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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
The Most Rev. Samuel Tarrat Nevill
The Most Rev. Samuel Tarrat Nevill , D.D., Bishop of Dunedin, and Primate of New Zealand, is a son of the late Jonathan Nevill, Esquire, of Nottingham. He was born in 1837 in Nottingham and was educated there at the University College. Thence he proceeded to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he gained second class honours in the Natural Science Tripos, and graduated B.A. in 1862, and M.A. in 1865. Dr. Nevill was ordained in 1863, by the Bishop of Chester, and had sole charge of Scarisbrook, Lancashire, until the following year, when he was appointed to the parish of Shelton, Staffordshire, where he remained until 1871. In that year he came out to New Zealand, and soon after his arrival was appointed Bishop of Dunedin. In 1872 the Cambridge University conferred on him the degree of Doctor in Divinity. Bishop Nevill, who is now the senior prelate in the Australian colonies, has done much good work in his diocese, and it was mainly due to his efforts that the Selwyn Theological College was built and opened in 1885. St. Hilda's College, for the higher education of girls, also owes its origin to him, as well as the Deaconess Institute, and the establishment of the cathedral. During the thirty-four years that he has been Bishop of Dunedin, he has attended every Lambeth Conference except one. He is a well known writer of pamphlet and sermons on theology, and has always been interested in scientific subjects. Bishop Nevill, who married a daughter of the late James Parker Penny, of Heavitree, Exeter, England, became Primate of New Zealand at the meeting of the General Synod, held in Auckland on the 1st of February, 1904. His predecessor in that office had been Bishop Cowie, of Auckland.