Henry Callaway


Henry Callaway was a missionary for the Church of England and bishop of St John's, Kaffraria, in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa.

Pre-missionary life

Henry Callaway was the son of a bootmaker. He was educated at Crediton Grammar School and became a teacher in 1835. His headmaster was a Quaker, and Callaway soon joined the Society of Friends.
Later, he was a chemist's assistant and a surgeon's assistant. He began to study surgery and in 1842 he was licensed by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He was licensed by the Apothecaries' Society in 1844.
He married Ann Chalk in 1845. In 1852, when his health began to fail, he sold his practice and spent a year in France. By the next year he had graduated from King's College, Aberdeen, with plans to become a physician.

Missionary work

Soon after graduating, he became interested in missionary work. In 1854, he was made a deacon by John Colenso, bishop of Natal having become a member of the Church of England two years earlier. Soon afterwards, he went as a missionary to Africa. Initially, he was stationed at Ekukanyeni, but, after being ordained as a priest in 1855, he was made rector of St. Andrew's church, Pietermaritzburg.
In 1858, he was granted land near the Umkomazi River and settled on the banks of the Nsunguze River, he named his settlement Springvale. It was here that he began his study of the Zulu people, their religious beliefs and other customs and obtained the information which enabled him to write his books Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus and The Religious System of the Amazulu. He also translated the Book of Psalms and the Book of Common Prayer into the Zulu language.
In 1873, he was recalled to England so he could be consecrated as the first missionary Bishop of St John's, Kaffraria. He left Great Britain the following year. In 1876, he moved the seat of his diocese to Umtata, where he founded St John's Theological College.
His health, however, began to fail, and he resigned his post in 1886. The next year he returned to England, making his home at Ottery Saint Mary, where he lived until his death in 1890.

Publications