Christopher Charles Watts (also rendered Charles Christopher Watts; 6 May 1877July 1958) was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. He served in the southern African church as Bishop of St Helena and then Bishop of Damaraland. Born in

Kensworth Kensworth is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish is located on the edge of Dunstable Downs, and includes the Hamlet (place), hamlets of Californi ...

, where his father, George Edward Oscar Watts, was Vicar. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, graduating BA in 1899 and proceeding MA (Cantab) in 1904. He was ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

Mandell Creighton Mandell Creighton (; 5 July 1843 – 14 January 1901) was a British historian, Anglican priest and bishop. The son of a successful carpenter in north-west England, Creighton studied at the University of Oxford, focusing his scholarship on ...

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

at Trinitytide 1900, and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Arthur Winnington-Ingram Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram (26 January 1858 – 26 May 1946) was Bishop of London from 1901 to 1939. Early life and career He was born in the rectory at Stanford-on-Teme, Worcestershire, the fourth son of Edward Winnington-Ingram (a Ch ...

, Bishop of London in St Paul's at Trinity 1901, serving as assistant

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

of St Mark's,

Noel Park Noel Park in north London is a planned community built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries consisting of 2,200 model dwellings company, model dwellings, designed by Rowland Plumbe. It was developed as the Noel Park Estate on a tract of lan ...

St Mark's Website
. In 1907 he went out to Southern Africa, and began work as

Priest-in-charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

Mbabane Mbabane () is the most populous city in Eswatini (previously called Swaziland), and is one of the two Capital (political), capitals (along with Lobamba), serving as the Executive (government), executive capital. It has an estimated population of ...

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

in the Diocese of Zululand, and headmaster of St Mark's European School (until 1920), and St Mark's Coloured School. In 1917, he was appointed

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of St Peter's Cathedral,

Vryheid Vryheid (/Abaqulusi) is a coal mining and cattle ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Vryheid is the Afrikaans word for "freedom", while its original name of Abaqulusi reflects the AbaQulusi (Zulu), abaQulusi clan based in the loc ...

and from 1918 he served as Archdeacon of Swaziland. He returned to England in 1927, to his old parish of St Mark's, Noel Park, where he served as

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

until 1929. In 1930, he assumed duties as

Warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

of Zonnebloem College,

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. In 1931, however, he was chosen to be Bishop of St Helena, being consecrated as such in

St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town St George's Cathedral (also referred to as The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr) is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, and the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town. St. George's Cathedral is both the metropolitical chu ...

, on St Barnabas' Day, 11 June 1931 by

Francis Phelps Francis Robinson Phelps (19 September 1863 – 26 June 1938) was an Anglican bishop in the first half of the 20th century. Early life Phelps was born in Canada on 19 September 1863 and educated at Keble College, Oxford. he was made deacon in ...

, Archbishop of Cape Town, assisted by Theodore Gibson,

Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and encompasses the area around Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley and Kuruman and overlaps the Northern Cape Province and North West Province (South A ...

, and Joseph Williams, retired

Bishop of St John's The Diocese of Mthatha is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Before 2006 it was known as the Diocese of St John's, and earlier still as that of Kaffraria. The diocese currently has 96 ...

. He was

enthroned Enthroned is a Belgian black metal band formed in Charleroi who are one of the premier acts of the Belgian black metal scene. History The band was founded in 1993 by drummer Cernunnos. He soon recruited guitarist Tsebaoth and a vocalist from ...

in St Paul's Cathedral, St Helena, on 12 July 1931. Watts served as Administrator of the Diocese of Damaraland, in 1934–1935, and in 1935 was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

as second Bishop of Damaraland. He resigned his See in December 1938, and returned to live in South Africa. He served as Rector of

Victoria West Victoria West is a town in the central Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is situated on the main N12 route, at an elevation of . It is the seat of the Ubuntu Local Municipality within the Pixley ka Seme District Municip ...

with Carnarvon, in the Diocese of Cape Town (1939–1940); and as Rector of

Knysna Knysna (; ) is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It is situated 60 kilometres east of the c ...

(1940–1946); and Priest-in-charge of Riversdale (1946–1947), both in the Diocese of George. He retired in 1947. Watts was married to Madoline Beatrice Adams in 1930.

References

*''The Times'', 25 July 1958. 1877 births 1958 deaths Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Anglican bishops of St Helena Anglican bishops of Damaraland 20th-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops Nationality missing {{Anglican-bishop-stub