THE Suffragan Bishop of Islington in the diocese of London, Dr Richard (Ric) Thorpe, is to be the next Archbishop of Melbourne in the Anglican Church of Australia.

He succeeds the Rt Revd Philip Freier, who retired in February.

Dr Thorpe was elected by the Melbourne Diocesan Synod on Friday. He and three other candidates were proposed to the Synod by the Board of Nominators, made up of elected clergy and lay representatives (News, 16 May).

The other candidates, all from Melbourne diocese, were eliminated in two rounds of voting. They were: the Executive Director of CMS Victoria, the Revd Dr Wei-Han Kuan; the Vicar of St John’s, Diamond Creek, the Ven. Dr Tim Johnson; and the Vicar of Deep Creek Anglican Church, the Ven. Megan Curlis-Gibson.

Dr Thorpe, who works primarily in church-planting across the Church of England, was decisively elected in the third ballot. He becomes the first overseas candidate to be elected to Melbourne since the election of the Rt Revd Frank Woods, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Manchester, in 1957.

Dr Thorpe trained at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and was ordained priest in 1997. He served his title at Holy Trinity, Brompton (HTB) until 2005 when he become Priest-in-Charge, then Rector, of St Paul’s, Shadwell. He was Priest-in-Charge of All Hallows’, Bromley by Bow, until his consecration in 2015.

Posting on social media on Sunday, Dr Thorpe said that he was “humbled and deeply honoured” to have been elected. He and his wife, Louise, with whom he has three children, were looking ahead “with faith and hope as we prepare for this next chapter to serve the people and parishes of the diocese of Melbourne”.

The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, posted her congratulations on Saturday. “For decades, Ric has been a driving force behind church growth in London,” she said. “He will be missed here.”

Dr Thorpe is expected to be enthroned as Archbishop of Melbourne later this year. Until then, the Rt Revd Genieve Blackwell is to continue as diocesan administrator.