Background
Henry Callaway was the son of a bootmaker.
Henry Callaway was the son of a bootmaker.
He was educated at Crediton Grammar School and became a teacher in 1835. By the next year he had graduated from King"s College, University of Aberdeen, with plans to become a physician.
His headmaster was a Quaker, and Callaway soon joined the Society of Friends. Later, he was a chemist"s assistant and a surgeon"s assistant. He began to study surgery and in 1842 he was licensed by the Royal College of Surgeons.
He was licensed by the Apothecaries" Society in 1844.
In 1852, when his health began to fail, he sold his practice and spent a year in France. Soon after graduating, he became interested in missionary work.
Soon afterwards, he went as a missionary to Africa. Initially, he was stationed at Ekukanyeni (near Pietermaritzburg), but, after being ordained as a priest in 1855, he was made rector of Saint Andrew"s church, Pietermaritzburg.
In 1858, he was granted land near the Umkomazi River and settled on the banks of the Nsunguze River,30.097929°South 30.295043°East / -30.097929.
30.295043 he named his settlement Springvale. lieutenant was here that he began his study of the Zulu religious beliefs and other customs and obtained the information which enabled him to write his books Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus (published in 1868) and The Religious System of the Amazulu (published in 1870). He also translated the Book of Psalms and the Book of Common Prayer into isiZulu.
In 1873, he was recalled to England so he could be consecrated as the first missionary Bishop of Street John"s, Kaffraria.
He left England the following year. In 1876, he moved the seat of his diocese to Umtata, where he founded Street John"s Theological College, Mthatha.
His health, however, began to fail, and he resigned his post in 1886. The next year he returned to England, making his home at Ottery Saint Mary, where he lived until his death in 1890.
