Monday, May 06, 2013

Last of British priests in India dies


Rev. Ian Weathrall, the last British member of the Church of North India’s Delhi Brotherhood, has died.

He was 91.

The priest, who breathed his last Tuesday, joined the Brotherhood, a community of priests, in 1951 and lived in their Delhi house until his death after a long battle against cancer.

The Brotherhood, founded in 1877, has made substantial contributions to Delhi.

Among the institutions the brothers founded are the prestigious St. Stephen’s College of Delhi University and St. Stephen’s Hospital.

As head of the Brotherhood, the priest was a member of the Supreme Council of St. Stephen’s College until the day he died and a member of the governing body of St Stephen’s Hospital.

He was one of those people who managed to be a citizen of two countries. He first came to know India during the Second World War as an officer in the 16th Punjab Regiment.

After the war, he obtained a degree in theology from Kings College, London, and served as an assistant priest in Southampton for a short time.

With the government’s ban on missionaries coming to India, the British members of the Brotherhood declined in numbers.

There are now six members.

The Brotherhood is also involved in social work in East Delhi, providing education for deprived children, care for the elderly and for leprosy patients, among other services.

When the Anglican Church in India merged with other protestant churches, it had to surrender many of its traditions.

Although Weathrall treasured Anglicanism, he readily accepted the merger and was one of the theologians who composed the service which formalized the merger.