Henry Newton (bishop)

Henry Newton (5 January 1866 – 25 September 1947) was an Anglican colonial bishop who served two Southern Hemisphere dioceses in the first half of the 20th century.^[1]

The Right Reverend Henry Newton
Bishop of New Guinea
Bishop Newton c. 1936 (colorised)
Church	Church of England in Australia
Diocese	New Guinea
In office	1922–1936
Predecessor	Gerald Sharp
Successor	Philip Strong
Other post(s)	Bishop of Carpentaria, 1915–1922
Orders
Ordination	1891
Consecration	1915
Personal details
Born	5 January 1866 Buckland, Victoria
Died	September 25, 1947(1947-09-25) (aged 81)
Alma mater	St. Paul's College, Sydney Merton College, Oxford

Early life

Newton was born Henry Wilkinson, the son of Thomas Wilkinson and his wife Anne (née Magney), in Buckland, near Beechworth, Victoria. In 1876 he was adopted by the Rev. Frederick Robert Newton, and subsequently took his surname.^[2]

Clerical career

He was educated at St. Paul's College, Sydney and Merton College, Oxford.^[3] Ordained in 1891,^[4] after a curacy at St John's, Hackney^[5] he returned to the Antipodes where he became priest at St Agnes's Church, Esk, Queensland,^[6] and then a missionary in New Guinea.^[7] From 1915 to 1922 he was the second Bishop of Carpentaria. During his term as bishop, St Paul's Theological College, Moa, was opened for native students to train for ordination,^[8] and in 1919 he ordained the first two Torres Strait Islanders to become deacons, Poey Passi^[9] and Joseph Lui.^[10] Translated to New Guinea in 1922, he retired in 1936.

Honours

In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.^[11] He was one of six recipients from the region.^[12] After his death, Newton Theological College was renamed in his honour.^[13]