Edward Bickersteth (26 June 1850 – 5 August 1897) was an ordained Anglican missionary, Bishop of South Tokyo, and a leading figure in both the establishment of the

Cambridge Mission to Delhi The Cambridge Mission to Delhi was an Anglican Christian missionary initiative to India in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries led by graduates of the University of Cambridge. Individual members of the mission community are credited with helpin ...

and in the early years of the

Anglican Church in Japan The ''Nippon Sei Ko Kai'' (), abbreviated as NSKK, sometimes referred to in English as the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan, is the national Christianity, Christian church representing the Province of Japan (, ) within the Anglican Communion. ...

.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', Wednesday, 26 January 1898; pg. 7; Issue 35423; col E ''Church Missions in Japan''

Early life and education

Edward Bickersteth was born at

Banningham Banningham is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Colby, Norfolk, Colby, in the North Norfolk district, in the England, English county of Norfolk. The village is 2.9 miles north east of Aylsham, 14.7 miles north of Norwich an ...

, Norfolk into a noted

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

ecclesiastical family; his father, Edward Henry Bickersteth, was the

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

from 1885 to 1900. He was educated at

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...

where he excelled in academic studies and athletics, winning an open classical scholarship to

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

in 1869. At Cambridge, as well as studying for

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

, he obtained both classical and theological degrees with honours and was elected a Fellow of his college in 1875. In 1873, Bickersteth took up his first post as a

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 ...

at Holy Trinity, South Hampstead.Details of early career
/ref> He was then appointed lecturer in Theology at Pembroke and in 1877 founded and led the

, an initiative in support of the North India mission and educational work of the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

. After seven years in India, Bickersteth returned to England to become rector of the Church of St. Michael,

Framlingham Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book and was part of Loes Hundred. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 census and an estimated 4,016 in 20 ...

, Suffolk.

Missionary bishop in Japan

Consecrated in February 1886 at

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 ...

by Archbishop Benson, as Missionary-Bishop of the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Bickersteth arrived at

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

on 13 April the same year. Working from the church's mission centre at St. Andrew's Church in Tokyo, Bickersteth is remembered for his commitment to building a Japanese-led, indigenous, Anglican Church. In February 1887, at a meeting in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

instigated by Bickersteth and presided over by Bishop

Channing Moore Williams Channing Moore Williams (July 17, 1829 – December 2, 1910) was an Episcopal Church missionary, later bishop, in China and Japan. Williams was a leading figure in the establishment of the Anglican Church in Japan. His commemoration in some Angl ...

, it was agreed to unite the various Anglican missionary efforts in Japan into one autonomous national church; the

Nippon Sei Ko Kai The ''Nippon Sei Ko Kai'' (), abbreviated as NSKK, sometimes referred to in English as the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan, is the national Christian church representing the Province of Japan (, ) within the Anglican Communion. As a member of ...

. Bickersteth is also remembered for his leadership and skill in the development of a constitution, Canons, Prayer Book and comprehensive mission program for the Nippon Sei Ko Kai. His "watchful care and strong influence" led to a punishing schedule on the road, travelling between the scattered mission churches in Japan for eight months of the year. In 1891, Bickersteth was visited in Japan by his father, Edward Henry Bickersteth,

. The travel journal of Mary Jane Bickersteth, who accompanied the tour of Japan, includes detailed descriptions of the Anglican church's mission work, visits to sites such as the

Shrines and Temples of Nikkō The UNESCO World Heritage Site Shrines and Temples of Nikkō encompasses 103 buildings or structures and the natural setting around them. It is located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. The buildings belong to two Shinto shrines ( Futarasan Shr ...

, a meeting with

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio Gijuku, the newspaper ', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ideas about the or ...

and the experience of surviving the strong Mino–Owari earthquake at Osaka on 28 October 1891. Bickersteth, suffering from failing health brought on by overwork, died on 5 August 1897 at

Chiseldon Chiseldon is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, a mile south of junction 15 of the M4 motorway, on the A346 between Swindon and Marlborough. The larg ...

, Wiltshire shortly after speaking on "The Development of Native Churches" at the opening meetings of the Fourth

Lambeth Conference The Lambeth Conference convenes as the Archbishop of Canterbury summons an assembly of Anglican bishops every ten years. The first took place at Lambeth in 1867. As regional and national churches freely associate with the Anglican Communion, ...

.S. Bickersteth, ''Life and Letters of Edward Bickersteth, Bishop of South Tokyo'', p.462. Bickersteth's funeral and interment at Chiseldon was attended by, among others, Bishop John McKim of North Tokyo and Sir

Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British diplomat, scholar and Japanologist. He is better known in Japan, where he was known as , than in Britain or the other countries in which he served as a diplomat. He was ...

, British Envoy to Japan.

Family

On a visit to England in the summer of 1893, Bickersteth met Marion Forsyth, the daughter of William Forsyth QC, formerly Conservative Member of Parliament for

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

. After a short courtship and engagement, they were married on 28 September. There were no children from the marriage. The couple set out to return to Japan, via Canada, on 21 October 1893. The Fourth Synod of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai was held in Tokyo in November 1893, shortly after Bickersteth's return to his full-time pastoral duties.S. Bickersteth, ''Life and Letters of Edward Bickersteth'', p.351.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickersteth, Edward 1850 births People from North Norfolk (district) People educated at Highgate School Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge English Anglican missionaries Anglican bishops of South Tokyo 1897 deaths Anglican missionaries in Japan British expatriates in Japan Anglican missionaries in India British people in colonial India

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...