Charles Howard

Charles Beaumont Howard was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1807, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin. After being ordained a deacon in the Church of England, he moved to England and served as curate in Chester and Yorkshire. He had returned to Dublin in 1832 to marry Grace Montgomery Neville.

In February 1836 Howard was appointed Colonial Chaplain for the new province of South Australia. The position came with an annual salary paid from government revenue. This made the Church of England South Australia’s established church, and was contrary to the ‘voluntary principle’ supported by the intending colonists and the Colonization Commissioners as a way of ensuring freedom of religion.

Howard sailed for South Australia on the Buffalo with his wife, their daughters Grace and Barbara, and his wife’s sister, Miss Susannah Neville. Howard’s duties as Colonial Chaplain began on embarkation and he ministered to the emigrants on the vo