Edward Steere and John Hine

 

I was given a particular present yesterday.  It is the copy of R M Heanley’s Memoir of Edward Steere (1888) bought when new by J E Hine.  Steere and Hine were both Bishops of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA).  I was baptised in Malawi by one of their eventual successors, Bishop Thorne.

I’ve read the copy Heanley’s book held in Lincoln Cathedral’s Library.  I’ve also read there Hine’s autobiography.  A retired Professor at Lincoln University took an interest when we talked about them.  Soon afterwards she bought online a copy of Heanley’s book for herself.  It was only when she opened it that she saw J E Hine had written his name on the first page, the year before he first went to out with UMCA.  She appears to have taken particular pleasure in giving it to me.  I couldn’t be more grateful.

There is a bit here about my discovering the Lincolnshire church where Steere was Rector before first travelling out to Zanzibar.

I don’t think I’ve put anything on this Blog before about Hine.  He was Bishop in turn of Likoma (the Bishop who baptised me had his Cathedral on Likoma Island), of Zanzibar (where his Cathedral was the one built by Steere), of Northern Rhodesia (a pioneering task) and then, as improbable as it might seem, of Grantham.  His cremated remains are buried in Lincoln Cathedral.