Peter Henry Herbert Howes

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 ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

(20 March 1911 – 12 April 2003) was an English clergyman in the Anglican Church who spent 44 years in

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. He was an assistant bishop of Kuching from 1976 to 1981.

Early life

Howes was born as Henry Herbert Howes in 1911 in Suffolk to Herbert William Howes (1879-1982), a farmer, and his wife Lilian Emma (née Tungate) (1886-1973). Herbert Howes subsequently became Director of the National Institute of Poultry Husbandry (now part of

Harper Adams University Harper Adams University, founded in 1901 as Harper Adams College, is a public university located close to the village of Edgmond, near Newport, Shropshire, Newport, in Shropshire, England. Established in 1901, the college is a specialist provi ...

) and young Henry (later Peter) grew up in Shropshire, and attended Adams Grammar School in Newport.

Career

He went to Kelham Theological College in 1929 to train for ordination with the

Society of the Sacred Mission The Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM), with the associated Company of the Sacred Mission, is an Anglican religious order founded in 1893 by Father Herbert Kelly, envisaged such that "members of the Society share a common life of prayer and fello ...

. He was ordained deacon in 1934 and priest in 1935. He served his title at St Michael and All Angels, Norton, Co Durham (1934–37). Howes went to

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

as a SPG missionary in 1937. At first Missioner of St Augustine's Mission, Betong (1937–38), he was then Headmaster of St. Michael's Secondary School,

Sandakan Sandakan () formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of the sta ...

(1938–40). He was then Priest-in-Charge of Quop (1940–50), but that ten year incumbency masks his experiences of the Second World War. He was interned by the Japanese at the Batu Lintang camp from Christmas Eve 1941 to 1945. Despite the privations of that experience, he was able to translate the New Testament from Greek into Land Dayak, writing on the back of labels from bottles and hiding the texts under the floorboards of his hut. In 1963 the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The ...

printed Howes' New Testament in Dayak. He was Priest-in-Charge of Tai-I (1950–52) and then the first Warden of the House of the Epiphany Theological School,

Kuching Kuching ( , ), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak Ri ...

(1952–56). His next appointment was a non-clerical one. From 1957 to 1960 he was Officer-in-Charge and responsible for the implementation of the Padawan Improvement Scheme, which brought improvements in education, hygiene and agriculture to villages near the Indonesian border. He was a Canon of Borneo Cathedral (1955–62) and then the re-established St Thomas's Cathedral in Kuching (1962–71), as well as Canon Missioner (1961–71). At the same time he was Archdeacon of Sarawak (1961–62), Kuching (1962–65), and Brunei and North Sarawak (1965–71). He was Principal of the re-founded House of the Epiphany (1971–76) (there was a separate Warden) and then finally Assistant Bishop of Kuching (1976–81). During the colonial period, Howes was a member of the Sarawak State Council. He was awarded an

in 1961. He appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Star of Sarawak The Most Excellent Order of the Star of Sarawak ( Malay: ''Darjah Yang Amat Gemilang Bintang Sarawak'') was established by Charles Vyner Brooke, The Rajah of Sarawak, on 26 September 1928 as the highest order of chivalry within the Raj of Saraw ...

(PBS) when the Order was revived in 1964. He retired in 1981, but when the first indigenous

Bishop of Kuching The Bishop of Kuching is the ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Kuching in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. The bishop exercises episcopal authority over Anglican churches in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and in the independent ...

, Basil Temenggong, died suddenly in 1984, Howes returned to Kuching to be acting bishop.

Personal life

In retirement, Howes lived in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. He died in 2003, aged 92.

Works

*''Shun nyamba nang: A collection of Land Dayak stories'', (1952: Macmillan). *"The Lintang Camp: Reminiscences of an Internee during the Japanese Occupation, 1942–1945" ''Journal of the Malaysian Historical Society (Sarawak Branch)'' (1976) 2, 33–47. *''In a Fair Ground, or Cibus Cassowari'', (1994: Excalibur).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howes, Peter Henry Herbert 1911 births 2003 deaths People from Kuching Anglican missionaries in Malaysia 20th-century Anglican bishops in Asia People educated at Adams' Grammar School Alumni of Kelham Theological College Bible translators Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire