where he spent a short time qualifying to teach his fellow countrymen, and on his return he became an assistant master in the CMS school.
On Christmas day in 1827, Samuel Adjai Crowther became the first student at the African Institute built by the CMS for the training of native missionary leaders. Adjai found it amusing that the building, known as the Fourah Bay College had a coal burning fireplace in every room with chimneys in a country where the temperature was in the 90s. It was designed by an architect who had never set foot in Africa! The university was affiliated with Durham University from 1876 until 1967 when it acquired its own status.
While at university, with the consent of the CMS committee, he married a freed slave, Asano, on 21st September 1829. She was also a Christian and given the English name Susan Thompson. They had six children and were married for 50 years until her death in 1880. After graduation he became a teacher and headmaster before returning as a college professor at his alma mater, later heading it up as principal.
In 1841, an expedition at the behest of Queen Victoria set sail to explore along the River Niger and Adjai was recruited by the CMS to scout for sites where mission posts could be setup among the people living along the banks so the gospel could be taken to the heathens. Nearly a third of the Europeans on this mission died within two months as they succumbed to malaria and other tropical diseases very soon on arrival. Their numbers were quickly being decimated. The need to build up native ministries became acute and Adjai was put forward for ordination. He came highly recommended for his piety, his studious habits and the high esteem in which he was held, although he himself was too modest to consider himself worthy of such an honour. Having passed his examinations with flying colours at Oxford University in England, he was ordained on 11th June 1843, and was received into full Holy Orders four months later in October. He preached his first English sermon in Freetown to a large crowd on the text ‘and yet there is room’. Hundreds of people gathered to hear him preach in Yoruba, at twice weekly services. In the service of Christ he found ‘perfect freedom’ and he began to consider the day of his captivity as also a day of blessing.
Adjai was right in the thick of it as the first Christian outpost was set up in Badagry, starting under a tree and in a little over eighteen months building a church and school house. All preaching and teaching was in Yoruba. Adjai began translating the Scriptures and liturgy into the Yoruba language, publishing annually one book of the Old or New Testament. The Bible in Yoruba was published in the 1880s, a testament to his service to the Lord. At the next missionary outpost Abeokuta, Adjai was to get what he considers the greatest gift from the Lord – a meeting with his long lost mother, Alafa (from whom he had been torn away some twenty five years before) and a reunion with his sisters. The mission prospered and drew much attention in England. Before long, Adjai was reporting his work to the Prime Minister and was even invited to meet Prince Albert and her Majesty Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. It was during this visit that the extent of Adjai’s work in making the gospel more accessible to the natives and his zeal for spreading the good news was recognised and a vision was formulated for Christianity to fix its character in a native church which could plan for its own future. Adjai very much hoped for a time when Africans would be able to run the affairs of the church for themselves.
Mission posts had now been established at more than four places along the Niger and further expeditions took place successfully due to Adjai’s singleminded commitment to the calling of his Lord and his understanding and knowledge of the native tribes. He worked particularly hard against superstitious practices including human sacrifices with some success. Many more new mission posts were set up. In 1878 the CMS finally provided him with a ship of his own so he could continue his missionary work and two Archdeacons to help him with his duties, one being his son Dandeson.
In 1864, with the loss of three white Bishops in quick succession to the dreaded fever, it seemed to some that a native Bishopric was required and not much thought was required before it seemed that Adjai was the man for the job given his immeasurable success with the local tribes, even those almost entirely beyond his reach. By this time twenty-one years had passed since he had been ordained deacon. He was invited to go to London for a special meeting. Little did he know he was being interviewed for such a high office. His response on finding out was to declare his unworthiness, and a need to consult with his good friends and mentors. He came to Palm Cottage in Canterbury Street in Gillingham, Kent and finally accepted. So on June 24, 1864 Peter’stide, aged fifty-four, the Revd, Samuel Adjai Crowther was consecrated Bishop of the West African Countries beyond British Jurisdiction by Archbishop Charles Thomas Langley at Canterbury Cathedral. He was the first black Bishop in the Anglican Communion. It was at this point that racism reared its ugly head. White missionaries refused to serve under him. Seemingly educated professors deemed that as a black man ‘his cerebral development show that he is disqualified for intellectual pursuits and he cannot be lifted out of his congenital dullness’. They suggested that it was ok to have black people as school masters and catechists but not in leadership positions. What hurt Adjai most was that these proponents were people he had previously worked with, and who had worked for many years among the very people whom they held in such low regard. Archbishop Justin Welby, quoted in his sermon on the 150th anniversary of Bishop Adjai’s consecration, ‘historians said prejudiced fellow Anglican missionaries wrongly questioned the moral values and competency of Bishop Crowther and his African staff, and systematically dismantled his work.’ Bishop Adjai now in his seventies continued the Lord’s work patiently and consistently. In 1890, Bishop Adjai, with an unblemished reputation, felt compelled to resign with immense dignity, having been undermined by a Junior white clergy colleague. The Bishop’s greatest contribution was the part he played in laying the foundation for the key elements of African Christianity and for being one of the leading architects of the modern African Church.
Following a stroke in September 1891 which left him struggling to move and speak, Samuel Adjai Crowther died peacefully on New Year’s eve 1891 and had a well-attended funeral on January 1st 1892.
The Reverend Belinda Beckhelling, from the notes of Arnold Awoonor
Black History Month 2022
Rochester Cathedral features an exceptionally large collection of Colonial-era military memorials and artefacts. This series has begun to highlight the stories behind these collections and their place in our global heritage.
