Bishop Ajayi S. Crowther
The Slave Boy who became BISHOP OF THE NIGER
Here’s a time line of Bishop Ajayi Crowther’s life:
1809 – Born in Osogun (present day Iseyin LGA, Oyo state), Nigeria
1821 – Captured, along with his entire village by muslim Fulani slave raiders.
1822 – Rescued by the British Naval Squadron from the Portuguese slave ship, and was sent to Sierra Leone.
1823 – Cared for by the Anglican Church Missionary Society and was taught English.
1825 – Converted to christainity, had a rebirth by baptism and named himself after the vicar of Christ Church, Newgate, London – Samuel Crowther, who was one of the pioneers of the CMS.
1826 – Taken to England to attend St Mary’s Church in Islington and the church’s school due to his interest in Languages.
1827 – Returned to Freetown and attended, as the first student, the newly opened Fourah Bay College, an Anglican missionary school, where his interest in language found him studying Latin and Greek but also Temne.
1828 – Became a teacher at the same school where he had studied.
1843 – Became a Clergyman, and began translating the Bible into the Yoruba Language while also compiling a Yoruba dictionary. He also published the Anglican Book of common Prayer.
1845 – Became a missionary to his home country where he was earlier captured and sold as a slave.
1857 – Produced a primer for the Igbo language.
1860 – Also produced another primer for the Nupe language.
1864 – Ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church; he was consecrated a bishop on St Peter’s day 1864, by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral.
1891 – Died of stroke, on 31 December, and was buried in Lagos.
“Ajayi’s life can be described as such:
From out the darkness gleamed a single star,
And lo! the tempest-driven hailed its light;
So from the gloom of Africa, shone afar,
The witness of the Lord, a blessed sight
Which many grateful saw, and kneeling there
Heard first the tidings of Salvation near.”
Jesse Page – Author of Bishop Patterson the Martyr of Melanesia