1. John William Colenso was a Cornish cleric and mathematician, defender of the Zulu and biblical scholar, who served as the first Bishop of Natal.
20 Facts About John Colenso
1. 2.
John Colenso's surname is Cornish and possibly originates from Colenso in the parish of St Hilary, near Penzance in West Cornwall.
3.
John Colenso's father invested his capital into a mineral works in Pentewan, Cornwall, but the speculation proved to be ruinous when the investment was lost following a sea flood.
4.
John Colenso's cousin William Colenso was a missionary in New Zealand.
5.
Family financial problems meant that John Colenso had to take a job as an usher in a private school before he could attend university.
6.
John Colenso was consecrated as bishop on St Andrew's Day, 30 November 1853, at St Mary-at-Lambeth.
7.
John Colenso was a significant figure in the history of the published word in 19th-century South Africa.
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William Colenso 8.
John Colenso first wrote a short but vivid account of his initial journeying in Natal, Ten Weeks in Natal: A Journal of a First Tour of Visitation Among the Colonists and Zulu Kafirs of Natal.
9.
John Colenso translated the New Testament and other portions of Scripture into Zulu.
10.
John Colenso first courted controversy with the publication in 1855 of his Remarks on the Proper Treatment of Polygamy, one of the most cogent Christian-based arguments for tolerance of polygamy.
11.
John Colenso, who had refused to appear before this tribunal otherwise than by sending a proxy protest, appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
12.
John Colenso, encouraged by a handsome testimonial raised in England to which many clergymen subscribed, returned to his diocese.
13.
John Colenso devoted the latter years of his life to further labours as a biblical commentator and as an advocate for native Africans in Natal and Zululand who had been unjustly treated by the colonial regime in Natal.
14.
In taking the side of Langalibalele against the Colonial regime in Natal and Theophilus Shepstone, the Secretary for Native Affairs, John Colenso found himself even further estranged from colonial society in Natal.
15.
John Colenso was a prominent critic of Sir Bartle Frere's efforts to depict the Zulu kingdom as a threat to Natal.
16.
John Colenso was known as 'Sobantu' to the native Africans in Natal and had a close relationship with members of the Zulu royal family; one of whom, Mkhungo, was taught at his school in Bishopstowe.
17.
John Colenso believed that racial variation between races was so great, that it was impossible that all the races could have come from the same stock just a few thousand years ago.
18.
John Colenso was unconvinced that the climate could change racial variation.
19.
John Colenso claimed that each race had sprung from a different pair of parents, and that all races had been created as equals by God.
20.
John Colenso died at Durban, South Africa, on 20 June 1883, and was buried in front of the altar in his church, St Peter's, Pietermaritzburg.