Edmund Blundell (priest)

Edmund Keith Blundell (1886–1961)[1] was an Anglican clergyman in South Africa.

Personal life

Blundell was born on 11 November 1886[2] in Twickenham, Middlesex to Charles and Emma Gertrude Blundell[3] He was baptised on 22 July 1887 at Richmond upon Thames[4]

In 1911 he lived at 7 Vicars' Close, Wells where he was a student of theology.[5] During World War I he was an Army Chaplain and after the war he relinquished his commission[6]

He married Dorothy Cathcart, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis G. C. Graham in Grahamstown in 1916.[7]

Education

Blundell was educated at King's College, Wimbledon; Selwyn College, Cambridge; and Wells Theological College.[8]

Ecclesiastical career

After ordination his first post was a curacy at St James, Fulham.[9] He was the Warden at St Paul's College, Grahamstown from 1915 to 1916 and then Curate at Claremont, Cape Town. He was then a Chaplain to the Forces until peace returned. Following this he was Rector of King William's Town until 1928 when he became Dean of Grahamstown, a post he held until 1934.[10]^:xviii He presided over the 1931 synod of the Diocese of Grahamstown as Vicar-General.[11] He was Vicar of St Paul, Leicester from 1933 to 1938; Rector of St Aidan, Yeoville from 1938 to 1944; and then of St George, Parktown from 1945 to 1952 (both in Johannesburg); and finally of Vanderbijlpark from 1952 to 1953.[12]

Personal recollection of Dean Blundell

Transcribed from a notebook of undated newspaper clippings saved by Doris Thomas Thacher, who grew up in Grahamstown.

In the Cathedral Church of S. S. Michael and George on Saturday afternoon a fashionable and interesting wedding was solemnised, when the Rev. Edmund Keith Blundell, son of Mr. Charles Blundell, of Richmond, Surrey, was married to Dorothy Cathcart, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis G. C. Graham, of Grahamstown. When the bride, who wore a gown of French white corded silk, entered the church, tastefully decorated with white flowers, there was a large congregation. The Bishop of Grahamstown, the Right Rev. Dr. Phelps, officiated. The service was fully choral, the hymns being beautifully sung by the choir. Mr. Douglas Tayler, F.R.C.O., presided at the organ, playing the opening bars of the Wedding March while the register was being signed in the vestry. The bride, who was given away by her father, was attended by the Misses Lovell and Winfred Graham (sisters) and Miss Ruth Graham (cousin), Miss Nonie Roussouw and Miss Helen Mullins acting as flower girls. Upon the Rev. J. S. Bazeley, Warden of St. Paul's devolved the duties of best man, Mr. Reginald Graham and Mr. Geoffrey Brown acting as groomsmen. At the conclusion of the ceremony a reception was held at the residence of the bride's mother, Kincardine, West Hill. This was largely attended, among the guests being, the Judge-President, the Bishop of Grahamstown, the Dean of Grahamstown, the Solicitor-General and the Principal of St. Andrew's College. The presents were both numerous and handsome. The health of the bride and bridegroom, who left by the night train for Camps Bay, was proposed by the Bishop. Their future home will be in Claremont Cape Peninsula, whither they carry with them the best wishes of a very wide circle of friends.[13]

References

1. Who Was Who: a cumulated index 1897–1980, A & C Black, 1981, p.65
2. Who's Who 1960, A & C Black, 1960, p.286
3. "England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915". FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
4. "London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813–1906". London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813–1906 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
5. "1911 England Census". 1911 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
6. "No. 30609". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 April 1918. p. 4082.
7. Who's Who 1960, A & C Black, 1960, p.286
8. ‘BLUNDELL, Rev. Canon Edmund Keith’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 26 May 2014
9. Genuki
10. Charles Gould; Jeanette Eve (2011). Grahamstown Cathedral: A Guide and Short History. Eastern Cape Reprints. Grahamstown Diocesan Registry. ISBN 9780868104737. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
11. Anon (2013). "The Acts of the Diocese of Grahamstown" (PDF). The Trustee of the Diocese of Grahamstown. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
12. Crockford's Clerical Directory 1959–60 p108 :Oxford, OUP, 1959
13. personal comm. Ellen Stanton