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HISTORY
The history of the Lahore Diocesan is necessarily linked
with the early context of Christianity in the
region with the geographical boundaries of present Pakistan.
A well rooted legend, through not easy to prove, says that
Apostle Thomas himself brought Christianity to Indian
sub-continent, in the first century. Till 1813, there was no
official presence of Anglican Church in India. In June 1813,
William Force introduced a bill in the British Parliament to
establish Calcutta Diocese in India. This bill was hotly
contested in British Parliament as many opposed it on the
ground that it would trigger mutiny in India. However this
bill was passed and so with an act of Parliament the
Calcutta Diocese, the first Anglican Diocese in India,
forerunner of Lahore Diocese came into being in November
1814. At that time Calcutta Diocese consisted of whole of
India, Afghanistan , Gulf area, Sri Lanka and Burma. So one
can say, the Calcutta Diocese is the mother of many Dioceses
in this region. Later with the passage of time and need,
others Dioceses were carved out of it.
Bishop Milman, who was bishop of Calcutta from 1867 to
1876 was very eager to create Lahore Diocese and had
struggled a lot for this. During his third visit to
Rawalpindi, Bishop Milman died on 15th March 1876 and is
buried there. Although he did not live to see his dream come
true, the Lahore Diocese, by an act of British Parliament,
was created in 1877, carving some parts out of Calcutta
Diocese and a little area from the Bombay Diocese. At that
time the area of Lahore Diocese included the whole area of
present Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Srilanka,
Cyprus and the complete Gulf region. Although, today, the
total area of the Lahore Diocese is only one hundredth of
its original area, but still its area is spread from Sahiwal
to Gilgit.
Dr. Thomas Welpy French, who was in India since 1851 was the
first Bishop of Lahore Diocese. He was consecrated in
St. Abbess's church Oxford, England. England on 21st
December 1877 by the Arch Bishop of Canterbury. Incidentally
Bishop French was the rector of St. Abbess's Church Oxford.
This occasion is commemorated in stain glass window in the
East Window of the Church. Bishop French died
in Muscat on 13th May 1891 and, according to his last wish,
is buried on the Muscat coast.
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