Samuel Crowther, African scholar and translator who was consecrated bishop of the Niger territory in 1864, became the first African to be ordained by the Church Missionary Society as a bishop of the Church of England.

Crowther, sold into slavery at the age of 12, was rescued in mid-passage by a British cruiser and landed at Sierra Leone, where he was educated in a mission school and baptized.

In 1842, he went to the Church Missionary College in London, and received holy orders. Back in the Yoruba country, Crowther worked among his people as a missionary from 1843 to 1851.

After accompanying several expeditions to the Niger, he devoted the rest of his life to administrative and evangelistic duties in his newly created diocese of the Niger territories.

Further reading:

1. Page, J (date unknown). Samuel Crowther, the Slave Boy who became Bishop of Niger. London: S. W. Partridge & co. Available at: anglicanhistory.org [Accessed 24 June 2009

References: 

1. Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau).
2. (2009) Samuel Crowther in Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:  Encyclopædia Britannica Online [Accessed 23 June 2009]