Dandeson Crowther

Dandeson Coates Crowther (24 September 1844 - 5 January 1938) was a leader of the Anglican Church in West Africa. He was born in Sierra Leone. He was a part of the Christian Missionary Society (CMS) in 1870 and titled as "Archdeacon" of the Niger Delta in 1876. He is credited with initiating the "mass movement" towards Christianity in the 1870s and ultimately the first African secession from the Anglican Church when he founded the Niger Delta Pastorate.

Crowther was educated in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and England. He attended the Christian Missionary Society Grammar School located in Lagos, Nigeria in 1860. He then relocated and attended the Christian Missionary Society College in Islington, London, graduating in 1863. He constantly travelled between London and Nigeria, but when he got sick, he traveled to Freetown, Sierra Leone. He concluded his role as Archdeacon of the Niger Delta in 1926. He died on 5 January 1938 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Crowther was involved in the Delta Revolt and often fought for Africans to run their continent without the sole reliance on Europeans. The Niger Delta separated from the Christian Missionary Society after Crowther advocated for a self-governing African church, establishing the Niger Delta Pastorate in 1892. He translated the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, "Dusk to Dusk," into Igbo. He also translated a portion of the book of Jeremiah of the Bible into Yoruba.