Thorp, Edgar Bentley
1905-1991; e.m. 1928

Son and grandson of WM missionaries in South India, he was one of three Methodists who became CSI bishops in 1947. He was born in Bangalore on 25 July 1905, where his father William Hubert Thorp (born at Walton-on-Thames in 1870; e.m. 1893; died on 12 December 1950) became Chairman of the Mysore District and was a member of the Joint Committee on church union. Educated at Kingswood School and with degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, after a year studying Comparative Religion at Marburg, Edgar went to the Trichinopoly District in 1930. He was Principal of the Bible School at Dharapuram, training village evangelists. He was Chairman of the District 1945-47 and Bishop of the new Trichinopoly-Tanjore diocese 1947-64. His ministry among poverty-stricken village Christians in the Dharapuram mass movement area and on the tea plantations in Valparai, was underpinned by his simple lifestyle; and as Bishop, the impartiality of his leadership fostered unity between the Anglican minority and Methodist majority in his diocese. He died at Prestatyn on 1 September 1991.

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Entry written by: JRP and RA
Category: Person
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