William Hart Coleridge

The Rt Rev William Hart Coleridge (27 June 1789 – 20 December 1849) was the first Bishop of Barbados from 1824 until 1842.

He was born on 27 June 1789. He was the only son of Luke Herman Coleridge of Thorverton, Devonshire, and his wife, Sarah, the third daughter of Richard Hart of Exeter. His father (a brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge) died during his infancy, and he was educated by his uncle, the Rev. George Coleridge, master of the grammar school of Ottery St. Mary. He entered as a commoner of Christ Church, Oxford, under Cyril Jackson, and was noticed for his 'earnest application and sweetness of manners.' He graduated B.A. 21 November 1811, M.A. 1 June 1814, B.C. 17 June 1824, D.D. 18 June 1824.

Soon after leaving the university he became one of the curates of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and afterwards secretary to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; he was also preacher at the National Society's chapel in Ely Place. In 1824, he was consecrated bishop of Barbados. During his enrollment on the 29th January 1829 the streets of Bridgetown, Barbados, from Trafalgar Square to St. Michael’s Cathedral were lined with the four companies of the Royal Militia presided over by Major George Walrond (co-heir to the Barony of Welles). He found the diocese in an unsatisfactory condition. The number of clergymen and churches was insufficient, and there were few daily schools and Sunday schools. In his first charge (delivered in 1830) the bishop noted an improvement, especially in the condition of the negroes, who had now almost entirely abandoned such customs as the howlings over the dead and the offering of food at graves. In a charge delivered in July 1838, just before the legal emancipation of the slaves in the West Indian colonies, he states that the negroes 'flock to the churches and chapels,' and are 'civil in their behaviour' and 'decent in their appearance.' At this time the number of communicants was unusually large. There were 99 clergy in the diocese, 42 school-houses, and 53 parish churches. Seven of the churches had now been rebuilt after their destruction in the great hurricane which devastated Barbados on 11 August 1831.

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