A brief look at Bishop William Garden Cowie’s life
Bishop William Garden Cowie was selected by G.A. Selwyn to become the first bishop of Auckland and was consecrated at Westminster Abbey in June 1869. He arrived in Auckland with his wife, Eliza Jane, in February 1870.
Bishop Cowie was known as an intrepid traveller and during his long episcopacy, he and Eliza made regular visits throughout his diocese, often under difficult conditions, as depicted in the Philip Walsh sketches featured.
Following Bishop Hadfield’s resignation in 1893, Cowie became Acting Primate until the formal election in 1895, holding office until his death in Auckland in 1902.
Under his leadership,
“the number of clergy increased from 28 to 82, and many churches were built. He created the Home Mission Fund to support church extension… [and] encouraged the training and appointment of Maori clergy … during Cowie’s episcopate Anglicans re-established contact with Waikato and King Country Maori who had been alienated from the church during the wars of the 1860s … His achievement was in helping the Auckland diocese in the post-Selwyn era consolidate and expand both its Maori and Pakeha work”. Allan K. Davidson. “Cowie, William Garden – Biography’. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand’.
The discrete archive of Cowie Family personal papers (KIN 5) includes a journal from 1869 – 1871 and a mix of correspondence, research notes, photographs, memorabilia and sketches.
