Augustus Short was the first Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 bishop of Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

.

Early life and career

Born at Bickham House, near Exeter

Exeter

Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the third son of Charles Short

Charles Short

Charles W. "Charlie" Short was the first airport manager at the Tulsa Municipal Airport . In the right place at the right time, Short was working for oil baron William G. Skelly when Skelly and others signed a "stud horse note" that provided the financing needed to acquire land and construct the...

, a London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 barrister, offspring of an old English county family, and his wife Grace, daughter of Humphrey Millett. Short was educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

 and Christ Church College, Oxford, where he received first-class honours in classics and graduated with a Master of Arts in 1826 and D. D.

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

 1847.

Short took orders in the Church of England as deacon in 1826 and priest in 1827 and in the same year accepted the curacy of Culham

Culham

Culham is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.-Manor:The toponym comes from the Old English Cula's hamm, referring to the village's position in a bend of the Thames...

, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...

. In 1829 he resigned to become a tutor and lecturer in his old college; one of his students was William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

. In March 1833 he was appointed public examiner in the classical schools, and in January 1834 was made junior censor. In June 1835 he was presented as vicar by the dean and chapter of Christ Church to the living of Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire

Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire

Ravensthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. The village lies approximately midway between Northampton and Rugby. The M1 motorway is six miles west and the nearest railway station is at Long Buckby...

. The church and parsonage were both badly in need of repairs and restoration, the church was badly attended, and the education of the children neglected. Short, by assiduous visiting and hard work, succeeded in making considerable improvements in all these directions. In December 1835 he married Millicent (or Millecent) Phillips, second daughter of John Phillips of Culham House, Oxfordshire, who survived him with several daughters and a son, Henry Augustus Short. Henry Augustus married Ethel Catherine Edgerton-Warburton (the eldest daughter of Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton) on 28 October 1871.

Short published in 1838, Sermons intended principally to illustrate the Remedial Character of the Christian Scheme, was appointed Bampton lecturer

Bampton Lectures

The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton,. They have taken place since 1780.They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial. They continue to concentrate on Christian theological...

 in April 1845, and preached the course at Oxford in 1846. The lectures were published in the same year under the title The Witness of the Spirit with our Spirit.

Career as a bishop

In 1845 the archbishop of Canterbury offered Short the choice of two newly established sees, Newcastle, New South Wales

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

, and Adelaide, South Australia. Short decided to accept Adelaide and on 29 June (St Peter's Day), 1847, was consecrated at Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

. Short sailed in the Derwent for Adelaide on 1 September and arrived on 28 December 1847, the eleventh anniversary of the proclamation of the colony. There were then only five churches in the diocese, three at Adelaide, one at Blakeston and another at Gawler

Gawler, South Australia

Gawler is the first country town in the state of South Australia, and is named after the second Governor of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is located north of the centre of the state capital, Adelaide, and is close to the major wine producing district of the Barossa Valley...

. Short travelled through the settled parts of South Australia, and before the end of 1848 went to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, then a part of his diocese. He returned to Adelaide early in 1849 and on 24 May 1849 laid the first stone of St Peter's College, Adelaide

St Peter's College, Adelaide

St Peter's College, , is an independent boy's school in the South Australian capital of Adelaide...

, founded in 1847 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and William Allen (philanthropist)

William Allen (philanthropist)

William Allen was joint founder of St Peter's College, Adelaide, South Australia.William Allen was born in England. Entering the navy of the British East India Company at age 15 and serving on the Sullimany, he afterwards transferred to the merchant service, and for about 25 years traded from India...

. He was the first president of its council of governors.

Funding

In August 1851 the withdrawal of state aid to religion compelled the Anglican Church in South Australia to devise a voluntary system of maintaining itself. Short, who had prepared a draft constitution for the diocese, visited England in 1853 and obtained counsels' opinion, which agreed that it was competent for a colonial diocese to organize itself without Imperial authority. The constitution was submitted in October 1855 to a diocesan assembly and was adopted. In 1856 the diocese of Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 was founded and Short was relieved of the oversight of the whole of Western Australia, a difficult task especially in view of the limited means of communication.

The Adelaide diocese had been presented with some land in the city by W. Leigh, the income from which became very useful for general diocesan purposes, and by the liberality of William Allen the pastoral aid fund was instituted. Other funds for the endowment of the diocese and for providing retiring allowances for the clergy were also successfully initiated.

Adelaide Cathedral

Soon after Short's acceptance of the see, he made inquiries about a site for a cathedral and was informed that the centre of Victoria Square

Victoria Square, Adelaide

Victoria Square is a public square in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. The square is in the centre of the city's grid of one square mile, and was named by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837 after Princess Victoria, heir presumptive of the British throne. Less than a month later the...

 had been allotted for this purpose by Governor Frederick Robe

Frederick Robe

Major-General Frederick Holt Robe CB was the fourth Governor of South Australia, from 25 October 1845 to 2 August 1848....

. This was objected to by the city council and Short decided to have the question finally settled and brought a friendly law suit for this purpose. The decision went against Short and eventually the present site in North Adelaide was bought. Subscriptions were raised but the building was not begun until 1869. It was consecrated as St Peter's Cathedral

St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide

St Peter's Cathedral is an Anglican Cathedral in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide...

 on 1 January 1878.

Late career and death

Short was a fine scholar and a thoughtful preacher, always endeavouring to convince by argument rather than by the use of rhetoric. He was interested in education and was elected vice-chancellor of University of Adelaide

University of Adelaide

The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...

 when it was founded in 1874, and chancellor in 1876.

In November 1881 Short became ill while preaching and under medical advice decided to retire. He left Adelaide for London on 6 January 1882. On 30 November he attended the consecration of George Wyndham Kennion

George Wyndham Kennion

George Wyndham Kennion , Anglican bishop of Adelaide and Bath and Wells.George Wyndham Kennion, the son of George Kennion and Catherine, daughter of J.F. Fordyce, was born at Harrogate, England, on 5 September 1845. He was educated at Eton College and Oriel College, Oxford University, where he...

 as second bishop of Adelaide, and handed him the pastoral staff which had been presented to Short by the clergy and laity

Laity

In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

 of Adelaide on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his consecration. Short died at Eastbourne

Eastbourne

Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

 (or London) on 5 October 1883, his estate was valued for probate at £8200.

Short was regarded as kind and modest, a good business man and an excellent administrator who could deal with church matters with firmness, wisdom and discretion. A good man and a good colonist, with a great capacity for work, he had all the qualities of a great pioneer bishop.

See also

• Beaumont House
  Beaumont House
  Beaumont House, occasionally known as Claremont, is an eclectic Romanesque-Classical brick residence located at 631 Glynburn Road in Beaumont, South Australia...
  
  , Short's now-historical residence
• North Road Cemetery
  North Road Cemetery
  North Road Cemetery is located in the Adelaide suburb of Nailsworth, approximately 5 km north of the central business district. It is 7.3 hectares in size and there have been over 24,000 burials since its foundation in 1853...
  
  , an historic cemetery established by Short in 1853 on land he once owned