John Weeks (bishop) explained

John Wills Weeks (1799-1857) was the Anglican Bishop of Sierra Leone^[1] from 1855^[2] until his death in Sierra Leone two years later.^[3]

John Weeks was born in Dartmouth, Devon in 1799.^[4] A CMS missionary in Sierra Leone from 1825 to 1844 when ill-health caused his return to England,^[5] he became incumbent of St Thomas's Church and headmaster of Cranbrook School, Lambeth^[6] until his appointment to the episcopate. He became a Doctor of Divinity (DD).^[7]

On 7 December 1826, Weeks married his first wife Anna Pope, née Haynes, widow of John Pope, a missionary who died after only 6 months of service in Sierra Leone. She predeceased him 10 January 1839. His second wife Phoebe Graham, née Davey, née Goodwin, from Bungay in Suffolk, widow of Henry Graham, died in 1866 and was buried in West Norwood.^{[8] [9]}

Weeks died on March 25, 1857.^[10] His papers are held at the University of Birmingham.^[11]

Notes and References

1. ”The book of dignities; containing lists of the official personages of the British Empire” Haydn,J.T: London, Moxon & Co, 1860
2. [London Gazette]
3. From the London Gazette of Tuesday, Aug. 18 The Times Wednesday, Aug 19, 1857; pg. 6; Issue 22763; col A
4. see census records at ancestry.co.uk
5. Web site: CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE Section IV: Africa Missions Part 5: West Africa (Sierra Leone), 1820-1880. www.ampltd.co.uk. 2018-04-05.
6. News: The Wreck of the Admella.. 1859-09-27. Daily Southern Cross. 2018-04-05. 1.
7. “Registrum sacrum Anglicanum: an attempt to exhibit the course of episcopal succession in England ; from the records and chronicles of the church” Stubbs,W: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1858
8. ancestry.co.uk
9. Book: Register of Missionaries 1804-1894 . Church Missionary Society . 3 January 2021 . Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
10. https://ia600107.us.archive.org/19/items/sierraleoneafter00ingh/sierraleoneafter00ingh.pdf Internet Archive, Sierra Leone: After A Hundred Years, by the Right Rev E. G. Ingham (1894), page 202
11. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F41742 National Archives website, Weeks, John Wills