Owen Emeric Vidal, Bishop of Sierra Leone: drawings, sketch maps and related papers
Scope and Contents
A collection of sketches and drawings relating the episcopate of Owen Emeric Vidal, first Anglican Bishop of Sierra Leone and West Africa, between 1852 and his death on a sea voyage back to Sierra Leone in 1854. The sketches and drawings are initialled by various hands - O.E.V. or O.E.S.L. for Bishop Vidal; A.A.V. for his wife, Anne Adelaide Vidal (nee Hoare); M.A.H., who has not been identified but was possibly a member of the Hoare family. Captions have been enclosed in single quotation marks and have been recorded as found to retain the context of their creation.
Dates
- Creation: 1852-1854, 1960s
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact rcs@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Biographical / Historical
Owen Emeric Vidal (1819-1854) was the son of the watercolourist, Emeric Essex Vidal (1791-1861) and Anna Jane Vidal (nee Capper). He was born at Easthampstead, Bracknell, and was educated at St Paul's School, Southsea, and St John's College, Cambridge. Ordained a priest in Dec. 1843, Vidal served as vicar of Holy Trinity, Upper Dicker, in East Sussex. Vidal was interested in missionary work. He wrote a Malay grammar for the Borneo Mission and helped Samuel Adjai Crowther (later first Bishop of Niger) with a Yoruba Grammar. He was consecrated Bishop in 1852 and appointed as the first Anglian Bishop of Sierra Leone. The see comprised the British colonies of Sierra Leone, The Gambia and the Gold Coast [Ghana]. Vidal died on a sea journey back to Sierra Leone after visiting the Yoruba Mission in Dec. 1854 and was buried in the old cemetery in Freetown. In 1852 he had married Anne Adelaide Hoare (d. 1882), daughter of Rev. Henry Hoare, vicar of Framfield, Sussex.
Extent
0.003 cubic metre(s) (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This listing is based on the chronological arrangement produced by Donald Simpson, the RCS librarian, who received the collection in 1965. The original numbering has not been altered. Items 19 (pencil drawing of 'Nurse Ashley and little Annie') and 29 (corrected copy of off-print of Donald Simpson's article in 'Sierra Leone Studies) are missing.
Other Finding Aids
Donald H. Simpson (ed.), 'The manuscript catalogue of the Library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), pp. 91-2.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Items 1-12 and 15-23 were presented to the RCS library by Mr J. Michael Kirkness in 1965. Items 13-14 were presented by Miss G. Gillespie, per Mr J. Michael Kirkness, also in 1965. Kirkness and Gillespie were distant relatives of Bishop Vidal through the Knocker family. Items 26-27 were presented by Mr A.S. Mason, c. 1966.
Bibliography
Geographic
Topical
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Cambridge University Library Repository
Cambridge University Library
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Cambridge CB3 9DR United Kingdom
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all other enquiries: mss@lib.cam.ac.uk