Bryan Mackey

Bryan Mackey (1770–1847) was an English Anglican vicar who was the first black Church of England clergyman.[1]

Mackey was born in 1770 to William Mackey – an English Gentleman – and an unnamed woman from Jamaica.[2] In 1780, by an act of the Jamaican Assembly, Mackey was granted exemption from inheritance restrictions normally placed on those of African or part-African descent.[3]

He studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, was ordained as deacon in 1793 and was appointed curate at Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire the same year.[1] He was ordained as a priest in 1794. Mackey became rector of Coates, Gloucestershire in 1799. He conducted a wedding in Milton Lilbourne in 1806, and his three children were baptised there, suggesting he held curateship at that parish.[4]

He was appointed curate of Sapperton, Gloucestershire in 1813.[1]

Mackey died aged 77 in 1847 in Southampton.

  1. ^ a b c "short bio of Bryan Mackey first Black British Anglican clergyman". Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  2. ^ Grace Owen. "From Grace Owen" (PDF). Gloucestershire County History Trust Newsletter. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Acts of Jamaican Assembly 1760-1810 extracted from material held in the Public Record Office". Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Parish records from Milton Lislebon" (PDF). p. 348. Retrieved 2 March 2024.