William Palmer Ladd (1870–1941) was an American Episcopal priest, liturgical scholar, and seminary

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

Biography

Ladd was born on May 13, 1870, in Lancaster,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1891 and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the

General Theological Seminary The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) is an Episcopal seminary in New York City. Founded in 1817, GTS is the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church and the longest continuously operating Seminary in the Anglican Communi ...

in 1897. Ladd was ordained deacon on June 11, 1897, and priest on June 11, 1898. After work as a parish priest in the

Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA), covers the entire state of New Hampshire. It was originally part of the Diocese of Massachusetts, but became independent in 1841. ...

, he served as professor of church history (1904–1941) at

Berkeley Divinity School Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1854, is a seminary of The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley is one of the three "Partners on the Quad," ...

, of which he later became dean (1918–1941). The school had been founded in Middletown,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, but Ladd worked to move it to

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, home of

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, believing connection with a major university and presence in an urban center were better suited to training of clergy. As Dean of Berkeley, Ladd was seen as an inspiring if sometimes controversial figure. Socialist in sympathies, he chaired a major review of child welfare for the state of Connecticut. He was responsible for bringing to the USA a number of sympathetic Anglican thinkers as visiting professors including

Percy Dearmer Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...

and

Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy (27 June 1883 – 8 March 1929) was an English Anglican priest and poet. He was nicknamed "Woodbine Willie" during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes to the soldiers he met, as well as spiritual aid t ...

. Ladd died on July 1, 1941, in New Haven.

Influence

Ladd was active in the dissemination of

Liturgical Movement The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship. It began in the Catholic Church and spread to many other Christian churches including the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and some other Pro ...

principles in the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

. His book ''Prayer Book Interleaves'', published only after his death, was based on columns that had appeared in the Episcopal Church magazine ''The Witness''. It was reprinted in 1957 with a new introduction by his student Massey H. Shepherd and then again in the centenary year of his appointment as Dean of Berkeley. Shepherd himself and others including

Urban T. Holmes III Urban Tigner Holmes III (June 12, 1930 – August 6, 1981) was an Episcopal priest, theologian, and academic during the twentieth century. He was the son of Urban T. Holmes Jr. and Margaret Allan Gemmell Holmes. Following studies at the University ...

viewed Ladd as the instigator of the processes of reform that ultimately led to the adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.Urban T. Holmes, What is Anglicanism? pp.42-44

Bibliography

* ''Prayer Book Interleaves: Some Reflections on How the Book of Common Prayer Might Be Made More Influential'' (1943)

References

Footnotes

Works cited

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External links

* 1870 births 1941 deaths American Episcopal priests Anglican liturgists Dartmouth College alumni People from Lancaster, New Hampshire {{US-Christian-clergy-stub