CHARLES WILLIAM PEARSON

Rev. Charles William Pearson (1847-1917)
Charles William Pearson was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England the son of a local butcher. Educated at nearby St. Bees School, he later to went to sea with the British Merchant Navy, rising from ordinary seaman to second mate. Following his discharge in 1875 he attended the Church Missionary Society's college in Islington, London, and in 1878 led a party of four missionaries to Uganda to replace earlier missionaries who had either been killed by natives or died of fever. Pearson and his party travelled by ship though the Suez Canal to Suakim, Sudan on the Red Sea. From there, after crossing the desert, the party travelled up the Nile. They met Colonel Gordon in Khartoum, who tried to persuade Pearson to serve in Sudan instead. Pearson and his party reached Rubaga in Uganda on 14 February 1879, over nine months after setting out.
They were received at the court of Mutesa I, the Kabaka (King) of Buganda. A week later a party of French Roman Catholic missionaries arrived, and difficulties ensued as Mutesa played off Arab, British and French interests against each other. The Christian missionaries had, perhaps rather naively, not come prepared to be used as political pawns. Their denominational rivalry reduced the effectiveness of their message, as the Catholics refused to kneel for the Anglican prayers and vice versa. After serving in Uganda for two years Pearson returned to England for health reasons, using the more conventional route via the East Coast and Zanzibar. On his return to England, he studied theology at Oxford, was ordained as a deacon in 1886 and as an Anglican priest in 1887. He was assistant curate at St Ebbe's in Oxford for four years, and then worked for the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) in Nottingham for another three years. In July 1893 he became Vicar of Walton, Aylesbury, where he remained until his death on June 20th, 1917, it was during this period that the coin collection was formed. He was known as a student of languages, and gained knowledge of 17 languages. He was eminent as a translator, and served several publishers and missionary organizations in that capacity. He married Elizabeth Birkett in Oxford in 1882, and they had three sons and four daughters. His collection recently appeared on the open market having been held by the family for over 100 years. Perhaps most fascinating are the coins purchased from the very earliest issues of the Spink Numismatic Circular which was first published in 1892.