William Cassels

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William Wharton Cassels
Bishop of Western China
William Cassels (photography published in 1886 in A Missionary Band: A Record and an Appeal by Benjamin Broomhall)
ChurchChurch in China
DioceseWestern China
Installed1895
Term ended1925
SuccessorHoward Mowll
Orders
Consecration18 October 1895
by Edward White Benson
Personal details
Born(1858-03-11)11 March 1858
Died7 November 1925(1925-11-07) (aged 67)
Paoning, Szechwan, Republican China
BuriedSt John's Cathedral, Paoning
NationalityBritish
DenominationAnglican
ParentsJohn Cassels
Ethelinda Cox
SpouseMary Louisa Legg
ChildrenHarold Cassels
Alma mater

William Wharton Cassels (11 March 1858 – 7 November 1925) was an Anglican missionary bishop.

Early life and education[edit]

Cassels was born in Oporto, Portugal, the sixth son of John Cassels, a merchant, and Ethelinda Cox, a distant relation of Warren Hastings.[1] He was educated at Percival House School,[2] Repton School[3] and St John's College, Cambridge.[4]

Work[edit]

He was ordained[5] deacon (Rochester) on 4 June 1882 and priest on 10 June 1883.[6] He was a curate at All Saints' South Lambeth from 1882 to 1885. A member of the famous ‘Cambridge Seven’,[7] he joined the China Inland Mission in 1885, together with Arthur T. Polhill-Turner and Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp, the three established a proper Church of England diocese in Szechwan.[8] In 1895, he became the Bishop of Western China (West China Diocese).[9] One of the foremost missionaries of his time, who possessed great gifts of organisation, he understood the Chinese and was held in great veneration by them.

Family and death[edit]

Cassels married Mary Louisa Legg, daughter of Edward Legg, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Shanghai, on 4 October 1887.[10] They had several children.[11] He died on 7 November 1925 at Paoning, Szechwan,[12] buried in the garden of St John's Cathedral of Paoning. Mrs Cassels died eight days later.[13] He had a son Harold Cassels born in Szechwan.

Publications[edit]

  • Cassels, W. W. (1898). Wang: A Chinese Christian (new ed.). London: Morgan & Scott.
  • Cassels, W. W. (1908). The Claims of China on the Church of Christ. "Day of Opportunity and the C.M.S." series (No. 2). London: Church Missionary Society.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Broomhall 1926, p. 7.
  2. ^ Broomhall 1926, p. 22.
  3. ^ Who was Who 1897–1990. London: A & C Black. 1991. ISBN 0-7136-3457-X.
  4. ^ "Cassels, William Wharton (CSLS877WW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory 1940–1941. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1941.
  6. ^ Malden, Richard, ed. (1920). Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1920 (51st edn). London: The Field Press. p. 269.
  7. ^ Norris, Frank L. (1908). "Chapter X. The Church in Western China". Handbooks of English Church Expansion: China. Oxford: A. R. Mowbray. p. 134.
  8. ^ Austin, Alvyn (1996). "Missions Dream Team". Christian History. Worcester, PA: Christian History Institute. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  9. ^ The Clergy List. London: John Phillips. 1900.
  10. ^ Broomhall 1926, p. 107.
  11. ^ Broomhall 1926, p. 256.
  12. ^ "Death Of Bishop Cassels. Forty Years In China". The Times. No. 44115. London. 10 November 1925. p. 13.
  13. ^ Broomhall 1926, p. 354.

Bibliography[edit]