Page 4 - Bulletin 3 1999

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NOMADIC PASTOR: THE LIFE AND WORK OF BISHOP ROBERT GRAY

William de Villiers

Appearance

“There is no picture of the Bishop that is wholly satisfactory. Richmond’s portrait of him as a

young man, taken before he left England, must have been a true likeness at the time, for it

was very like his son at the same age, and after death the likeness came out on the quiet face,
but it is the face of a man who had not fought and had not suffered.” (Anderson-Morshead, p.

230-231.)

“The later photographs almost all give the stern, anxious, pathetic look, with the mouth, the
feature we make for ourselves, so much altered. The face is nobler, more resolute, than the

young face, but not so regularly handsome.” (Anderson-Morshead, loc. cit.) (Fig. 1.1.)

“The Bishop was tall, of a noble and dignified bearing, with a good deal of presence. One

noted politician describes him as having a ‘polished, gentlemanlike, and manly appearance,
at once dignified and courteous. No better representative of Eton and Oxford before the days

of plutocracy could be found. It was an advantage that the first holder of the See rather
conferred distinction on his office, than drew from that office his worldly status and position.’

The Bishop had a gesture of drawing himself to his full height and looking straight at his

auditor, with the flash of battle in his eye. He walked and rode often with his head a little
bent, as if in deep thought. The dark hair was only touched with silver at the last. The

forehead was high and good, as Richmond’s picture shows. His complexion, never very dark,
varied a good deal, and latterly he flushed too easily for health, and pain and sleeplessness

changed the expression. The dark eyebrows were well-marked, but not bushy, and
emphasized the pathetic look the face often wore. The peculiar bright gleam of the hazel eyes

is noticed by several friends – those eyes that could twinkle with quiet fun, or flash with

righteous indignation, or express such gentleness and sympathetic affection, especially when
he turned them on anything weak or small. The eyes being weak, were often hidden by dark

spectacles. The nose was slightly aquiline, and the mouth latterly very firm and decided.”
(Anderson-Morshead, loc. cit.)