Thomas Blackmore
Colenso was born on
His brother John William was a
Master of Mathematics at
From
This window in the Exeter College Chapel, built about 1853, is dedicated to his memory. The brass plate below the window is inscribed with:
“In Pace Objerunt Thomas Blackmore Colenso et Guilemas Hichens socii uc decimo septimo die mensis MDCCCL ILLE VICEIMO OCTAVO DIE SEPTIMUS MDCCCXLIX”
In “The Life of John William Colenso, DD, Bishop of Natal” Sir George Cox
published a letter written by John William to the Reverend Thomas Henry Steel
describing the death of his brother. Rev. Steel was an assistant master at
Harrow between 1836 and 1843. He probably taught TBC.
The letter was written from Fornett, October 19, 1849.
I never saw my dear brother during his last
illness: and this is my greatest source of grief. He returned from
I was at Lostwithiel
on Monday, at
It does not seem that he really anticipated
so speedy a removal until the very last day. About evening he asked the surgeon
if the sound he heard in breathing was from the tubercles, or from water in the
chest. Being told ‘perhaps from both causes,’ ‘Then’ he said, speaking in a
loud full voice, such as he never used in all his illness, ‘there is no more
hope for me in this world,’ and calling for his father and sister Sophie, he
bade them ‘Good-bye,’ repeating again and again ‘I am going to my glorious
rest’. After this delirium came on him for about six hours, and then he sank
into a quiet sleep from which he never woke again, his passing into eternity
being so gentle that none could mark the moment of his last breath.
Altogether we have most abundant comfort in
our bereavement. His peculiar form of illness, by the rupture of blood vessels,
prevented his speaking much, till those last few hours, when he spoke loudly
and incessantly; but it was plain he was gently reposing all the while his head
upon the very bosom of his Lord, and so fell asleep in Jesus. If we wanted
confirmation of that which his whole life had been teaching us, it was to be
abundantly supplied by his private papers and journals, which show how for many
years past he had been living a life of faith in the Son of God and hungering
and thirsting after righteousness …..
You have asked me to tell you something of
his last hours, and I have done it, I fear at too great a length; but indeed it
is pleasant to think and write of him, and you, I am sure, will permit me this
consolation.