DEATHS among the episcopate noted in 2015 included those of the Rt Revd Michael Hare Duke, former Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane; the Rt Revd Dewi Bridges, former Bishop of Swansea & Brecon; the Rt Revd Simon Burrows, former Bishop of Buckingham; the Rt Revd Ronald Gordon, former Bishop of Portsmouth; the Rt Revd Dr John Waller, former Bishop of Stafford.
The Rt Revd Peter Barrett, former Bishop of Cashel & Ossory; the Rt Revd Samir Kafity, former Bishop in Jerusalem; the Rt Revd Clive Young, former Bishop of Dunwich; and the Rt Revd Neville de Souza, former Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
OTHER deaths among the clergy included those of Canon Pamela Skelton, pioneer in women’s ministry in the Scottish Episcopal Church; the Revd Jonathan Peel, fomer High Sheriff of Norfolk, and later NSM there; the Revd Cyril Payne, former Vicar of Milford-on-Sea; the Revd David Anderson, Principal of Wycliffe Hall in the 1960s; the Revd Maldwyn Lloyd Jones, former Royal Navy chaplain; Canon John Thurmer, former Chancellor of Exeter Cathedral and university chaplain; the Revd Michael Saward, noted hymn-writer and former Canon of St Paul’s.
The Ven. Peter Bridges, Archdeacon successively of Coventry and Warwick; the Revd Thomas Hawthorn, former assistant chaplain at HM Prison Blundeston; Canon David Galilee, former Chancellor of Blackburn Cathedral; the Revd Tom Devonshire Jones, Director of Art and Christianity Enquiry; the Very Revd John Treadgold, former Dean of Chichester; Canon Michael Butler, co-author of Being Your Age.
Canon Dorrie Firmin, former Hon. Canon of Aberdeen Cathedral; the Very Revd Benjamin Lewers, former Provost of Derby Cathedral; Canon Geoffrey Evans, former Archdeacon of the Aegean, noted for ministry in Turkey; the Revd David Rees, Vicar of Meliden and Gwaenysgor for more than 24 years, and Chancellor of St Asaph Cathedral for 12; Canon Professor Edward Bailey, doyen of Implicit Religion.
The Ven. Leslie Stanbridge, former Archdeacon of York; Canon Geoffrey Brown, former Vicar of St-Martin-in-the-Fields; the Revd John Burrell, former Archdeacon of East Pretoria; the Revd Robert McLean-Reid, Nonconformist minister who became an Anglican; the Revd Jacqueline Broom, missionary in Hong Kong and Macao; the Revd Professor Owen Chadwick, historian.
The Revd Edward Roberts, pioneer of Ordained Local Ministry training; the Revd Gunter Helft, educator; the Revd Brother Eldridge Pendleton SSJE, historian of the Episcopal Church in the United States; the Revd Professor John Emerton, Old Testament scholar; the Revd Dr Kenneth Leech, theologian and founder of the Jubilee Group of left-wing Anglo-Catholics.
The Revd Geoffrey Davies, liturgist in Wales, and Chaplain of Liverpool Cathedral; the Revd Pamela Valpy LLoyd, pioneer in women’s ministry; the Very Revd John Allen, former Provost of Wakefield Cathedral; Prebendary Alan Tanner, for 55 years a City of London priest; the Revd John Langdon, war hero and former Rector of Swillington, and Vicar of Woodhouse and Wrangthorn.
LAY people whose deaths were noted included Desmond Fisher, Irish Roman Catholic writer; Louis Antill Lewis, noted Anglo-Catholic; Professor Marcus Borg, New Testament scholar; Sister Elsie Thrush CA, the Church Army’s oldest member; Elna Provoost-Christensen, long-serving supporter of Anglicanism in the Netherlands; Mrs Sybil Edwards; Charles Cleall, choirmaster.
Margaret Daniel, former Church Times editor’s secretary and book reviewer; Nicholas Gale, organist; Lady Nairne, Reader and Westminster College tutor; Christopher Morris, former Music Editor for Oxford University Press; Christine Phillis, organist; Sister Judith CHN; Rosemarie Cockayne, dancer, artist and churchwarden; Brian Couzens, founder of Chandos Records.
Daphne Wales, former Chairman of the General Synod’s Board of Mission and Unity; John Dewes, cricketer; Dr James Massey, Dalit missionary and author; Guy Taylor, champion of bookselling in churches and cathedrals; Eve Keatley, Archbishop Runcie’s press secretary; Glynis Stranraer-Mull, artist and spiritual director; Col. Robert Hornby, first Chief Information Officer of the Church Assembly.
John Scott, organist and choirmaster; Christopher Kingsley, organist; Professor John Hull, theologian; Geoffrey Brindley, Bradford’s “Jesus Man”; John Ewington, former General Secretary of the Guild of Church Musicians; Dr Colin Hand, composer; Martin Cavender, founder of Springboard and ReSource.
Sir David Willcocks, organist and choirmaster; Phyllis Tickle, American author and lecturer; Rachel Nugee, former World Central President of the Mothers’ Union.
ALSO noted were the deaths of Fr Gleb Yakunin, former Soviet dissident and Christian campaigner; the Revd Robert Schuller, American TV evangelist; the Revd David Gamble, former President of the Methodist Conference; and Archbishop Anba Abraham, Coptic Metropolitan of Jerusalem.