Basil Charles Elwell French
Basil Charles Elwell French MSM (1919 - 11 September 2014) was a British Anglican priest who ministered in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Born in the United Kingdom, he was educated at Edinburgh Theological College and was ordained a priest in 1946. He moved to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), in 1957, before relocating to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, where he ministered to railway workers across southern Africa. In the 1960s, he served as priest in charge of parishes in the Mashonaland region and was Archdeacon of the Great Dyke. He also served as a prison chaplain and a Rhodesian Army chaplain, earning a Medal for Meritorious Service. He left Zimbabwe and returned to England in 1985, where he ministered into his 90s. Life and priesthood French was born in 1919 in the United Kingdom. He studied at Edinburgh Theological College from 1941 to 1944, earning a Licentiate of Theology. He was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1945. From 1945 to 1946, he served at Christ Church, a Scottish Episcopal Church parish in Falkirk, Scotland. He was ordained a priest on Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March 1946. From 1946 to 1949, he ministered at St Aidan Church in Bristol. From 1949 to