James_Schön
James Schön
German missionary and linguist
James Frederick Schön (1802, in Ober Weiler – 30 March 1889, in Chatham) was a German missionary and linguist who was active in Sierra Leone. He also participated in the Niger expedition of 1841.[1][2]
After attending the Basel Seminary, Schön attended the Church Missionary Society College in London;[1][3] he was ordained as a priest in 1832 and immediately went to Sierra Leone. He remained active with the Church Missionary Society until 1853.[1][3]
He became a naturalized British subject in 1854.[3]
He became an expert on the Hausa language and is credited with writing the first Christian material in Hausa when he translated the Lord's Prayer in 1843.[4] He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1884.[1][3]