Robert Trefusis


Rt Rev Robert Edward Trefusis was the first suffragan Bishop of Crediton from 1897 to 1930.

Origins

Trefusis was born in Bideford in 1843, the second son of Captain Hon. , a younger son of Robert George William Trefusis, 17th Baron Clinton.

Career

Trefusis was educated at Cheltenham College and Exeter College, Oxford. Ordained in 1866, he began his ordained ministry as a curate in Buckingham. He was then appointed by his cousin Mark Rolle, lord of the manor and patron of the living, as Vicar of Chittlehampton. The parish church of Chittlehampton was dedicated to the little-known St Urith, believed to have been a local Saxon maiden born and martyred within the parish, and Trefusis named one of his daughters Hyeritha Trefusis in her honour. She became known to local parishioners as "Miss Urith".
He subsequently served for 33 years as Suffragan Bishop of Crediton. He died on 9 July 1930.
He celebrated the dedication of the Exeter War Memorial.