1883
Edward Thomas Lea was born in Falmouth, in 1864, the son of the Rev Thomas Lea, and his ancestry was closely intertwined with the history of Jamaica in the 19th century. Ann Knibb, the twin sister of William Knibb, the great Baptist missionary in Jamaica in the period of Emancipation, married Samuel Lea, a carpenter and fellow Baptist from the Knibb's home town of Kettering, Northamptonshire, in the UK. Like three of her brothers, Ann and her husband seem to have come to Jamaica. They had at least one surviving child, Thomas, who became a Baptist missionary in Jamaica, like his famous uncle.
Thomas Lea was trained at Bristol College, the oldest Baptist theological school which had been specifically founded to train Missionaries, and returned to Jamaica with his wife in 1858. He served in Falmouth, Stewart Town and Lucea in the northern parishes, and in 1873 was called to replace the aging James M Phillippo as minister at the important Baptist chapel in Spanish Town.
Baptist Chapel, Spanish Town, in the 1840s.
It came as a complete surprise that four years later Thomas Lea announced his intention to seek ordination in the Church of England - Phillippo wrote
" March 29th. [1877] — I this day received an astounding letter from brother Lea, stating that he had actually applied to the Bishop of Kingston for ordination at his hands, and for admission into the Episcopal Church, he having been of Nonconformist parentage, four years a student at the Baptist College, Bristol, sixteen years a Baptist missionary in Jamaica, and a nephew of William Knibb. It is extraordinary that he never gave me nor the church the slightest intimation of his purpose, until two or three days before his resignation of the pastorate of the church."
Kingston Parish Church by Duperley
Thomas Lea was ordained to the priesthood of the Church of England in the Kingston Parish Church in June 1877, but in 1882 left the island and became a parish priest in the U K, where he died in 1905 at Paglesham, Essex, where he was the vicar.
Edward Thomas Lea
Munro and Dickenson School, Potsdam
and York Castle High School
Jamaica Witness, Tuesday, May 1, 1883 Two young scholars, Edward Thomas Lea, who was educated at York Castle and at Potsdam, and Charles MacDermott Martin, educated at the Collegiate School and privately competed for the Jamaica Scholarship in December last. The former is the son of the Rev. Thomas Lea, and the latter, the son of Doctor Martin of the Mico Institution. Mr. Lea has gained the Scholarship being in the honours division. Mr. Martin was in the second division, very creditable to his ability and industry.
University of London General Register part 3, 1901
Rev. Edward Thomas Lea, Matriculation. January, 1883, Potsdam School, Malvern, Jamaica; next to 15th in Honours, obtained marks qualifying for a Prize; Intermediate Arts 1891, Private Study, 7th in 2nd Class in Latin; B.A. 1896, Private Study, 3rd Class in English; M.A. Br. I. (Classics) 1900, Private Study.
I have so far been unable to find any reference to the ordination of Edward Thomas Lea. It seems that he taught at Cranleigh School in Surrey in the early 1900s, and became headmaster of Steyning Grammar School in Sussex in 1908. During his years at Steyning until 1924 the school increased in size and new buildings were erected. I hope to be able to obtain a photograph of him as headmaster. I have no information as to the date or place of his death. Also, I have so far no reference to Edward Thomas Lea ever returning to Jamaica, but I may not have looked hard enough.
These entries from the 1911 census in the UK show information on Edward Lea, his wife, son, mother, mother-in-law and some of the pupils at the Steyning Grammar School. Click on the image for a larger view of the relevant section.
FOOTNOTE
I spent some time tracking down information on E T Lea's son, Cyril Alexander Edward Lea, who is included on the census return in 1911. Apparently he joined the British colonial service and spent many years in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. His diaries from the early 1930s were published after his death and are frequently referred to in academic studies on the Sudan and European colonialism. C A E Lea earned the nickname 'Sheikh' for his T E Lawrence-style enthusiasm for life among the peoples of Kordofan; was enthusiasm for this lifestyle the 20th century equivalent of the drive felt by his great-grandparents' generation to go to Jamaica and work among the slaves in the early 19th century?
Cyril Alexander Edward ("Sheikh") Lea (1902-92), famous for his skill as an Arabist, concluded his Sudan career as Director of Establishments, 1949-51
Career in colonial service: Sudan Political Service, 1926-1940, 1944-1946 including appointments in Kassala, Khartoum and Kordofan provinces; Sudan Defence Force, 1940-1942; Cairo, 1942-1944; Finance Department, 1946-1952
CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. St. James's Palace, S.W.I., 1st January, 1952. The KING has been graciously pleased to give orders for the following promotions in, and appointments to, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire: — To be Ordinary Commander of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order: — Cyril Alexander Edward LEA, Esq., Director of Establishments, Finance Department, Sudan Government.
On Trek in Kordofan: The Diaries of a British District Officer in the Sudan 1931-1933 (Oriental and African Archives, No 2) (Hardcover) by C. A. E. Lea (Author),(British Academy 1994) Review `This book is a valuable addition to the corpus of sources on the Condominium period in the Sudan. In particular it gives interesting insights into the administration of nomads ... the book also gives valuable information on the ecology of the area ... and on the frequency and types of animal diseases. Martin Daly has written an informative introduction, and provided the journals with footnotes. The book also contains 12 photos, two maps, a glossary and an index.' Journal of African History `This is a beautifully produced and informative volume...Professor Martin Daly, who edited and annotated Lea's diary, should be congratulated for producing this excellent volume. His historical preface enables the non-specialist to understand the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, to appreciate the excellent quality of the Sudan Political Service...The book's index makes it easier for prospective researchers and readers to find the topics which interest them, while the excellent maps of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and of Northern Kordofan, enable the readers to join C.A.E. Lea 'on trek in Kordofan' and to gain an insight into this important subject' Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.'
On Trek in Kordofan: The Diaries of a British District Officer in the Sudan 1931-1933 by C A E Lea, Martin W Daly (Editor)
About this title: The life of a Colonial District Officer on trek has seldom been revealed in more detail than in Lea's journals from Kordofan, in the Western Sudan. Never intended for publication, these trek notes contain rare candour and informality, and give an unvarnished view of the land and people during a period of rapid social change. Though in many ways typical of the elite Sudan Political Service, Lea was most at home while on trek in the desert. Northern Kordofan, especially Dar al-Kababish, was then little known, and these notes therefore form an important record of the customs, economy and politics of the Arab and Nuba tribesmen who inhabited those regions.
Aidan Stonehouse PhD Research Conference Ethnicity in English Language Histories of Africa: Southern Sudan and the Kingdom of Buganda under colonial rule. One final point I would like to add, is that it is imperative to bear in mind that whilst all colonial officials were influenced by their own western perceptions, thought structures and codes of conduct, by no means all misrepresented the nature of the societies in which they spent so much time. C.E.A. Lea a district commissioner among the nomadic Kreish in Southern Kordofan is one example which stands out of an official who spent a considerable amount of time alone and on trek with the people over whom he had authority. Throughout his long account his opinions and representations of the Kreish people draw on significant contributions from his Sudanese companions and he dedicates the final and most impassioned section of the diary to a rebuke of colonial policy among the Kreish reflecting on British misconceptions as to the Kreish way of life.
C A E Lea's papers are held by the Library of the University of Durham.
