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The Reverend Thomas Jackson, the first Bishop designate
of Canterbury, was a first class passenger on the immigrant ship
Castle Eden, and this diary and record of early Canterbury is the
report submitted to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Doctor Jackson's
return to England. When the Canterbury Association started its
scheme of
colonisation it was intended that it should be an
English Church settlement provided with a complete organisation
for
church government such as in England i.e.. a Bishop,
clergymen, schoolmasters etc. In May, Reverend Thomas Jackson M.A.,
was approved for Bishop.He was principal of St. John's Training
College at Battersea a teacher training college for English Church
schools - there were no state schools.
The Reverend Thomas
Jackson born in 1812 was the son of a Wesleyan clergyman. He was
educated at St Saviour's School, Southwark, and at St. Mary Hall,
Oxford where he graduated B.A. in 1834 and was admitted to the
Deacon's and Priest's orders. At age of 32, Mr Jackson was appointed
principal of St. John's College, Battersea, a position he held for
six years when he accepted the Lyttelton Bishopric.
The
engagement commenced on June, 1850 and from that time till he sailed
on the Castle Eden in September of the same year, he addressed many
meetings on behalf of the Association's project and the colonists
society. However a legal hitch had been discovered in the patent of
the Bishop of New Zealand - there was no clause in the patent
which provided for the resignation of a portion of a
New Zealand diocese. The Colonial Office decided that Dr
Selwyn must resign the whole diocese and receive a fresh patent and
that the Mr Jackson's Lyttelton diocese must be the whole of the
South Island whereas Dr Selwyn wished to surrender only Canterbury
settlement and Otago. The bishop designate decided to come to New
Zealand himself and talk to Bishop Selwyn and after discussion
Selwyn's will prevailed and Bishop Jackson returned to
England. Ref: Canterbury Museum CPES 276
148/49 |
 
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