Nelson Wellesley Fogarty (1871–1933) was the first Anglican Bishop of Damaraland (

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) from 1924 to 1933.

Biography

Nelson Wellesley Fogarty was born on 13 September 1871 in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

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, England, the son of John Evans Fogarty and his wife Mary Ann Mills. He was educated at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

before entering St Augustine's Missionary College in 1890. (He was made an Honorary Fellow in 1924). After achieving a first class pass in the Preliminary Theological Examination in 1893 he went out to

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, and was licensed as a

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christia ...

in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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, in the

Anglican Diocese of Cape Town The Diocese of Cape Town is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) which presently covers central Cape Town, some of its suburbs and the island of Tristan da Cunha, though in the past it has covered a much larger territory. T ...

, on 24 October 1893. He was made

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 ...

by the

Metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

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 ...

, William West Jones, on 21 September 1894, and licensed 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. Saviour's church, Claremont in Cape Town. He moved to

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ) is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Dubbed the "ostrich capital of the world", Oudtshoorn is known for its ostric ...

in 1895, being licensed as assistant curate of St. Jude's church, Oudtshoorn on 26 March 1895, and serving as acting

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to the Oudtshoorn Volunteer Rifles. He was ordained

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 ...

by William West Jones 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 8 March 1896. In 1897 he became

to the Bishop of

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William Thomas Gaul William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927) was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being ...

, and to the Railway Mission, in what is now the

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, and during the

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was chaplain to the Southern Rhodesian contingent, being awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal, with two clasps. In 1901 he took up an appointment in Basutoland (

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), then part of the Diocese of Bloemfontein, as principal of St Mary's Training College, Thlotse Heights. In 1904 he became Director of the Government Industrial School,

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. He served as a

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Cathedral between 1912 and 1920. Having served as a chaplain with the Union Defence Forces in

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during 1915, he was appointed as

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of Damaraland and

Vicar-General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar ...

for the Metropolitan of the Church of the Province of South Africa in

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in 1916. When the missionary Diocese of Damaraland was formed in 1924, he was chosen to be its first bishop, and consecrated as such in St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town on Quinquagesima Sunday, 2 March 1924 by the Archbishop of Cape Town, assisted by the Bishops of

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, Bloemfontein, and St. John's, Kaffraria, as well as the

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Cape Town, and Bishop Gaul. During his episcopate St George's Cathedral in

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was built. He died in Sea Point, Cape Town, on 8 April 1933. Fogarty was "described as 'a man of fine physique, more than average good looks and a forceful preacher'. He was friendly and simple-hearted, yet of a forceful character, and often laboured single-handed in remote districts to further the work of the Church" (Boucher).M Boucher, "Fogarty, Nelson Wellesley" in ''Dictionary of South African Biography'' (vol. IV) (1981), p. 159.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fogarty, Nelson 20th-century English Anglican priests 1871 births 1933 deaths Clergy from Canterbury 20th-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops Holders of a Lambeth degree Anglican bishops of Damaraland Alumni of St Augustine's College, Canterbury English military chaplains Military personnel from Canterbury British military personnel of World War I