Société des Missions Africaines – Province de Grande Bretagne

né le 14 mai 1887 à Renacres Lane dans le diocèse de Liverpool, Angleterre membre de la SMA le 9 octobre 1915 prêtre le 14 juillet 1918 nommé évêque le 9 mars 1933 décédé le 16 juin 1966

1918-1920 Wilton, professeur, directeur 1920-1930 missionnaire en Nigeria Occidentale 1930-1933 préfet apostolique du Nord Nigeria 1933-1960 vicaire apostolique de Cape Coast archevêque en 1950 1960-1966 Dutton Manor, retiré décédé à Dutton Manor, Grande Bretagne, le 16 juin 1966, à l’âge de 79 ans

William Porter was born at Renacres Lane, Halsall, Lancashire, England, in the archdiocese of Liverpool, on 14 May 1887. He died in the seminary of the British Province, at Dutton Manor, Preston, on 16 June 1966.

The second of three boys born to Anglican parents, William's father, also named William, died in 1893 and his mother Mary Ellen (Johnson) died in 1900. Reared near Scarisbrick, not far from Southport, in a Lancashire ambience, he became a catholic as a young man. His interest in Catholicism is said to have begun with an enquiry from an old Irish nun on the significance of the Angelus bell. A more credible explanation is that given by William himself to a missionary colleague, who wrote the following account: 'As a young man William was a very devout Anglican. But having heard on one occasion that a well-known Anglican preacher was to preach at another Anglican church than his own, he went to the service to hear him. But the preacher, to his astonishment, instead of explaining a Bible text or some point of Anglican belief, made a fiery attack on Roman catholic beliefs and practices, and with condemnation of well-known catholic personalities. William was dumbfounded because all that the preacher said was entirely contrary to what he himself had read about catholic personages, like Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Wiseman and others. He decided to find out for himself, so he read everything that he could get hold of about Catholics, their beliefs, practices and ways. And such reading and research led him to become a catholic. Initially this was not well-received by his own natural family who were staunch Anglicans, however they came to terms with his decision and contacts were maintained. Some thirty years later one relative, late in life, became a catholic and joined the Little Sisters of the Poor.

When William received the grace of a priestly vocation it was characteristic of him that he should choose the missionary priesthood, then little appreciated or understood. William came to St. Joseph's college, Wilton, Cork, in 1910 to complete his secondary education and learn a little Latin. In the autumn of 1913 he went to the major seminary, at Blackrock Road, Cork, where he commenced his study of philosophy. He completed his theological studies at Blackrock in 1918. William was received as a member of the Society on 9 October 1915 and was ordained a priest, along with Martin Lavelle, in St. Mary's cathedral by Bishop Daniel Cohalan of Cork diocese, on 14 July 1918.

William was a member of a Province which had only been in existence for six years. The Province had a large student body but a very small complement of priests, being further diminished by deaths on the mission. It was not surprising therefore that, immediately after ordination, William should be placed on the staff of the Wilton college, as director of students and tutor. He remained there until 1921 when at last he was assigned to Africa, to the vicariate of Western Nigeria. This was the first jurisdiction in Nigeria to be entrusted to the Irish Province, in 1918. William's first appointment was to the district of Asaba, where an Alsatian Father, Eugene Strub, was superior. Asaba was the seat of the vicar apostolic, Thomas Broderick. Soon after his arrival, Bishop Broderick appointed William as procurator for the vicariate and also placed him in charge of Asaba's three elementary schools with their 12 teachers and 350 pupils. Within two years William had enlarged the existing schools and opened a fourth school, and the total number of pupils was now 790.

In 1925 William's Irish confreres selected him to represent their interests at the Provincial Assembly of that year. After that Assembly, which was held in Cork, William was appointed by the incoming Provincial administration as 'visitor' of Western Nigeria, responsible for the material and spiritual welfare of Society members. William set up his office in Ibusa mission and although he was often away visiting the members he still found time to assist in Ibusa 'parish'. One of his contributions to Ibusa was the construction of a fine church. In April 1927, at the request of Bishop Broderick, William took on the additional post of 'general supervisor of schools', which gave him responsibility for the conduct of the education apostolate throughout the vicariate.

William occupied these posts with distinction until April 1930 when he was nominated by Propaganda Fide as first prefect apostolic of Northern Nigeria. This vast jurisdiction extended over most of northern Nigeria and the southern part of French Niger, over virtually all territory north of the Niger and Benue rivers. William had a staff of eleven priests, six of them Irish members of the Society, deployed in six mission districts: Kano, where he himself resided, Zaria, Kaduna, Jos, Makurdi and Shendam. William proved an energetic pastor. The fact that he was an Englishman helped in his dealings with the colonial authorities, whose relationships with the missionaries heretofore had been cool.

One of his first achievements was to get permission for a school in Kano. In Zaria he dedicated a new church building in June 1931. In Jos he dedicated a new church on 8 October 1933. These developments especially benefited the Igbo Christians who had come northwards with the railway in increasing numbers. Anxious too to root the church among the indigenous population, William established a new residential station at Kwande where there were few Igbos. But, above all, it was through the education apostolate that he hoped to reach out to the local tribes. To provide capable teachers (who would also be catechists) for the many new schools opened to benefit indigenous children during his term of office, he established a vernacular teacher training college at Shendam in 1932. This institution provided tuition through the medium of Hausa. In short, 'Education' to quote Jarlath Walsh from his book The Growth of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Jos, was to become the main evangelical method used by Mgr. Porter'.

In March 1933 the Holy See nominated William vicar apostolic of Cape Coast, in the Gold Coast (Ghana). On 10 September he was ordained bishop of d'Urusi in St. Theresa's church, Birkdale, Southport, England, by Richard Downey, archbishop of Liverpool. Seventeen years later, in 1950, with the erection of the hierarchy in Ghana, William became first archbishop of Cape Coast, and Metropolitan of Ghana, a ministry he pursued until his retirement from Africa in 1960. Of his work as a prelate, much might be written, but what stands out most clearly is the meticulous care he devoted to every phase and level of the apostolate: the basic instruction in primary and catechetical schools; the development of a fine catholic grammar school system; the founding of the catholic secretariat; the pioneering in West Africa of community development efforts and of Credit Union schemes.

In 1960 William submitted his resignation to the Holy See. His decision to retire was influenced by two considerations: increasing ill health and, above all, his conviction that the time had come to appoint African clergy to the hierarchy. He was particularly gratified to be succeeded in Cape Coast by an African, John Kodwo Amissah. William bequeathed to his successor a church which included five bishops and 214 priests of whom 49 were Ghanian. In the archdiocese of Cape Coast there were 200,000 Catholics and of these 2,000 were teachers for the Church's primary and middle schools. Indeed, above all else, it was in the sphere of catholic education that he made his mark. He ruled his diocese wisely for 27 years, steering the Church through historic social and political changes, not least the transfer of power from the colonisers to the indigenous population. William spent his last years retired in the seminary of the British Province, at Dutton Manor, Yorkshire, where he died.

He is buried in Dutton Manor, Preston, Lancashire, England.