Born: 1809
Died: >1859
Source: Chaplains in the HEIC 1805 to 1835 (Rev Frank Perry, The Church In Madras 1904)
Biography: GEORGE TREVOR was born in 1809, being the sixth son of Charles Trevor of Bridgwater. From 1825 to 1835 he was in the service of the East India Company at the India House, London. In 1832, while still holding this appointment, he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and was allowed by the Directors to keep his terms. At Oxford he was a prominent speaker at the Union, and succeeded Mr. Gladstone as leader of the House. His literary work began in 1833 with contributions to Blackwood's Magazine, which were highly esteemed by the editor. In 1835 he resigned his post at the India House, and was ordained. In the following year the Directors appointed him a Chaplain on their Madras establishment. He served with Cotterill as joint Chaplain of Vepery for two years. No wonder the services of the Church were crowded. Then he was posted to Bangalore and remained there seven years. He returned to England in 1845, and retired from the Company's Service, which he had adorned for twenty years. In 1839 he published a volume of sermons preached at Vepery. In 1844 he published a sermon preached at St. Mark's, Bangalore, at the parade service of the 2nd European Light Infantry. The same year he preached the Ordination sermon at Ootacamund, and this was published at the request of Bishop Spencer. When at Bangalore he revived and refounded the Tamil Mission, which had been originated by the Rev. William Thomas twenty years before. Trevor was under the impression that he founded the mission, and said so in the pamphlet called The Company's Raj. This statement has been embodied in the Dictionary of National Biography. What happened was this. The mission consisted of a Catechist and a schoolmaster, who worked under the Chaplain's supervision. The native congregation worshipped at St. Mark's; the Catechist conducted the service. The baptisms, &c., of converts were entered in the St. Mark's register books. Notwithstanding his heavy civil and military duties, Trevor took an active part in the missionary work, and baptised a good many converts himself. This use of the Government register books and the Church was objected to, as seeming to involve the Government in the work of missionary endeavour. Trevor thereupon ob tained a site for a separate Church and school buildings for the native congregation from Sir Mark Cubbon, the Chief Com missioner in Mysore, and raised the money to build them. The Church was consecrated in 1844 by Bishop Spencer and named in honour of St. Paul. The service was attended by Sir Mark Cubbon; Lord Gough, who commanded the Bangalore Division; and the chief civil and military officers of the station. The new Church was provided with register books of its own. On his return to England he graduated B.A. at Oxford in 1846 and M.A. in 1847. In 1847 he became Vicar of All Saints, York, and in 1848 was made Canon of York Cathedral.