Edward Twells

The Right Reverend Edward Twells
Bishop of the Orange Free State
Diocese	Diocese of the Orange Free State
In office	1862–1869
Successor	Allan Webb
Orders
Consecration	1863
Personal details
Born	1823
Died	4 May 1898 (aged c. 75–76 years)
Denomination	Anglican

Edward Twells (1823 – 4 May 1898) was the first Bishop of Bloemfontein in South Africa from 1863^[1] to 1869. He was the younger brother of Henry Twells. He died at the age of 70 at his house, Pembrokegate, at Clifton, Bristol.^[2]

Twells was consecrated Bishop of the Orange Free State in Westminster Abbey on 2 February 1863^[3] under the Bishops in Foreign Countries Act 1841, and went out to the colony, in the interior of South Africa, with three priests and two schoolmasters.^[4]

In November 1863 Twells founded the Diocesan Grammar School since known as St. Andrew's School, Bloemfontein. He called for the establishment of a Missionary Brotherhood, in 1865, in response to which H. F. Beckett (Henry) left England for the Free State, in July 1867, with seven young men who would be the founding members of the Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo, later of Modderpoort.^[5]

In 1867, Twells went to the Lambeth Conference and was a proponent of the cause of Robert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town, in his battles with John Colenso, Bishop of Natal, over the control of the Diocese of Natal.

Twells resigned his bishopric in 1869 under a cloud following public allegations of pederasty.^[6][7][8]

References

1. "A Bishop Designate From Birmingham". Western Daily Press. 23 December 1862. p. 2 col E. Retrieved 2014-09-30 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
2. "The Death Took Place At Clifton, In His Seventieth Year, Bishop Edward Twells, Formerly Bishop Of The Orange Free State". Hartlepool Mail. 7 May 1898. p. 8 col B. Retrieved 2014-09-30 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
3. "Consecration of Bishops Tozer and Twells (Archived; subscription only)". Church Times (#1). 7 February 1863. p. 3. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 31 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
4. Lewis & Edwards 1934, p. 394.
5. Schoeman 1986, pp. 19-21.
6. Schoeman 1986, p. 22.
7. "The Shocking Charge Against A Bishop At The Cape". Cork Examiner. 11 September 1869. p. 3 col E. Retrieved 2014-09-30 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
8. "Terrible Charge Against A Colonial Bishop". Manchester Times. 11 September 1869. p. 3 col B. Retrieved 2014-09-30 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).

Sources

• Lewis, Cecil; Edwards, Gertrude Elizabeth (1934). Historical records of the Church of the Province of South Africa. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
• Schoeman, Karel (1986). The Free State Mission: The Work of the Anglican Church in the Orange Free State, 1863-1883, as Described by Contemporaries. Human & Rousseau. ISBN 978-0-7981-1986-3.