Valpy French

Thomas Valpy French (1 January 1825 – 14 May 1891) was an English Christian Missionary in India and Persia, who became the first Bishop of Lahore, in 1877, and also founded the St. John's College, Agra, in 1853.

Early life and education

Thomas Valpy French was born on New Year's Day in 1825, in Abbey, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, the son of Rev. Peter French and his wife, Penelope Arabella the daughter of the educationalist, Richard Valpy of Reading, Berkshire. Thomas' father was vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Burton upon Trent for forty-seven years, and he grew up in the house, which was once part of the Benedictine Abbey, on the banks of the River Trent.

French started his schooling at Reading Grammar School, and at age 14, he went to Rugby School. In 1843, he won a scholarship and matriculated at University College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. there in 1846, M.A. in 1849; he was made a Fellow of the college in 1848, and remained there until 1853. It was at Oxford that he first felt called to mission in India. He also learnt seven languages, including Hindustani, Punjabi, Urdu, Persian, Pashto and Arabic to properly administer the school, as he also became school's first principal, and a post he held until the end of his seven-year stay at Agra.

In 1877, on St. Thomas' Day at Westminster Abbey, London, French was appointed the first Anglican Bishop of a large new diocese of Lahore, which included, all of the Punjab and northwestern India, and remained so until 1887, during the time he founded the Lahore Divinity College, which opened on 21 November 1870 and also remained its Principal for many years, and also made visits to Kashmir and Iran (1883), where he was the first Episcopal bishop to visit the country, before returning to England, due to bad health in 1887.

Family French married in 1852 Mary Anne Janson, whom he had met at Oxford, and they had eight children. Of those, Ellen Penelope French (1854–1892), went on to marry Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, fourth Bishop of Manchester, (1903–1921).

Legacy In 2007, Rowan Douglas Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hailed French as a personal hero.