Augustus Short, D. D.

Bishop of Adelaide

by Judith M. Brown

Hodge Publishing House, 1974, [First Edition], ISBN 0959932410, black and white photographic plates, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners inscription on inside front cover, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners (see photographs)

“The Rev. Augustus Short of Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire, was forty-five years old when he took up his appointment as first bishop of the newly-established Anglican see of Adelaide which had been endowed by the heiress Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts.  South Australia was considered a haven for Nonconformists and the withdrawal of state aid to religion forced the new bishop to find other ways of raising money for support of the church.  In this he was eminently successful, but the very qualities which enabled him to achieve such results were the ones which alienated him from his fellow men.  A man of unswerving faith, tireless energy and gifted organizing ability, he was also irascible and autocratic, and this absorbing study gives a detailed picture of both the bishop and the man.  When Short arrived in South Australia in 1847 there were only five churches in his diocese yet when he left Adelaide thirty-five years later there were ninety-one churches, thirty-three parsonages, thirteen schoolhouses, fifty clergy and a large number of unpaid lay readers.  In addition he had been the prime mover in organising Synod, the formation of a Chapter, the establishment of the Collegiate School of St. Peter, the erection of St. Peter’s Cathedral, St. Barnabas Theological College, and in establishing a large number of funds for support of the clergy and disabled.”