Rev. C. T. Abraham
Charles Thomas Abraham was born in New Zealand in 1857, attended Keble College in Oxford, and was ordained in 1881. He served first as a curate at Shrewsbury, then as the vicar of All Saints, Shrewsbury, Christ Church, Lichfield, and Bakewell. He later became a bishop like his father (specifically, the bishop of Derby). On May 24, 1883, he married Mary Theresa Furse, with whom he had ten children, five sons and five daughters. His son Geoffrey was killed in World War I and buried in Egypt. His son Philip Selwyn Abraham later followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a bishop—the bishop of Newfoundland. Philip’s name is found on multiple texts in the Queen Elizabeth II Library. Charles passed away on January 27, 1945, at the age of 88 in Upton Noble, Somerset. It seems that the books bearing Charles’s name were donated by his son Philip, as his name appears on most of them, as well. Charles’s name is most frequently written as “C. T. Abraham,” although it appears also as “Charles T. Abraham.” Two books bear the name “Thomas Abraham” as well, but it is difficult to confirm if these signatures are also Charles’s. Brock A. Clutton’s What Is the Kingdom of Heaven? bears Philip’s name as well as “father” and “Christmas 1919”; so, while Charles’s name is not written on it, we can assume that it was either a gift from son to father or vice versa. Since Philip was the bishop of Newfoundland, we can reasonably assume that all books bearing his name were either donated by him during his position as bishop or by others after his death.
Donation List:
Froude, James Anthony. Life and Letters of Erasmus: Lectures Delivered at Oxford 1893–4. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895.
How, W. Walsham. Pastor in Parochia. 14th ed. London: Wells Gardner, Darton, 1860.
Lightfoot, J. B. Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians: A Revised Text with Introduction, Notes, and Dissertations. 8th ed. London: Macmillan and Co., 1885.
Mozley, J. B. Essays: Historical and Theological: In Two Volumes, vol. 1. Rivingtons. 1878.
Newman, John Henry and Herbert Maurice Relton. Tracts for the Times: On the Mysticism Attributed to the Early Fathers of the Church. London: J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1841.
Smith, W. Robertson. The Old Testament in the Jewish Church: Twelve Lectures on Biblical Criticism. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1881.
Smyth, Newman and A. B. Bruce. Old Faiths in New Light. London: Richard D. Dickinson, 1882.
