Archdeacon Dandeson Coates Crowther (24 September 1844 - 5 January 1938) was a son of Archbishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther^[2] and a leader of the Anglican Church in West Africa. He was born in Sierra Leone.^[3] He was a part of the Christian Missionary Society (CMS) in 1870 and titled as "Archdeacon" of the Niger Delta in 1876.^[2] He is credited with initiating the "mass movement" towards Christianity in the 1870s and ultimately the first African secession from the Anglican Church when he founded the Niger Delta Pastorate.^[2]

He was ordained at Saint Mary's Parish Church by Samuel Ajayi Crowther.^[3] Prior to this role, he held a few temporary roles. This included jobs such as secretary and chaplain^[4] for his father Samuel Ajayi Crowther and Senior Pastor in Bonny, Niger Delta.^[3]

Dandeson Coates Crowther was the youngest son of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who was the first African Anglican Bishop in Nigeria.^[2] His father, Archbishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, was born in 1807 in Osogun, Yorubaland, Nigeria.^[5] He was enslaved at 13 years old and traded to Portuguese slave ships.^[5] After Great Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, Royal Navy patrols stopped Ajayi's captive ship in April 1822, transporting these newly freedmen to Freetown, Sierra Leone.^[5] He was converted to the Anglican Church and adopted the name Crowther.^[5] Dandeson Crowther, born in 1844, was the youngest of his children.^{[citation needed]}

Dandeson Coates Crowther was educated in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and England. He attended the Christian Missionary Society Grammar School located in Lagos, Nigeria in 1860.^[4] He then relocated and attended the Christian Missionary Society College in Islington, London, graduating in 1863.^[3] He received a Doctorate of Divinity in Lambeth in 1921.^[4]

Dandeson Coates Crowther's journey as a missionary began in 1870 after he was ordained by his father.^[3] On 19 June 1870, he became a deacon at Saint Mary's Parish Church in Islington, London.^[3] He returned to the Niger Delta in 1871 to join the Christian Missionary Society Niger Mission. On 12 March 1871, he became a priest in Lagos, Nigeria.^[3] He remained at Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria until becoming Archdeacon of the Niger Delta in 1876.^[4] He was Archdeacon, often called "venerable," of the Lower Niger and Delta stations, and led the Southern Nigeria Province of the Christian Missionary Society Mission.^[4]

D.C. Crowther frequently travelled across continents,^[4] utilizing shipping lines between Great Britain and West Africa, such as the Elder Dempster Line.^[6] He constantly travelled between London and Nigeria, but when he got sick, he traveled to Freetown, Sierra Leone.^[4]

Crowther struggled throughout his mission as some of the leaders of the Christian Missionary Society did not want any non-native Europeans to run the Mission. The backlash against African-born clergymen skyrocketed after the Niger Crisis of 1890^[5] and even led to the death of Samuel Ajayi Crowther in 1891.^[5] Today, historians possess letters written by Dandeson Coates Crowther, expressing his realization of people attempting to kick him out of the Christian Missionary Society.^[7] He concluded his role as Archdeacon of the Niger Delta in 1926.^[4] In 1935, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire, knighted by the King of England, and made "Sir."^[4][8] He died at the age of 93 years old on 5 January 1938 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.^[4]

Before passing away in 1938, Crowther was involved in the Delta Revolt and often fought for Africans to run their continent without the sole reliance on Europeans.^[3] The Niger Delta separated from the Christian Missionary Society after Crowther advocated for a self-governing African church, establishing the Niger Delta Pastorate in 1892.^[2] To carry out this mission, he often dabbled in translating work. He translated the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, "Dusk to Dusk," into Igbo, a language of southeastern Nigeria. He also translated a portion of the book of Jeremiah of the Bible into Yoruba, a language of southwestern Nigeria.^[4] Following in the footsteps of his father, who translated the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Yoruba,^[5] Dandeson Coates Crowther worked to keep Africans as involved with the Church as possible, while maintaining autonomy and freedom.^{[citation needed]}