Charles Mackenzie (bishop)
Charles Frederick Frazier Mackenzie (1825–62) was a Church of England Bishop of Central Africa. He is commemorated in some Anglican Church Calendars.
Charles Frederick Mackenzie | |
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Bishop | |
Born | 1825 Portmore, Peeblesshire, Scotland |
Died | 31 January 1862 Africa |
Venerated in | Anglican Communion |
Feast | 31 January |
Life
He was born at Portmore, Peeblesshire, Scotland, the ninth son of Colin Mackenzie and Elizabeth Forbes.[1] Anne Mackenzie, editor of all 31 years of The Net Cast in Many Waters: Sketches from the Life of Missionaries, London, 1866–1896, was his unmarried sister. He was educated at Bishop Wearmouth school and Edinburgh Academy, and entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1844. He migrated to Caius College, where he graduated B. A. as Second Wrangler in 1848, and became a Fellow of Caius.[2]
He was ordained as a priest in 1852 and served as curate of Haslingfield near Cambridge, 1851-4. In 1855, he went to Natal with Bishop Colenso and served as Archdeacon of Natal. They worked among the English settlers till 1859 when he returned to England briefly to raise support for more direct missionary work.[3] In 1860, Mackenzie became head of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa and he was consecrated bishop in St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, on 1 January 1861. Following David Livingstone's request to Cambridge, Mackenzie took on the position of being the first missionary bishop in Nyasaland (now Malawi); he was called at the time (Missionary) Bishop in (or of) Central Africa.
![](../I/Bishop_Mackenzie's_grave_with_the_cross_placed_there_by_Davi_Wellcome_V0018835.jpg.webp)
Moving from Cape Town, Mackenzie sailed up the Zambezi and Shire rivers with a small group to start work. He arrived at Chibisa’s village in June 1861 with the goal to establish a mission station at Magomero, near Zomba. He directly opposed the slave trade causing the enmity of the Yao. Mackenzie worked among the people of the Manganja country until January 1862 when he went on a supplies trip together with a few members of his party. The boat they were travelling on sank and as their medical supplies were lost, Mackenzie’s malaria could not be treated. He died of Blackwater fever on 31 January 1862 on an island in the Shire River. Livingstone erected a cross over his grave a year later.
An International school in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, is named after him.
References
Citations
- Mackenzie 1894.
- "Mackenzie, Charles Frederick (MKNY844CF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- Appleton 1863, p. 557.
Sources
- Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863.
- Goodwin, Harvey (1865). Memoir of Bishop Mackenzie (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Deighton, Bell.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Mackenzie, Alexander (1894). History of the Mackenzies. Inverness.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. Missing or empty
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Further reading
- Awdry, Frances (1904) [1878]. An Elder Sister: a short sketch of Anne Mackenzie, and her brother the missionary bishop (3rd ed.). London.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Hunt, William (1893). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Hunt, William; White, Landeg (4 October 2012). "Mackenzie, Charles Frederick (1825-1862)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49151. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Religious titles | ||
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New title | Bishop in Central Africa 1861–1863 |
Succeeded by William Tozer |