Oliver Stratford Tomkins (9 June 190829 October 1992) was a British bishop in the

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, ...

. He was a

Bishop of Bristol The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England. The present diocese covers parts of the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire together with a small area of Wiltshire. The see ...

and an author.

Early life and education

Tompkins was born into an ecclesiastical family and his father was the Reverend Leopold Charles Fellows Tomkins. Tomkins was educated at Trent College and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

Ordained ministry

He was made a deacon on

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...

1935 (29 September) and

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 ...

a priest the Michaelmas following (20 September 1936) — both times by

Henry Wilson Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was the 18th vice president of the United States, serving from 1873 until his death in 1875, and a United States Senate, senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...

Bishop of Chelmsford The Bishop of Chelmsford is the Ordinary (officer), Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford in the Province of Canterbury.''Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bisho ...

, at

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral, formally titled the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England, dedicated to Mary (mother of Jesus), St Mary the Virgi ...

, after which he was assistant

curate 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 as ...

of St Mary,

Prittlewell Prittlewell is an inner city area and former civil parish in Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Historically, Prittlewell is the original settlement of the city, Southend being the ''south end'' of Prittlewell. The vil ...

. From 1940 to 1945, he was

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Holy Trinity, Millhouses. In 1945, he became secretary of the World Council of Churches. In 1952 he was appointed

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

of Lincoln Theological College and a

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 ...

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

. Tomkins was appointed to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

in 1959 as the

and consecrated a bishop on 6 January 1959, by Geoffrey Fisher,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

; a post he held for 16 years until his retirement on 1 October 1975.

Bibliography

Tomkins was also an author. His works included: *The Universal Church in God's Design (1948) *The Wholeness of the Church (1949) *The Church in the Purpose of God (1950) *Intercommunion (1951) *Life of E. S. Woods, Bishop of Lichfield (1957) *A Time for Unity (1964) *Guarded by Faith (1971) *Prayer for Unity (1987)

References

1908 births People educated at Trent College Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge 20th-century Church of England bishops Bishops of Bristol 1992 deaths Staff of Lincoln Theological College {{ChurchofEngland-bishop-stub