Llewellyn Henry Gwynne

Llewellyn Henry Gwynne CBG CBE 11 June 1863 – 9 December 1957 was the first Bishop of Egypt and Sudan.

Early life

Born in Swansea in 1863. While at the Swansea Grammar School, the headmaster encouraged him to follow the example of his beloved brother Charlie by working hard and pursuing his interest in the Bible. Ordained in 1886 he also played football for Derby County. He began his overseas career in 1899 and was a missionary across Eastern Africa. Gwynne was appointed archdeacon for the Sudan in 1905. In 1908, he was consecrated Bishop of Khartoum. Recalled to Europe in World War I he joined the army as chaplain. In July 1915, Gwynne was appointed deputy chaplain-general of the army in France, with the relative rank of major-general.

Bishop of Egypt and the Sudan

Gwynne returned to the Sudan in 1919. In 1920, he became the bishop of the new diocese of Egypt and the Sudan. He became a resident in Cairo, Egypt and would come to the Sudan on visits. In 1924, Gwynne held the first Annual Unity Service in the Khartoum Cathedral. In 1926, Gwynne and the Mufti (the religious head of Moslems) stood together to bless the new Sennar Dam. He founded the Unity High School in Khartoum, and the school was officially opened in 1928. In 1929, he dedicated the first church building at Atbara railway station. In 1937, Bishop Gwynne laid the foundation stone of a lepers' church in Lui. Gwynne returned to the United Kingdom during World War II and on 9 December 1957 he died at the age of ninety-four.

Bibliography

*H.C. Jackson, Pastor On The Nile (London: SPCK, 1960).
*Giovani Vantini, Christianity in the Sudan (Bologna, Italy: EMI Publishers, 1981).

External links

* [http://www.dacb.org/stories/sudan/gwynne_llewellynh.html Dictionary of African Christian Biography]
* [http://sudan.anglican.org Official webpage of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan]