Tyrrell, William (1807 - 1879)

William Tyrrell was born on the 31st of January, 1807. After attending the Reading Grammar School, tyrrell began his studies at St John's College, Cambridge in 1827. tyrrell received a Bachelor of Arts in 1831, Master of Arts in 1834 and a Doctor of Divinity in 1847. tyrrell became a deacon in 1832 and a priest in 1833.

In 1847, tyrrell accepted an offer to become the founding Bishop of the new Anglican Diocese in Newcastle, Australia. Once in Newcastle, tyrrell convened the first meeting of the Newcastle Church society and assembled the first synod in 1865. tyrrell was a strong believer in religion based education and campaigned strongly to have more emphasis given to the Anglican faith at all schools within his diocese.

tyrrell also worked to ensure financial security for himself and his fellow clergy by investing church funds in, among others, cattle runs in the New England and Clarance districts that, at their peak in 1866, spanned 106,000 acres. However the plan backfired and in 1879, Brenda Station, one of tyrrell's investments was near insolvency so much so that tyrrell's successor, Bishop Pearson, stated that Bishop tyrrell's much noted financial powers were "very much overrated." The diocese had not completely recovered until an act of Parliament reduced and amended the debt in 1910.

Bishop tyrrell died after an operation on a strangulated hernia in 1879. He was much mourned and Newcastle was referred to as a "widowed Diocese" after his death.

Related Pastoral Stations

• Brenda Station

Related Religious Bodies

• Anglican Diocese of Newcastle (1847 - )
  First Bishop of Newcastle [1847 - 1879]

• Teale, Ruth, 'Tyrrell, William (1807 - 1879)', in Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Australian National University, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060341b.htm. [ Details... ]