James Schön

James Frederick Schön (1802, in Ober Weiler – 30 March 1889, in Chatham) was a German missionary and linguist who was active in Sierra Leone. He also participated in the Niger expedition of 1841.

After attending the Basel Seminary, Schön attended the Church Missionary Society College in London; he was ordained as a priest in 1832 and immediately went to Sierra Leone. He remained active with the Church Missionary Society until 1853.

He became a naturalized British subject in 1854.

He became an expert on the Hausa language and is credited with writing the first Christian material in Hausa when he translated the Lord's Prayer in 1843. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1884.

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