Bishop of Coventry
The Bishop of Coventry is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield.
The present diocese covers most of the County of Warwickshire. The see is in the City of Coventry where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael. The Bishop's residence is Bishop's House, Coventry.
History[]
From 1102 to 1238, the former Benedictine Priory and Cathedral of St Mary in the city was the seat of the early Bishops of Coventry (previously known as Bishops of Chester or of Lichfield). It was, afterwards, one of the two seats of the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield until the Reformation of the 1530s when Coventry (St Mary's) Cathedral was demolished and the bishop's seat moved to Lichfield, though the title remained as Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry until 1837, when Coventry was united with the Diocese of Worcester.[1]
Bishops of the modern diocese[]
The diocese was revived in 1918 under King George V when the parish church of Saint Michael was elevated to cathedral status. The cathedral suffered under fire-bombing by the Luftwaffe on the night of 14 November 1940 and remains today as a dignified ruin adjacent to the new cathedral building consecrated on 25 May 1962. The 8th Bishop of Coventry was Colin Bennetts, who retired on 31 January 2008.[2]
Christopher Cocksworth was ordained and consecrated as the 9th Bishop of Coventry on 3 July 2008 at Southwark Cathedral.[3] He was enthroned and received into the diocese during a service at Coventry Cathedral on 1 November 2008.[4][5] Cocksworth was previously Principal of Ridley Hall, part of the Cambridge Federation of Theological Colleges.
| Bishops of Coventry | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| 1918 | 1922 |  Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs
|
Translated from Worcester. |
| 1922 | 1931 |  Charles Lisle Carr
|
Translated to Hereford. |
| 1931 | 1943 |  Mervyn Haigh
|
Translated to Winchester. |
| 1943 | 1952 | Neville Gorton
|
|
| 1952 | 1976 |  Cuthbert Bardsley
|
Translated from Croydon. |
| 1976 | 1985 | John Gibbs
|
Translated from Bradwell. |
| 1985 | 1997 |  Simon Barrington-Ward
|
|
| 1998 | 2008 | Colin Bennetts
|
Translated from Buckingham. |
| 2008 | incumbent |  Christopher Cocksworth
|
|
| Source(s): [6][7] | |||
Assistant bishops[]
Among those who have served as assistant bishops of the diocese have been:
- 1937–1952: Richard Heywood, retired Bishop of Mombasa[8]
- 1952–1959: Nathaniel Newnham Davis, Rector of Ladbroke and former Bishop of Antigua[9]
- 1960–1980: John McKie, Rector of Berkswell (until 1966),[10] Vicar of Great and Little Packington (from 1966) and former Bishop of Geelong[11]
- 1968–1975 (ret.): John Daly, Priest-in-charge of Honington with Idlicote and Whatcote (until 1970), Vicar of Bishop's Tachbrook thereafter; former Bishop of Gambia and the Rio Pongas, of Accra, in Korea and of Taejon[12]
References[]
- ^ Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, pp. 253–255.
- ^ "New Bishop of Coventry". Coventry Diocese. 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
- ^ "Start the Week—Consecration of the new Bishop of Coventry". Coventry Cathedral newsletter. Coventry Diocese. 27 May 2008. Archived from the original on 8 May 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2008.
- ^ "The New Bishop Of Coventry". Diocese of Coventry. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
- ^ "Welcome to the new Bishop of Coventry". Coventry Telegraph. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
- ^ Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 241.
- ^ "Historical successions: Coventry". Crockford's Clerical Directory. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
- ^ "Heywood, Richard Stanley". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Davis, Nathaniel William Newnham". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Obituaries: Bishop John David McKie". Church Times. No. 6844. 15 April 1994. p. 6. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 15 February 2021 – via UK Press Online archives.
- ^ "McKie, John David". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Daly, John Charles Sydney". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Bibliography[]
- Crockford's Clerical Directory (100th ed.). London: Church House Publishing. 2007. ISBN 978-0-7151-1030-0.
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
External links[]
- Bishops of Coventry
- Lists of Church of England bishops and archbishops
- Coventry-related lists
- Diocese of Coventry