Edward Steere (1828 - 26 August 1882) was an English Anglican colonial

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 ...

in the 19th century.

Life

Steere was educated at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

and

ordained 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 ...

in 1850. After curacies in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, he joined William Tozer (Bishop in Central Africa) on a mission to Nyasaland in 1863. He was appointed Bishop in Central Africa in 1874 and died on 26 August 1882. Steere spent several periods in Zanzibar, 1864–68, 1872–74, and 1877–82. In 1873 he placed the foundation stone at Christ Church, Zanzibar, in Stone Town, Zanzibar. The cathedral was based on his vision; its concrete roof shaped in a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

was Steere's idea. He also worked with

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

to abolish slavery in Zanzibar. He is buried behind the altar in the church. David Livingstone's aides James Chuma and Abdullah Susi were part of an expedition led by Steere. Chuma was captain of the expedition and both men acted as interpreters.

Works

Steere was a considerable linguist and published works on several East African languages and dialects, including

Shambala Shambhala (, ),Śambhala m. (also written Sambhala): Name of a town (situated between the Rathaprā and Ganges, and identified by some with Sambhal in Moradabad; the town or district of Śambhala is fabled to be the place where Kalki, the last ...

, Yao, Nyamwezi, and Makonde. But he is especially known for his work on Swahili, publishing a ''Handbook of Swahili'' in 1870, and he also translated or revised the translation into Swahili of a large part of the Bible.

Notes

References

* Steere was never Bishop of Grahamstown *

External links

* * *
Robert Marshall Heanley (1898) ''A Memoir of Edward Steere, D.D., LL.D.'', Office of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, London (Google ebook)
*
Steere's ''A Handbook of the Swahili Language as spoken at Zanzibar''
original 1870 edition.
Steere's ''A Handbook of the Swahili Language as spoken at Zanzibar''
revised by A.C. Madan 1894. 1828 births 1882 deaths Alumni of the University of London English Anglican missionaries Anglican bishops in Central Africa Anglican missionaries in Tanzania Anglican missionaries in Malawi {{Anglican-bishop-stub

Life

Works

Notes

See also

References

External links