James Frederick Schon, (Church Missionary Society missionary in Sierra Leone 1832-1847) was renowned for his linguistic work, particularly in Hausa for which he produced a dictionary (1876) and grammar (1862). He accompanied the first Niger Expedition in 1841. In 1848 he became chaplain to the Melville Hospital, Chatham. In 1877 he was awarded the Volney Prize for his linguistic work and in 1884 received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. He died at Chatham 30 March 1889. Schon married Anne Elizabeth Nylander in 1835 who died in Sierra Leone 5 Nov 1837. In 1839 he married Cordelia Irving who died the following year. On 5 February 1841 he married Elizabeth Catherine White (ne Drake), the widow of James White CMS missionary 1839-1840. Catherine survived her husband, dying 26 Oct 1892. One daughter, Annie Catherine, married Edward Thomas Higgens, CMS missionary in Ceylon, in 1858.
Reference: Finding aid to the collection
From the guide to the Papers of James Frederick Schon, 1840-1938, (Birmingham University Information Services, Special Collections Department)
