George Gurney Nicol

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George Gurney Mather Nicol (1856-1888) was a Sierra Leonean clergyman. [1] [2] He was the first African from a British colony to be educated at Cambridge University. [3]

Life

George Gurney Mather Nicol was born into an elite Sierra Leone Creole family: he was a grandson of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, and the son of the mathematics teacher and clergyman George Croley Nicol. [3] [4] Born on 22 February 1856 at Freetown, he was educated in England, at Monkton Combe School and Sydney College, Bath. [2] In 1879 he graduated BA from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. [2] He went on to the Church Missionary Society College, Islington and was ordained in 1883. [1]

After graduation, Nicol returned to Sierra Leone. Like his father, he taught mathematics at Fourah Bay College, and became a Colonial Chaplain. [1] Ordained deacon in 1883, he became a curate at Church of the Holy Trinity, Freetown. In 1885 he was ordained priest, and became Pastor of Sherbro Island. [2]

He died on 15 August 1888. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Nicol, G. Gurney M.". Dictionary of African Christian Biography . Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Nicol, George Gurney Mather (NCL875GG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. 1 2 Akintola J. G. Wyse (1989). The Krio of Sierra Leone: An Interpretive History. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 34. ISBN   978-1-85065-031-7.
  4. "Nicol, George". Dictionary of African Christian Biography . Retrieved 31 October 2020.