Edward Twells was the first Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Bloemfontein

Anglican Diocese of the Free State

The Anglican Diocese of the Free State is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.-History:The first service North of the Orange River to be taken by an Anglican clergyman was conducted in 1850 by Robert Gray, the first Bishop of Cape Town. In 1863, Edward Twells was consecrated the...

 in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 from 1863 to 1869.

Twells was consecrated Bishop of the Orange Free State

Orange Free State

The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...

 in Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

 in 1863 under the Jerusalem Act, and went out to the colony, in the interior of South Africa, with three priests and two schoolmasters.

In November 1863 Twells founded the Diocesan Grammar School since known as St. Andrew's School, Bloemfontein

St. Andrew's School, Bloemfontein

St. Andrew's School, established in 1863 is a public school for boys located in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa.The years of study are from pre-primary to grade 12...

. He called for the establishment of a Missionary Brotherhood, in 1865, in response to which the Revd Fr H.F. Beckett left England for the Free State, in July 1867, with seven young men who would be the founding members of the Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo

Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo

The Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo was an Anglican Brotherhood founded in the Free State, South Africa, in 1867, and based at Modderpoort from 1869, in the Diocese of Bloemfontein....

, later of Modderpoort

Modderpoort

Modderpoort, also known as Lekhalong la Bo Tau or ‘The Pass of the Lions’, is the site in the eastern Free State, South Africa, where the Anglican Missionary Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo, was established by Bishop Edward Twells in the late 1860s...

.

In 1867 Twells went to the Lambeth Conference and was a proponent of the cause of Robert Gray

Robert Gray

Robert Gray was an American merchant sea-captain who is known for his achievements in connection with two trading voyages to the northern Pacific coast of North America, between 1790 and 1793, which pioneered the American maritime fur trade in that region...

 the Bishop of Capetown

Anglican Diocese of Cape Town

The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, came into being in 1847 with the consecration of the first bishop, Robert Gray, and later expanded to become the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, now called the Anglican Church of Southern Africa....

 in his battles with Bishop Colenso

John William Colenso

John William Colenso , first Anglican bishop of Natal, mathematician, theologian, Biblical scholar and social activist.-Biography:Colenso was born at St Austell, Cornwall, on 24 January 1814...

over the control of the diocese of Natal.

Twells resigned his bishopric in 1869 under a cloud following public allegations of pederasty.