Charles Alford

File:Charles Richard Alford.jpg

Charles Richard Alford (13 August 1816{{snd}}13 June 1898) was an Anglican bishop and author in the last third of the 19th century.[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=168-xalf&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18#-1 National Archives]

Alford was born into an ecclesiastical family in Somerset, England,[http://www.alfordassociation.org/AFN/afn_22.pdfinto Alford Association]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on 13 August 1816. His father was the rector of West Quantoxhead.“Who was Who” 1897–1990 London, A & C Black 1991 {{ISBN|0-7136-3457-X}} He was educated at St Paul's School, London and Trinity College, Cambridge.{{acad|id=ALFT835CR|name=Alford, Charles Richard}} He was ordained deacon in 1839 and priest a year later at Lincoln Cathedral. He served curacies at Holy Trinity, Finningley and St Matthew's Rugby."The Clergy List, Clerical Guide and Ecclesiastical Directory" London, Hamilton & Co 1889 Alford married Sarah Jacosha Fleet at St Margaret Pattens in the City of London, on 20 July 1840.

In 1846 he became Vicar of Christ Church, Doncaster,[http://www.christchurchdoncaster.org.uk/web/ Church website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100913012950/http://www.christchurchdoncaster.org.uk/web/ |date=September 13, 2010 }} a post he held for eight years. He was then Principal of Highbury Training College for a decade then vicar of Holy Trinity, Islington. He was ordained and consecrated to the episcopate at Canterbury Cathedral on the Feast of the Purification (2 February 1867), by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury;{{Church Times | title = Church news: Consecration of three colonial prelates | archive = 1867_02_09_049 | issue = 210 | date = 9 February 1867 | page = 49 | accessed = 23 December 2021 }} to serve as the second Bishop of Victoria. The Alfords left England on 29 July 1867 and arrived in Hong Kong on 8 October 1867. Between September and December 1868 Alford made pastoral visits to the newly established treaty ports of Japan, arriving in Yokohama on the 24th of November just in time to witness the procession of the Meiji Emperor as the Imperial capital was relocated from Kyoto to Edo.{{cite book |last1=Mockford |first1=James |title=Anglican and Episcopal History |date=1988 |volume=57 |issue=1 |publisher=Historical Society of the Episcopal Church |page=50 |jstor=42610241 |edition=Vol. 57 no. 1 |url=http://www.JSTOR.org/stable/42610241 |access-date=13 May 2021}}

After resigning his episcopate and returning to England in 1872 (he had resigned before he was appointed to Bowden, Cheshire in April 1872);{{Church Times | title = Church news: Retired colonials | archive = 1872_04_05_156 | issue = 479 | date = 5 April 1872 | page = 156 | accessed = 23 December 2021 }} he held further incumbencies at Christ Church, Claughton, MerseysideThe Times, Monday, Aug 27, 1877; pg. 9; Issue 29031; col F Ecclesiastical News and St Mary's Kippington.[https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1255861 Photo of church] From 1880 until his retirement in 1881 he was a commissary to the Diocese of Huron.[https://archive.today/20071117090218/http://www.diohuron.org/bishops_office/bishops_of_huron.htm Diocesan web-site] He died on 13 June 1898.Obituary. Bishop Alford The Times 16 June 1898; pg. 10; Issue 35544; col A

Works

First Principles of the Oracles of God, 1856
Charge to Diocese of Victoria, with Review of Missions to China and Japan, 1871
Standfast, 1895
Collected Sermons, 1899 (posthumous publication)