Christopher Lipscomb


Christopher Lipscomb was the first Anglican Bishop of Jamaica.

Life

Lipscomb was the son of William Lipscomb, rector of Welbury, and the brother of Francis Lipscomb, who died from a dog bite. Lipscomb was baptised on 20 November 1781 in Staindrop, County Durham. He was educated at New College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1800 and took his MA on 28 June 1811, and was elected a fellow.
Lipscomb was ordained in 1816. He was appointed vicar of Sutton Benger, Wiltshire on 2 October 1818 and remained there until his elevation to the Episcopate. Hw was consecrated bishop at Lambeth Palace on 24 July 1824, the same year he obtained his doctorate of divinity from the University of Oxford.
The see of Jamaica was erected by letters patent of George IV, and Lipscomb appointed its first bishop, on 24 July 1824. His initial salary was four thousand pounds per annum. The bishop arrived on Jamaica on 11 February 1825 and was enthroned as bishop on 15 February. Lipscombe was the author of Church Societies, a Blessing to the Colonies: A Sermon. He resigned his See in 1842 and died on 4 April 1843.
Lipscomb was married to Mary Harriet, who died at Brighton on 14 February 1860.

Works