William Jowett
Encyclopedia
William Jowett was a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, in 1813 becoming the first Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

man to volunteer for the overseas service of the Church Missionary Society
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society, also known as the Church Missionary Society, is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Communion and Protestant Christians around the world...

. A leader of the Evangelicals
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

 at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, he worked in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

, and in later life was clerical secretary of the Society and a parish priest in Clapham
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...

, South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

.

Life

The son of John Jowett of Newington
Newington, London
Newington is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It was an ancient parish and the site of the early administration of the county of Surrey...

, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, William Jowett was also a nephew of the jurist Joseph Jowett
Joseph Jowett
The Reverend Dr Joseph Jowett LLD was a Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge University from 1782 to 1813.-Life:...

. His father, John Jowett, was a skinner
Skinner
A skinner is a person who makes a living by working with animal skins or driving mules, similar to a muleteer.A common surname for numerous notable individuals:-Historical:*Charles Montgomery Skinner , American writer...

 by trade and an early member of the Church Missionary Society.

Jowett was educated by another uncle, the Reverend Henry Jowett, and then at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, where he matriculated
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...

 in 1806. He graduated BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 (achieving the ranking of twelfth wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos and winning the Hulsean Prize for an essay on the Jews and idolatry) in 1810, then MA in 1813.

Jowett was a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

 of St John's
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

 from 1811 to 1816. John Henry Overton, in The English Church in the Nineteenth Century, says that "The two Jowetts, Joseph Jowett (1752-1813) and his nephew William Jowett (1787-1855), were also leaders of the Evangelicals
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

 at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

.

In 1813, Jowett became the first Anglican clergyman to step forward for the overseas service of the Church Missionary Society. Between 1815 and 1820 he worked in the Mediterranean region. The Christian Observer noted in May 1816 "The Rev. Wm. Jowett has established himself in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

", while The Baptist Magazine reported in 1816 under the heading 'Church Missionary Society' that

Jowett was based in Malta for most of his first five years in the Mediterranean, but during that period he also lived for a time in Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 and twice visited Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. He returned to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1820, with his family, to recover his health.

Considering the peoples and religions of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 while he was based in Malta, Jowett wrote "Even the
geographer, whose task lies merely with the surface of the land and sea, confesses that all he has to show of Africa is but as the hem of a garment!"

In 1818, writing from Malta to the Rev. James Connor in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, Jowett said: "Religious tracts are too generally dull, because they deal more in abstract truth than in living pictures... It is well, in all our observations of life, to keep some very leading truths in view: they serve as beacons, by the help of which the philosophic mind shapes its course."

Later, from 1823 to 1824, Jowett worked for the Society in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

. Towards the end of 1823, he visited Jerusalem.

From 1832 to 1841, Jowett was clerical secretary of the CMS and was also lecturer at St Mary Aldermanbury
St Mary Aldermanbury
St Mary Aldermanbury church in the City of London, is first mentioned in 1181 but was destroyed by the Great fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt in Portland stone by Sir Christopher Wren, it was again gutted by the Blitz in 1940, leaving only the walls...

 and St Peter upon Cornhill
St Peter upon Cornhill
St Peter upon Cornhill is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street. It is currently a satellite church in the parish of St Helen's Bishopsgate, and is used for staff training, bible studies and a youth club.The church was used by the Tank...

, both in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

, and at Holy Trinity, Clapham
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...

. Eugene Stock, writing The History of the Church Missionary Society at the end of the 19th century, described Jowett in his role as clerical secretary of the Society as "faithful and tender-spirited" and over-shadowed by the Society's Lay Secretary, Dandeson Coates.

Jowett retired from his position with the Church Missionary Society in July 1841 on the grounds of ill health, and the Society's Committee resolved as follows:

A Māori chief of the Ngāti Paoa of Waiheke Island
Waiheke Island
Waiheke Island is an island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, located about from Auckland.The island is the second-largest in the Hauraki Gulf after Great Barrier Island. It is the most populated, with nearly 8,000 permanent residents plus another estimated 3,400 who have second or holiday homes...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, was baptized 'William Jowett' in honour of Jowett, and in Māori usage this name became 'Wiremu Howete'.

In 1851, Jowett gained the benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

 of St John's, Clapham Rise, and he died at Clapham in 1855.

The first Amharic Bible

Jowett gives an account of the creation of the first Amharic Bible, in which he himself played a part. In about 1809, the French consul at Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, M. Asselin de Cherville, met an elderly Abyssinia
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...

n named Abu Rumi
Abu Rumi
Abu Rumi is the name recorded as being the translator for the first complete Bible in Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia. Previously, only partial Amharic translations existed, and the Ethiopian Bible existed only in Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia. His story is recorded...

, who had been both interpreter to the traveller James Bruce
James Bruce
James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.-Youth:...

 in North Africa and an instructor to the philologist Sir William Jones
William Jones (philologist)
Sir William Jones was an English philologist and scholar of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages...

. Asselin wished to have some important book translated into Amharic, the vernacular language of Abyssinia, as a linguistic exercise, and employed Abu Rumi to translate the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

. Asselin remarked, however, "I blushed while I offered a salary to a man the most simple, the most virtuous, and the most disinterested, that I ever met with." In 1819, after he had finished the whole translation, Abu Rumi died of the plague at Cairo. In 1820, while on a visit to Cairo, Jowett saw this work in manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

, entered into negotiations with Asselin, and on 10 April 1820 bought it for the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....

 "on terms which appeared to... be equitable to all parties". The manuscript consisted of 9,539 pages "...in the hand-writing of the Translator, Abu Rumi; which is a bold and fine specimen of the Amharic character
Ge'ez alphabet
Ge'ez , also called Ethiopic, is a script used as an abugida for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea but originated in an abjad used to write Ge'ez, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church...

". Jowett wrote in 1822:

This was the first ever complete translation of the Bible into Amharic, and the Bible Society produced an edition by Thomas Pell Platt and circulated thousands of copies in Abyssinia, where it caused a sensation. The Amharic Bible of Abu Rumi was later revised for the Bible Society by Johann Ludwig Krapf
Johann Ludwig Krapf
Johann Ludwig Krapf was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro...

, a German missionary. The Abu Rumi Bible was the principle translation of the Bible in Amharic until the Emperor Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie I , born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974...

 ordered a new translation which appeared in 1960-61.

Wife and children

In 1815, Jowett had married Martha, a daughter of John Whiting of Little Palgrave, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, and they had seven children together, but his wife died long before him, in 1829. She had worked as a missionary alongside her husband, and according to Emma Raymond Pitman's Heroines of the Mission Field (1880), "Miss Martha Whiting in her youth received a superior education, and evinced not only a zeal for the acquisition of knowledge, but an aptitude for acquiring languages". A number of her letters survive. A memorial inscription to Martha Jowett at St Mary's, Lewisham
Lewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

, reads "In memory of Martha, the beloved wife of the Rev. William Jowett M.A., She was eleven years resident as a missionary in Malta, born Oct. 22, 1789, died June 24, 1829. Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?"

Publications

In 1822 Jowett published a work on the Mediterranean, Christian Researches, and in 1825 other work on Syria and Palestine. Among his many other works, a memoir of the Rev. Cornelius Neale
Cornelius Neale
Cornelius Neale was an English clergyman.Cornelius Neale came from a London family with an Evangelical background: his father James Neale was one of the founders of the London Missionary Society. He entered St John's College, Cambridge and graduated Senior Wrangler in 1812, with first Smith's...

 ran into two editions.
  • Christian researches in the Mediterranean, from MDCCCXV to MDCCCXX in the furtherance of the objects of the Church Missionary Society, with an appendix containing the Journal of the Rev. James Connor, chiefly in Syria and Palestine (London: L. B. Seeley and J. Hatchard, for the Church Missionary Society, 1822)
  • Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land in MDCCCXXIII and MDCCCXXIV, in Furtherance of the Objects of the Church Missionary Society: with an Appendix Containing the Journal of Mr. Joseph Greaves on a Visit to the Regency of Tunis (London: L. B. Seeley and J. Hatchard, 1825)
  • A Memoir of the Rev. W. A. B. Johnson, Missionary of the Church Missionary Society in Regent's Town, Sierra Leone, A.D. 1816-1823, Compiled from his Journals, etc., by R. B. Seeley, with some prefatory remarks by the Rev. William Jowett, M. A. (London: 1832, 430pp)
  • Memoir of the Rev. Cornelius Neale, M. A., to which are added his Remains; being Sermons, Allegories & Various Compositions in Prose and Verse (London: Seeley & Burnside, 2nd edition, 1835)
  • The Christian visitor; or, Select portions of the Old Testament, Genesis to Job; with expositions and prayers, designed to assist the friends of the sick and afflicted (London: R. B. Seeley & W. Burnside, 1836)
  • Helps to Pastoral Visitation: illustrating the Spiritual Intercourse of a Minister with his Flock (London: Seeley, Burnside & Seeley, 1844, 342pp)
  • Scripture Characters: First Series: Adam to Abraham B.C. 4004—1822 (London: Seeley, Burnside & Seeley, 1847)
  • Family Prayers for Five Weeks (London: Seeley, Jackson & Halliday, 1855)


Seventy-eight letters written by Jowett from Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 and England between 1816 and 1836 are held in the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....

's Archives.

J. H. Overton notes "Henry Blunt, Josiah Pratt
Josiah Pratt
Josiah Pratt was an English evangelical clergyman, involved in publications and the administration of missionary work.-Life:The second son of Josiah Pratt, a Birmingham manufacturer, he was born in Birmingham on 21 December 1768. With his two younger brothers, Isaac and Henry, Josiah was educated...

, William Jowett, Basil Woodd, in fact, almost all the leaders of the Evangelical party, were writers of devotional works which have shared the inevitable fate of the vast majority of such works, and, having served their purpose in their day, passed into oblivion."

External links

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