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

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

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