Frank Weston

1871-1924. Bishop of Zanzibar. Brought up as an Evangelical, he early became through school and university an extreme Anglo-Catholic. Graduating with a first in theology at Oxford, he served curacies in London before going to Africa under the auspices of Universities' Mission to Central Africa. Initially he was concerned in educational work and in the training of ordinands. In 1908 he was made bishop of Zanzibar, in which country he served until his death with zeal and a love for souls, but with all the strength and weaknesses of a nature akin to fanaticism.

He is best remembered for his opposition to the tentative scheme of reunion proposed at Kikuyu for the Protestant churches in East Africa.* In 1920, however, he was a strong supporter of the Appeal on Reunion issued by the Lambeth Conference, a support which was not wholly reechoed by all the Anglo-Catholic party. He was also implacably opposed to the liberal tendencies of his day, and when the bishop of Hereford (H.H. Henson*) made B.H. Streeter* a canon he excommunicated the former. It was this controversy which led him to write his best book The One Christ which, while opposing the prevalent kenotic theories, suggested a milder form which would preserve belief in our Lord as an infallible teacher. Like many of his contemporaries, he was from his undergraduate days interested in social affairs, an interest which bore fruit in his strong opposition to forced labor in East Africa.

See H.M. Smith, Frank, Bishop of Zanzibar 1871-1924 (1926).