Reverend Loffhagen of Africa at Wontner's Cottage Mitcham Surrey Old Postcard

BG704 Antique real photo postcard of the historic Reverend William Loffhagen (see below) featured outside Cedar Cottage Commonside Mitcham (of Caroline Wontner family) unused - two upper circular impressions to allow and slight small places otherwise great condition (vg+ grading unused) - real photographic glossy old souvenir from the early 1900s - from a military collection but a local historian will be fully aware of the Reverend and his Wontner and Surrey connections.

Reverend Richard William Loffhagen was a dedicated twentieth-century Anglican clergyman who committed a significant portion of his early ministry to missionary work in southeast Africa. Serving across two distinct periods between 1901 and 1919, his primary achievement was his extensive pastoral service within the Diocese of Lebombo in modern-day Mozambique. Later in life, at the request of the Archbishop of Cape Town, he successfully authored a detailed historical memoir that documented early Anglican missionary efforts, providing a valuable archival record of tribal customs and colonial-era religious history. Following his marriage to Caroline Hazel Wontner in 1914, he eventually returned to England, where he continued to support the Anglican church and maintain his connection to his family's roots in the historic parish of Mitcham, Surrey, until his passing in 1971.