Edward Twells

The Right Reverend

Edward Twells
Bishop of the Orange Free State
DioceseDiocese of the Orange Free State
In office1862–1869
SuccessorAllan Webb
Orders
Consecration1863
Personal details
Born1823 (1823)
Died(1898-05-04)4 May 1898 (aged c. 75–76 years)
DenominationAnglican

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]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference WDP1862 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference HM1898 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Consecration of Bishops Tozer and Twells". Church Times. No. 1. 7 February 1863. p. 3. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 31 March 2016 – via UK Press Online archives.
  4. ^ Lewis & Edwards 1934, p. 394.
  5. ^ Schoeman 1986, pp. 19–21.
  6. ^ Schoeman 1986, p. 22.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference CE1869 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference MT1869 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).