Patteson, JOHN. COLERIDGE,

Patteson, JOHN. COLERIDGE, the martyr-bishop, was born in London on 1st April 1827, the son of Sir John Patteson, judge in the King's Bench, and of a niece of Coleridge the poet. He passed through Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and was elected a Fellow of Merton in 1852, and in the following year appointed curate of Alfrington, near Ottery St Mary, in Devonshire. But his thoughts soon turned to missionary work, and in 1855 he sailed with Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand. The next sixteen years he spent amongst the Melanesian Islands—New Hebrides, Banks, Solomon, and Loyalty Islands; and in 1861 he was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia. A most unselfish man and a true Christian, he was greatly beloved by the islanders, whom he likewise loved and faithfully watched over, protecting them to his utmost against the white kidnappers of the Pacific. He was killed by the natives of Nukapu, one of the Santa Cruz group, on 20th September 1871, it is believed in revenge for relatives carried away by the white 'slavers.' See Life by Miss Yonge (2 vols. 1874).