1. Thomas Valpy French was an English Christian Missionary in India and Persia, who became the first Bishop of Lahore, in 1877, and founded the St John's College, Agra, in 1853.
10 Facts About Valpy French
1. 2.
Thomas Valpy French was born on New Year's Day in 1825, in Abbey, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, the son of Rev Peter French and his wife, Penelope Arabella the daughter of the educationalist, Richard Valpy of Reading, Berkshire.
3.
On 16 April 1850 Valpy French joined the missionary service of Church Missionary Society, and was sent to Agra, India.
4.
Valpy French set sail to India on East Indian Queen on 11 September 1850 and reached Calcutta on 2 January 1851.
5.
Soon Valpy French headed off to Agra, where he was appointed for educational work.
6.
Valpy French founded the St John's College at Agra, which formally opened in 1853, though he had started taking classes in small room with ten boys, while the college building was being built.
7.
Valpy French learnt seven languages, including Hindustani, Punjabi, Urdu, Persian, Pashto and Arabic to properly administer the school, as he became school's first principal, and a post he held until the end of his seven-year stay at Agra.
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Later Valpy French married Miss Mary Anne Janson, whom he had met at Oxford, and one of his eight children, Ellen Penelope Valpy French, went on to marry Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, fourth Bishop of Manchester,.
9.
Valpy French arrived back in Britain on 7 February 1863.
10.
Valpy French reached Muscat, on his final missionary work, on 8 February 1891 and became the first missionary to visit the region; he had just started setting up his work there, when his health started failing, and having been cared for by Portuguese Catholics he died on 14 May 1891 in Muscat, Oman and was buried in a Christian cemetery.