Thomas Blackmore Colenso was born on
His brother
John William was a Master of Mathematics at
There is a window in the Exeter College Chapel,
built about 1853, dedicated to his memory. The brass plate below the window is
inscribed with:
“In Pace Objerunt Thomas Blackmore Colenso et Guilemas
Hichens socii uc decimo septimo
die mensis MDCCCL ILLE VICEIMO OCTAVO DIE SEPTIMUS
MDCCCXLIX”.
William Hichens, was also
a fellow of the College, who died of typhoid on the 17th August 1850 while the
curate of St Feock. His father Robert Hichens, one of the founders of the stockbroking
firm Hichens, Harrison and Company, was also
descended from a family long associated with the St Ives fishing industry.
In “The Life of
John William Colenso, DD, Bishop of Natal” Sir George Cox published a letter written
by John William to the Reverend Thomas Henry Steel describing the death of his
brother. Rev. Steel was an assistant master at Harrow between 1836 and 1843. He
probably taught TBC.
The letter was
written from Fornett, October 19, 1849.
I never saw my dear brother during his last illness: and this is my
greatest source of grief. He returned from
I was at Lostwithiel on Monday, at
It does not seem that he really anticipated so speedy a removal until
the very last day. About evening he asked the surgeon if the sound he heard in
breathing was from the tubercles, or from water in the chest. Being told
‘perhaps from both causes,’ ‘Then’ he said, speaking in a loud full voice, such
as he never used in all his illness, ‘there is no more hope for me in this
world,’ and calling for his father and sister Sophie, he bade them ‘Good-bye,’
repeating again and again ‘I am going to my glorious rest’. After this delirium
came on him for about six hours, and then he sank into a quiet sleep from which
he never woke again, his passing into eternity being so gentle that none could
mark the moment of his last breath.
Altogether we have most abundant comfort in our bereavement. His
peculiar form of illness, by the rupture of blood vessels, prevented his
speaking much, till those last few hours, when he spoke loudly and incessantly;
but it was plain he was gently reposing all the while his head upon the very
bosom of his Lord, and so fell asleep in Jesus. If we wanted confirmation of
that which his whole life had been teaching us, it was to be abundantly
supplied by his private papers and journals, which show how for many years past
he had been living a life of faith in the Son of God and hungering and
thirsting after righteousness …..
You have asked me to tell you something of his last hours, and I have
done it, I fear at too great a length; but indeed it is pleasant to think and
write of him, and you, I am sure, will permit me this consolation.