Barclay, Joseph

BARCLAY, JOSEPH: Third Anglican-German Bishop of Jerusalem; b. near Strabane (15 m. s. by w. of Londonderry), County Tyrone, Ireland, Aug. 21, 1831; d. at Jerusalem Oct. 23, 1881. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1854; M.A., 1857); was ordained curate at Bagnalstown, County Carlow, Ireland, 1854; becoming interested in the work of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, he offered himself as a missionary in 1858, and was sent to Constantinople; was incumbent of Christ Church, Jerusalem 1861-70; curate of Howe, Lincolnshire, 1871, of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 1871-73; was consecrated bishop of Jerusalem July 25, 1879, and took up his residence in the city the following January. He preached in Spanish, French, and German, was a good Hebrew scholar, and acquainted with Turkish and Arabic. He published The Talmud, a translation of select treatises of the Mishnah, with introduction and notes (London, 1878), a work which has been generally criticized by Jewish scholars as prejudiced.

Bibliography: A critical biography was published anonymously at London, 1883, giving extracts from his journals and letters; cf. also DNB, iii, 167.