Samuel Ajayi Crowther

Bishop Samuel Adjai Crowther (c. 1807 - December 31, 1891) was the first African Anglican Bishop in Nigeria, and a linguist. Born in Osogun, Yorubaland (in today's Iseyin Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria), Crowther was a member of the Yoruba ethnic group.

Crowther was captured by local slavers in 1821 and sold to Portuguese slave traders. Before leaving port, his ship was boarded by the British Navy, and Crowther was taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone and released. While there, Crowder was cared for by the Anglican Church Missionary Society, who taught him English. He converted to Christianity and was baptized Samuel Crowther in 1825. While in Freetown, Crowther became interested in languages. In 1826 he was taken to England to attend Islington Parish School. He returned to Freetown in 1827 and attended the newly-opened Fourah Bay College , an Anglican missionary school, where his interest in language found him studying Latin and Greek. After completing his studies he began teaching at the school. He also married Asano Susan, a schoolmistress, who was also on the Portuguese slave ship that originally brought Crowther to Sierra Leone.

In 1841 Crowther was appointed as an interpreter for an expedition into Niger. The goal of the expedition was to spread commerce, teach agricultural techniques, spread Christianity, and help end the slave trade. Following the expedition, Crowther was recalled to England, where he was trained as a minister and ordained by the bishop of London. He returned to Africa and opened a mission in Abeokuta, in today's Ogun State, Nigeria.

Crowther began translating the Bible into Yoruba and compiling a Yoruba dictionary. A grammar book was published in 1843. Crowther also produced a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. He also began codifying other languages. Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Crowther produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, another for the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864.

In 1864, Crowther was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church. That same year he also recieved a Doctor of Divinity from Oxford University.

Reference

• Flint, J. Crowther, Samuel Ajayi (c.1807-1891), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
• Walls, A. F. Samuel Ajayi Crowther (1807-1891) Foremost African Christian of the Nineteenth Century by Andrew F. Walls. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Jan. 92, 16(1):15-21