Seth Kale

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Seth Irunsewe Kale MBE, OON, CFR (June 6, 1904 – November 19, 1994) was a Nigerian Anglican bishop who led the Diocese of Lagos from 1963 to 1974. Born in Ipata, Mobalufon, Ogun State, he was the eldest of seven children of Jacob and Victoria Kale. He studied at Ijebu-Ode Grammar School and Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone, earning a BA and a Diploma in Theology, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of London. Kale began teaching at CMS Grammar School, Lagos, and became the first Nigerian principal of the school (1944–1950). He was ordained deacon in 1942 and priest in 1943. He also served as the first Nigerian principal of St Andrew’s Teachers’ Training College, Oyo, starting in 1951, where he helped restore order and improve the college. In 1963 he was elected Bishop of Lagos and was consecrated on November 30, 1963, by Cecil Patterson, Archbishop of West Africa. He is noted as the first African to preach at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Kale married Juliana Oladunni Odukoya in 1930, and they had six children. In 1969 he officiated the wedding of Nigeria’s President Yakubu Gowon at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos. He died in 1994.