Charles Pearson (priest)
Charles William Pearson (1847–1917) was a pioneer
Biography
Early life
He was born in
Seafarer
He was a merchant seaman for some years, and served as an ordinary seaman on the Tenasserim, registered at Liverpool, for four voyages between 18 Oct 1867 and 29 Oct 1870. In 1872 he served as
Missionary
In 1876 he attended the Church Missionary Society College, Islington, and in 1878 led a party of four missionaries to Uganda to replace four who had died. The first party of CMS missionaries, led by Lt. G. Shergold-Smith, had landed at Bagamoyo in July 1876, but a year later two had been killed in a skirmish, and two others had died of fever.
Pearson and his companions, Robert William Felkin, John William Hall and the Rev. George Litchfield, travelled by ship to
They were received at the court of
missionaries had, perhaps rather naively, not come prepared to be used as political pawns. Their denominational rivalry reduced the effectiveness of their message, as the Catholics refused to kneel for the Anglican prayers and vice versa.Pearson appears to have been mainly occupied in translation work. After serving in Uganda for two years Pearson returned to England for health reasons, using the more conventional route via the East Coast and Zanzibar.
Ordination
He then studied theology at Oxford, and was ordained deacon in 1886 and priest in 1887. He was assistant curate at St Ebbe's in Oxford for four years, and then worked for the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) in Nottingham for another three years.
In July 1893 he became Vicar of Walton, Aylesbury, where he remained until his death on 1917-06-20. He was known as a student of languages, and gained knowledge of 17 languages. He was eminent as a translator, and served several publishers and missionary organisations in that capacity.
Marriage and children
He married Elizabeth Birkett in Oxford in 1882, and they had three sons and four daughters.
References
- ^ Hayes, Stephen. "Pearson, Charles William". Dictionary of African Christian Biography. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ISBN 9781138964709. Retrieved 13 February 2020.