Keith John Benzies

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(19 June 1938 – 12 May 2002) was an Anglican bishop in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. He was the Bishop of Antsiranana from 1982 until his death in 2002.

Early life

Benzies was born in

Stepps Stepps (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ceumannan'') is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the north-eastern outskirts of Glasgow. According to data gathered by North Lanarkshire Council in 2020, Stepps is estimated to have a population of roughly 7, ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

, the son of John Young Benzies, a professor of thermodynamics, (1914-1994) and his wife Jeanette Evelyn (née Beckett) (1913-1956). Both his mother and younger brother Roger died in the 1956 BOAC Argonaut accident at Kano Airport in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. Benzies was educated at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, obtaining a MA in Czech and French in 1960.''Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973-74'', 85th Edition, p 76.

Clerical career

Benzies trained for ordination at Salisbury Theological College, and was ordained deacon in 1962 and priest in 1963. He served his title at St Nicholas's Church,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

(1962-1966). For his second curacy, Benzies went to

as a

USPG 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 ...

missionary. He was Vice-Principal of St Paul's Theological College,

Ambatoharanana Ambatoharanana is a rural municipality in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Fenerive Est, which is a part of Analanjirofo region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 6,000 in 2001 commune census. Only primar ...

(1966-1969) and then Principal (1969-1979) as well as being concurrently, in part, Chancellor (1970-1975). He ran a home for 30 destitute boys. He was elected as the successor to the Rt Rev Gabriel Josoa as Bishop of Antsiranana in 1982. He was awarded an

in 1993.

Personal life

Benzies died in office in 2002, aged 63, from

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. He was unmarried, but had many adopted children whom he put through education and into employment.

References

1938 births 2002 deaths 20th-century Anglican bishops in Africa Alumni of the University of Glasgow Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{Africa-Anglican-bishop-stub