Rev. and Mrs W. A. Burris

Rev. W. A. Burris

William Alexander Burris was born at Green River, Clarendon, in 1862, the son of Mr and Mrs Richard Burris. He was educated at the Mico School in Kingston, and the Government Training College in Spanish Town. At the age of 19 he had qualified as a teacher and was appointed to the Government School in Montego Bay. After eight years there, he went as principal to the Lluidas Vale school in St Catherine. In 1891 he went to Codrington College, Barbados, to train for the Anglican ministry. On his return to Jamaica in 1894 he entered the Anglican Theological College on the advice of Bishop Nuttall, and studied carpentry and dispensing in preparation for missionary work in West Africa.

Mrs W. A. Burris

Esthrana Isabel Brown was born at Four Paths, Clarendon in 1865, the eldest of the six children of Thomas Brown and his wife. It was a talented family: her brother John trained in the U.S.A. and Britain to become a doctor, and her brother Tom graduated with honours from Clark University. She was taught by her father until 1884, then spent three years at Westwood High School (then Trelawny Girls' School) where she was an out-standing pupil. She became a member of the school staff until 1889. For some time she lived with her uncle, the Rev. W. N. Brown, at Salter's Hill, St. James, and was Headmistress of a Private School at Moor Park. Next she returned to Chapelton and taught a Private School of her own.

Her desire to be active in mission work developed as early as the age of 12. She became a good student of the Bible, and delighted in teaching it. In 1895 the Bishop of Sierra Leone visited Jamaica and appealed for missionaries of African ancestry to go to West Africa from Jamaica. In 1896 Isabel married William Burris, who had been studying for mission work, and together they travelled to West Africa.

William Burris was ordained deacon in Sierra Leone in 1899, and priest in 1902. At first he was curate at St George's Cathedral, Freetown, but in 1901 he was put in charge of the Anglican mission in the Rio Pongas, an area adjacent to Sierra Leone which was claimed by the French. He was accompanied by his wife, and A F O March and J Walrond; they were the first contingent of Anglican missionaries from Jamaica to West Africa.

The Rev and Mrs Burris worked indefatigably to spread the Gospel. Their reports of their work were printed in the local press and in 1910 they returned on furlough and toured Jamaica giving talks about their work and the needs of the mission. Sadly, shortly after they left, Isabel's brother John, who was practising as a doctor in St Mary, was washed away and drowned by a flooded river while returning from visiting a patient at Albion Mountain.

The Burrises had three children, two girls, Hilda and Minnie, and one son, Willie, named after his father. They spent their early years in West Africa, but later were sent to school in England, causing the sadness of separation within the family. They later returned with their parents to Jamaica and made their homes here; Hilda and Minnie became music teachers and William junior worked in the Government Savings Bank.

The Rev and Mrs Burris ran the mission in the Rio Pongas until 1925, when they returned to Jamaica. They had hoped and believed they would return to their missionary work, but the church apparently decided, possibly for financial reasons, that they should stay in Jamaica. After a few years serving at Mount James and Scotts Hall, they were sent to Pratville in Manchester, where Father Burris served with enthusiasm and success until his retirement in 1938, when they came to live in Kingston on Lady Musgrave Road. He still preached and took services, as he was popular and widely respected. In the summer of 1940 he was one of the clergy officiating at the mass wedding organized by the Women's Liberal Club. William Burris died in October of that year, and was buried in the St Andrew Parish Church cemetery. A letter in the Gleaner said of him 'He was not a priest for salary, but a priest for service.'

The Burris family, 1932

Isabel Burris, who had worked beside her husband in the West African mission they loved, continued to work beside him on their return to Jamaica. She was always a well-received speaker, especially when talking about the mission. When the Bishop of Gambia visited Kingston in 1954 he made a special point of visiting the veteran missionary, then approaching 90, at her home. She died in May of the following year.