STEERE,  Edward  (1828-82),  Bishop  of
Zanzibar,  was  educated  at  Hackney  and
University  College  School,  London,  and
London  University  ;  graduated  B.A.,  1847  ;
LL.B.,  1848  ;  LL.D.,  with  gold  medal  for
Law,  1850.  Called  to  the  Bar  by  the  Inner
Temple,  1850,  he  came  to  be  influenced  by  the
Oxford  Movement  (q.v.),  and,  1854,  joined
the  Guild  of  St.  Alban.  May  1855  he  gave
up  his  chambers  and  founded  a  brotherhood
at  Tamworth.  The  scheme  failed,  and  he
was  ordained  deacon,  September  1856,  and
priest,  1858,  when  he  became  curate-in-
charge  of  Skegness,  where  the  fishermen  loved
him  as  '  a  downright  shirt-sleeve  man  and  a
real  Bible  parson.'

1859  he  became  Rector  of  Little  Steeping,
Lines.  In  1862  he  went  with  his  former
vicar  at  Skegness,  W.  G.  Tozer,  Bishop  of  the
Universities  Mission,  to  Central  Africa,  where
he  mastered  the  Swaheli  language,  reduced


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Stephens]


Dictionary  of  English  Church  History


[Stillingfleet


other  dialects  and  languages  to  writing,  and
printed  part  of  his  researches  by  aid  of
native  boys.  1867-72  he  worked  in  his
Lincolnshire  parish,  continuing  his  Swaheli
labours.  At  the  Nottingham  Church  Con-
gress, 1871,  he  made  a  great  impression  by  a
speech  on  the  slave  trade.  He  volunteered
for  Central  Africa  when  Bishop  Tozer's
health  broke  down,  1872.  1873  he  laid
the  foundation  stone  of  a  cathedral  church  in
Zanzibar  on  the  site  of  the  former  slave  mar-
ket. 1874,  after  several  refusals,  he  became
Bishop  of  Zanzibar.  He  insisted  on  the
mission  pressing  on  to  Lake  Nyassa.  His
health  gave  way,  1877,  and  he  came  to
England,  where  he  was  deservedly  honoured
by  Oxford  (created  D.D.)  and  Cambridge
(being  made  Select  Preacher).  He  returned
to  Africa  in  November.  He  remained  there
completing  the  New  Testament  and  Prayer
Book  in  Swaheli  until  1882,  when  he  again
came  to  England  for  rest,  but  returned  to
Africa,  arriving  in  Zanzibar  by  24th  August.
