The Honourable Adelbert Anson

Born on 20 December 1840, Adelbert John Robert Anson was the fourth and youngest son of Thomas William Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield and his wife Louisa Catherine née Philips. He was baptised at St James’s Westminster on 20 January 1841.

While completing his education at Christ Church Oxford (BA 1863, MA 1867), he was ordained a deacon and then a priest. In 1884 he was appointed the Bishop of Assiniboia (Qu’Appelle) in Saskatchewan, Canada. On his return to England in 1892 he became first the Master of St John’s Hospital in Lichfield and then in 1901 the Assistant Bishop of Lichfield.

The Honourable and Right Reverend Adelbert John Robert Anson, formerly Bishop of Qu’Appelle, died at the age of 68 on 27 May 1909 at Cathedral Close in Lichfield. He left an estate valued at £8627. His executor was his nephew, Thomas Francis Anson, Earl of Lichfield.

‘We regret to announce the death of Bishop Anson, Canon of Lichfield, which took place yesterday at The Close, Lichfield, Death was due to an incurable disease, and closed a long, lingering illness. […] The Hon. And Rev. Adelbert John Robert Anson, who was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, was ordained deacon in 1862, and priest in the following year. After serving curacies at Wolverhampton and Bilston, he became vicar of St Michael, Handsworth, in 1868, and in 1870, vicar of Sedgley. He was rector of Woolwich from 1875 to 1883, and was consecrated Bishop of Assiniboia, afterwards styled Qu’Appelle (Canadian North-West) in 1884. He ruled over that diocese till 1892, when he became Master of St John’s Hospital, Lichfield. In 1901 he became Assistant to the Bishop of Lichfield, and in 1907 was appointed one of the residentiary canons of Lichfield’ (The Globe, 27 May 1909).

Photographed by the Southwell Brothers of London.