Catholic Colonial Missions Collection Microfilm

Collection

Identifier: CN 069

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Microfilm edition of correspondence to William Poynter, Bishop of London, from overseas missions, ecclesiastical bodies, and civil governments concerning missionary activities in North America, the West Indies India, and the Mediterranean.

This collection consists solely of correspondence to Bishop Poynter from overseas missions, and from ecclesiastical and British Civil Governments overseas. While the main bulk of the material falls between 1821 and 1825, the correspondence covers the entire time Poynter was associated with the London Bishopric. The documents have been arranged in four series, by geographical location: North America, India and the Mediterranean, the West Indies, and Australasia. The BGC Archives does not own the microfilm of the Australasia correspondence. The introductory frames of reel 2 contain a brief descriptive note of missions in Haiti, Guadalupe, Grenada, and Martinique.

Dates

Created: 1803-1827

Conditions Governing Access

There are copyright restrictions on this material. See note at the head of the microfilm reel.

Biographical Information

William Poynter, Bishop of London between 1812 and 1827, was born in Hampshire, England on May 20, 1762. He received his education at English College, Douai, France, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1786. Imprisoned during the French Revolution, he returned to England in 1795 as the vice president of the new College of St. Edmund, and in 1801 became that school's president. Two years later, he was appointed coadjutor to Bishop John Douglass of the London District, and in 1812 succeeded to the office of Bishop upon Douglass's death. He remained in this office until his own death in London on November 26, 1827.