Kenneth Oram

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The Right Reverend
Kenneth Cyril Oram
Church Anglican
Province Southern Africa
Diocese Grahamstown
Orders
Ordination 1943
Consecration 1974
Personal details
Born(1919-03-03)3 March 1919
Died 7 January 2001(2001-01-07) (aged 81)
Signature Signature of Kenneth Cyril Oram.jpg

Kenneth Cyril Oram AKC (3 March 1919 – 7 January 2001) was an Anglican clergyman who served as Dean of Kimberley and of Grahamstown before his elevation to the episcopacy as Bishop of Grahamstown, 1974 to 1987.

The Bishop of Grahamstown is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Grahamstown in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The Bishop's residence is Bishopsbourne, Grahamstown

Contents

Early years

Oram was educated at Selhurst Grammar School and King's College London where he studied English and became an Associate of King's College. He was ordained deacon in 1942, he preached his maiden sermon at Cranbrook on 6 June 1942. [1] Oram was ordained priest, in the Diocese of Canterbury, in 1943. In the same year he married Kathleen Malcolm. [2]

Kings College London public research university located in London, United Kingdom

King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, and a founding constituent college of the federal University of London. King's was established in 1829 by King George IV and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, when it received its first royal charter, and claims to be the fourth oldest university institution in England. In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology, the Institute of Psychiatry, the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Diocese of Canterbury Church of Englands diocese covering eastern Kent

The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest see of the Church of England.

Kimberley and Kuruman

After the war Oram responded to an appeal by the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to serve abroad, and thus began his ministry in South Africa. He went out to the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman - which covered a vast area including, at that time, the southern half of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Under Bishop John Hunter he was appointed initially as Rector of St Luke's Church, Prieska, and Director of Prieska Mission District (1949–51), and subsequently as Rector of Mafeking (St John's), 1952-59. He served as Archdeacon of Bechuanaland from 1953 to 1959.

Botswana republic in southern Africa

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. Since then, it has maintained a tradition of stable representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the best perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998. It is currently Africa's oldest continuous democracy.

John Hunter(1897–1965) was the third bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman from 1943 until 1951. He was educated at Keble College, Oxford, and ordained in 1922. His first post was as a curate in Harrow but his next post was in South Africa. After a further curacy at St Paul’s church in Rondebosch he rose rapidly in the Church hierarchy becoming successively rector of Okiep, Northern Cape; Stellenbosch and finally the cathedral parish at Bloemfontein before his elevation to the episcopate. He was awarded the Coronation Medal and died at George, just after Christmas in 1965, while still in office.

Prieska Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Prieska is a town on the south bank of the Orange River, in the province of the Northern Cape, in western South Africa.

Cyprian Thorpe, in an obituary, relates that while Oram was no linguist, he nevertheless learned enough Afrikaans, Setswana and isiXhosa to conduct services in those languages in the rural areas and townships where they were spoken. His musicality "undoubtedly helped him to pronounce the languages ... He was a church organist from the age of 15 and even produced Gilbert and Sullivan operettas amongst his Afrikaans-speaking congregations in the remote towns of the Northern Cape." [2]

Afrikaans West Germanic language, spoken in South Africa and Namibia

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland spoken by the mainly Dutch settlers of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century. Hence, it is a daughter language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as "Cape Dutch" or "kitchen Dutch". However, it is also variously described as a creole or as a partially creolised language. The term is ultimately derived from Dutch Afrikaans-Hollands meaning "African Dutch".

Tswana language Bantu language

The Tswana language or Setswana is spoken in Southern Africa by about five million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30), and is closely related to the Northern and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi language and the Lozi language.

Xhosa language language

Xhosa is an Nguni Bantu language with click consonants and is one of the official languages of South Africa. It is also an official language of Zimbabwe. "Xhosa is spoken as a first language by 8.2 million people and by 11 million as a second language in South Africa, mostly in Eastern Cape Province. Total number of users in all countries is 19.2 million (Ethnologue)". Like most other Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language; the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings, depending on intonation. Xhosa has two tones: high and low.

In 1960 he was appointed Dean of Kimberley at St Cyprian's Cathedral, where he was installed on 21 February 1960. This was exactly a month prior to the Sharpeville massacre, one of the turning points in the history of apartheid oppression under which Oram's South African ministry was exercised. “We shall offer penitence for our failure to be a Christian nation,” read a prayer chain in May 1960, part of the Union Jubilee Festival. [3]

St Cyprians Cathedral, Kimberley Church in Kimberley, South Africa

The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The building was dedicated in 1908, becoming a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops mandated formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911. The first Bishop, the Rt Revd Wilfrid Gore Browne, was enthroned there on 30 June 1912.

Sharpeville massacre shooting by police on 21 March 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa

The Sharpeville massacre was an event which occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal.

Apartheid system of racial segregation enforced through legislation in South Africa

Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which encouraged state repression of Black African, Coloured, and Asian South Africans for the benefit of the nation's minority white population. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day.

Oram's "love of music, together with a good pastoral touch, made him entirely suitable for a cathedral setting," comments Thorp. (His father had been a choirmaster and an elder brother, Bernard Oram, taught the organ at the Guildhall School of Music. Later Oram was to be a keen member of the Cape Organ Guild). The St Cyprian's Cathedral Choir at this period performed such works as Messiah (Handel), Elijah (Mendelssohn) and Bach's Christmas Oratorio.

<i>Messiah</i> (Handel) Oratorio by Handel

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Coverdale Psalter, the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.

George Frideric Handel 18th-century German, later British, Baroque composer

George FridericHandel was a German, later British, Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle-upon-Saale and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

<i>Elijah</i> (oratorio) oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn

Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn. It premiered in 1846 at the Birmingham Festival. It depicts events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings of the Old Testament.

One of Oram's curates at this period was Fr John da Costa who afterwards served in District Six and as Dean of Salisbury, Rhodesia. Another was Fr Alan Butler.

Grahamstown

In 1964 Oram transferred to Grahamstown as Dean of St. Michael and St. George Cathedral. [2] In 1974 he was elected Bishop of Grahamstown. [4]

Retirement

On his return to England in 1987 Oram became Assistant Bishop of Lichfield, 1987-1997. [2] He died in Worthing, West Sussex, on 7 January 2001.

Related Research Articles

The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and encompasses the area around Kimberley and Kuruman and overlaps the Northern Cape Province and North West Province of South Africa. It is presided over by the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, currently Ossie Swartz. The seat of the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman is at St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley. There have so far been 12 bishops of the See, though one of these served for two different periods of time.

Wilfrid Gore Browne was an Anglican bishop, the first Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman from 1912 to 1928. He was described as a saintly bishop with "a keen sense of humour" and "a winning courtesy."

Oswald Peter Patrick Swartz is a South African Anglican bishop. He is the twelfth and current Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman.

William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927) was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being elected the second Bishop of Mashonaland, where he styled himself "the smallest bishop with the largest diocese in Christendom." He officiated at the funeral of Cecil John Rhodes and helped draft the Rhodes Trust Deed.

Allan Becher Webb was the second Bishop of Bloemfontein, afterward Bishop of Grahamstown and, later, Dean of Salisbury.

The Very Revd Thomas Claude Robson was the first Anglican Dean of Kimberley, and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, South Africa.

The Reverend Canon Robin Roy Snyman is a priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, who served as Dean of Kimberley and rector of St Cyprian’s Cathedral, and afterwards was Vice-Provost at the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, Port Elizabeth. He was born at Waterval Boven, in what is now Mpumalanga in 1934.

The Very Revd John Ranulph Vincent was Dean of Bloemfontein, in South Africa, from 1892; and afterwards of Grahamstown, 1912–1914.

Arthur Henry Attwell was Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1983 to 1988. He served as Dean of Kimberley, South Africa, from 1953 to 1959 and afterwards as Rector of Workington, Cumberland.

Justus Mauritius Marcus was Regional Bishop of Saldanha Bay in the Diocese of Cape Town, 2002 to 2003, having served as Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral from 1992 to 2002. He died from cancer, aged 48, on 1 December 2003. Marcus was predeceased by his first wife, Milly. His second wife and widow is Sarah Rowland Jones, a fellow priest who then fulfilled a research ministry in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa at the behest of two successive Archbishops of Cape Town before returning to Wales in late 2013.

Brian Victor Beck, an Anglican priest in South Africa, served as Dean of Kimberley from 2003 to 2010. He is an Honorary Canon of St Cyprian's Cathedral.

Alan John Butler, a Director of the Kuruman Moffat Mission in Kuruman, South Africa, and Canon of Kimberley Cathedral, was a priest who served in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman for a major part of the second half of the twentieth century. He was responsible for the restoration of the historic Moffat Mission precinct which became renowned as a conservation area and as a beacon of hope in the troubled last years of Apartheid. He was born in the United Kingdom in 1930 and died at Wimborne on 13 January 2011.

Simon Mark Aiken is Dean of Benoni and rector of St Dunstan's Cathedral in the Diocese of the Highveld. He was previously the 12th Dean of Kimberley and rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. Born in England in 1962, he went to South Africa in 2006, initially as subdean at Bloemfontein Cathedral.

Mphashane Reginald Leeuw is the 13th Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. Leeuw was born in Barkly West, Northern Cape, and served in several parishes in the diocese prior to his appointment as Dean.

Andrew John Hunter has been Dean of Grahamstown since 2008: he is also Archdeacon of Grahamstown.

Wilfrid Lloyd Wellington was an Anglican priest in South Africa in the 20th century, most notably the last Dean of St Saviour's Cathedral, Pietermaritzburg.

References

  1. ↑ "Cranbrook". Kent & Sussex Courier. 12 June 1942. Retrieved 2014-09-03– via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Thorpe, Cyprian. 2001. Obituary, The Right Rev Kenneth Oram. The Independent, Thursday, 11 January 2001.
  3. ↑ Highway 19(22), May 1960:11
  4. ↑ Gould & Eve 2011, pp. A:24-A:25.
Anglican Church of Southern Africa titles
Preceded by
Arthur Attwell 		Dean of Kimberley
1959–1964		Succeeded by
Edward Crowther
Preceded by
John Hodson 		Dean of Grahamstown
1964–1974		Succeeded by
Michael Nuttall
Preceded by
Bill Bendyshe Burnett 		Bishop of Grahamstown
1974–1987		Succeeded by
David Hamilton Russell
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