Francis Russell Nixon (August 18037 April 1879) was a British Anglican bishop who served as the first Bishop of Tasmania, Australia. See L. Robson, 'A History of Tasmania', Vol. I, OUP, Melbourne, 1983.

Early life and ministry

Nixon was the son of Robert Nixon, a priest and amateur painter of

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, Kent. Nixon was educated at the Merchant Taylors school and St John's College, Oxford, graduating

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(BA) and subsequently Oxford Master of Arts (MA) and

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(DD). He was ordained priest in 1827 (the year of his graduation), becoming chaplain at

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and afterwards held the perpetual curacies of Sandgate and

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. While addressing a public meeting at

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, his eloquence brought him to the notice of

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, who appointed him one of the Six Preachers at

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. In September 1840 he preached a sermon in the presence of the archbishop, which was published with notes in the same year.

Bishop of Tasmania

On 24 August 1842, Nixon was

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a bishop at

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, to serve as the first Bishop of Tasmania, and arrived in the colony (then still called Van Diemen's Land) in June 1843. His first task was the organisation of the church in Tasmania, and being a moderate high churchman he came into conflict with some clergy of evangelical views. His Lectures, ''Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical on the Catechism of the Church of England'', a volume of over 600 pages, was published in London in 1843, and a second edition was called for in the following year. His

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declared his

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"spiritual and ecclesiastical throughout the diocese according to the ecclesiastical laws of England". Endeavouring to act on his letters of appointment, he came into conflict with the governor, John Eardley-Wilmot, and the

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and other denominations petitioned

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on the subject. Nixon's administration of the Diocese of Tasmania was firm and energetic, and he set a good example to the colonists by devoting a large proportion of his own income to the needs of the church and education. In 1847, he addressed a vigorous communication

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on the evils of transportation, which was printed by order of the

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in that year. It was also privately printed and issued at Launceston in November 1848. In addition to the works already mentioned Nixon published a short ''History of Merchant-Taylors' School'' in 1823, ''The Cruise of the Beacon, A Narrative of a Visit to the Islands in Bass's Straits'' (1857), and some charges and sermons.

Artist and photographer

Like his father, Nixon practised painting; his sketchbook containing drawings and paintings of Tasmanian scenes is at the

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. Early photographer Louisa Anne Meredith is remembered by John Watt Beattie in the 1880s showing him the "many specimens of both her own and the Bishop Nixon's photographic work in those early days of the very black art," and that she had been "instrumental in having the last remnant of the Tasmanian Aboriginals photographed for the purposes of science;" in March 1858, Nixon had made portraits of nine individuals belonging to the Oyster Cove group, photographs which remained relatively obscure until Beattie reproduced copies of them for the tourist industry, using his own name.

Later life

Nixon resigned on account of ill health in March 1863, and was given a valuable living at Bolton Percy,

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, England; but finding his health would not allow him to give proper attention to his duties he resigned it in 1865, and went to live near

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. He died at his residence there on 7 April 1879.

References

External links

The Cruise of the Beacon, by Francis Nixon RussellBibliographic directory of material by Nixon
from

Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Francis Russell 1803 births 1879 deaths Anglican bishops of Tasmania Alumni of St John's College, Oxford 19th-century Australian historians Australian Anglican bishops Australian photographers