Martin George Poll, (born 1961) is a British

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

priest and former

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

. Since 2012, he has been the Canon Chaplain of

St George's Chapel St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar (a church und ...

, Windsor Castle, and Domestic Chaplain to the Queen. From 2010 to 2012, he was Archdeacon for the Royal Navy and Principal

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Chaplain of the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Services.

Early life

Poll was born in 1961 in Enfield, Greater London. He was educated at

Edmonton County School Edmonton County School is a coeducational all-through school and sixth form for pupils aged 4 to 18. The school is located over two sites in Edmonton, London, Edmonton in the London Borough of Enfield in north London, England. Admissions The Ca ...

, a state school in the London Borough of Enfield. He then studied English and

Religious Studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

at the

University of Kent at Canterbury A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1983.

Ordained ministry

Early ministry

In 1984, Poll entered

Ripon College Cuddesdon Ripon College Cuddesdon (RCC) is a Church of England seminary, theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local orda ...

. He spent the next three years training for ordination. One of his placements during training was to the

Royal Army Chaplains' Department The Royal Army Chaplains' Department (RAChD) is an all-officer department that provides ordained clergy to minister to the British Army. History The Army Chaplains' Department (AChD) was formed by Royal Warrant of 23 September 1796; until the ...

. He did not feel that the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

was right for him, but remained attracted to

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

cy. Poll was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1987 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1988. From 1987 to 1990, he served his

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

at John Keble Church,

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...

, London. It was during this time that he saw an advertisement for the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Services. He was given a tour of the service, and found that it appealed to him.

Military career

In 1990, Poll was commissioned as a

in the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Services,

. Chaplains do not hold a

rank A rank is a position in a hierarchy. It can be formally recognized—for example, cardinal, chief executive officer, general, professor—or unofficial. People Formal ranks * Academic rank * Corporate title * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy ...

, only "chaplain", and wear the chaplain's badge as insignia. His appointments included chaplain at HMS ''Raleigh'' (the Royal Navy's

basic training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique dema ...

facility), and chaplain at

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

(the Royal Navy's initial officer training establishment). As chaplain to the Royal Marines Commando helicopter squadrons, he served abroad in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. In 2007, he became chaplain to , a

light aircraft carrier A light aircraft carrier, or light fleet carrier, is an aircraft carrier smaller than the Fleet carrier, standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft onl ...

. He then moved to

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...

, where he was leader of its chaplaincy team and chaplain of St Ann's Church (the base's Anglican chapel). On 1 November 2010, Poll was promoted to Deputy Chaplain of the Fleet. As the most senior Anglican chaplain, he was also appointed Principal Anglican Chaplain and the Archdeacon for the Royal Navy. As Archdeacon, he was elected to the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

. On 11 December 2011, he was made an

Honorary Canon Canon () is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of ...

Portsmouth Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral church in the centre of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, England. Since 1935 the historic church has been the cathedral of the Dioc ...

. On 7 August 2012, Poll stepped down as Deputy Chaplain of the Fleet; he was succeeded by Ian Wheatley. He retired from the Royal Navy on 29 October 2012.

Later ministry

Poll was installed as a

Canon of Windsor The Dean and Canons of Windsor are the ecclesiastical body of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Foundation The college of canons was established in 1348 by letters patent of King Edward III. It was formally constituted on the feast of S ...

on 1 October 2012. He serves as

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Chaplain of

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

, and Chaplain to the Great Park. On 1 November 2010, Poll was appointed an

Honorary Chaplain to the Queen An Honorary Chaplain to the King is a member of the clergy within the United Kingdom who, through long and distinguished service, is appointed to minister to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch of the United Kingdom. When the reigning mona ...

(QHC). June 2014, Poll was appointed Domestic Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen (Windsor Great Park).

Personal life

Poll is married to Diana. Together they have two children: a daughter and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poll, Martin George 1961 births Living people People from Enfield, London People educated at Edmonton County School Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon 20th-century Church of England clergy 21st-century Church of England clergy Royal Navy chaplains Honorary chaplains to the King Church of England archdeacons (military)