Audrey Anne Elkington (born 1 November 1957) is a retired

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Anglican priest. She served as the Archdeacon of Bodmin in the

Diocese of Truro The Diocese of Truro (established 1876) is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury which covers Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and a small part of Devon. The bishop's seat is at Truro Cathedral. Geography and history The d ...

Early life and education

Elkington was born in or near

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

on 1 November 1957 to Henry and Alexandra King. She studied Biochemistry at St Catherine's College,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, graduating

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) in 1980; she then undertook post-graduate research at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

where she completed her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) degree in 1983 — entitled ''"Streptomyces gene fusions involving the Escherichia coli B-glactosidase gene"''. She later also graduated

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA) from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

in 1999.

Career

Elkington felt the call to ministry during her postgraduate studies, but 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, ...

did not at that time ordain women. Therefore, she began ministerial training in 1985 at

St John's College, Nottingham St John's College, Nottingham, founded as the London College of Divinity, was an Anglican and interdenominational theological college situated in Bramcote, Nottingham, England. The college stood in the open evangelical tradition and stated that i ...

and in 1986 with the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course; being licensed a

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...

in 1988, the only ministry (licensed lay, not ordained) then open to women. She then served in

Monkseaton Monkseaton is an area of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. Historically in Northumberland, it is in the north-east of the borough, from the North Sea coast and north of the River Tyne at North Shields. to th ...

until 1991 (effectively her

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

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 ...

, and thereafter in

Ponteland Ponteland ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. Built on marshland near St Mary's Church and the old bridge, most marshland has now been drained to make way for housing. In the ind ...

. In 1992, 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 ...

voted to ordain women and she began the path to priesthood. She was made

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 ...

Petertide Petertide (also known as St Peter's Tide) refers to the Sunday nearest to St Peter's Day on 29 June and to the period around that day. In Anglicanism, Petertide is one of two major traditional periods for the ordination of new priests (the other ...

1992 (17 July) at St Mary the Virgin, Ponteland (where she was already serving) and ordained

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 ...

on 15 May 1994 (during the first year women were ordained priests) at

Newcastle Cathedral Newcastle Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, is a Church of England cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Newcastle (England), Bishop of Newcastle and is the mother church ...

— both times by Ken Gill,

Assistant Bishop of Newcastle The Bishop of Berwick is an episcopal title used by the suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Newcastle in the Province of York, England.

. In 1993, she moved to

Prudhoe Prudhoe ( ) is a town and civil parish in the south of Northumberland, England. It is west of Newcastle upon Tyne and situated on a steep, north-facing hill on the south bank of the River Tyne. Prudhoe had a population of 11,675 at the 2011 ...

(St Mary Magdalene), where she became Assistant Curate (and her husband Vicar) until 2002 — during this time, she also served as

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was k ...

from 1999 onwards, and began her additional advisory role of Dean of Women's Ministry in 2001. Remaining in the last role, she resigned her parish licence in order to serve as

Bishop's Chaplain In contrast to a usual chaplain (a priest serving a specific group of people), a bishop's chaplain or archbishop's chaplain is chaplain to a bishop only. The office exists in the Anglican churches, the Lutheran churches and the Roman Catholic Chur ...

(to

Martin Wharton John Martin Wharton, (born 6 August 1944) is a British Anglican bishop, a retired Bishop of Newcastle. Early life and education Wharton was born in Ulverston, Lancashire, the son of John Wharton and Marjorie Skinner. He was educated at Ulve ...

, Bishop of Newcastle) and

Director of Ordinands Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...

, becoming additionally 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 ...

of Newcastle Cathedral from 2006. Elkington was appointed Archdeacon of Bodmin and collated at

Truro Cathedral The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. His ...

on 29 July 2011. She also served as Rural Dean of Trigg Major from 2016 and as Acting

Archdeacon of Cornwall The Archdeacon of Cornwall is a senior cleric in the Church of England Diocese of Truro and one of two archdeacons in the diocese. History and composition The archdeaconry of Cornwall was created in the Diocese of Exeter in the late 11th centu ...

from May 2018 until 1 September 2019. She retired effective 28 February 2021.

Personal life

King married David Elkington in 1986 — he is also a priest of the Church of England, serving 1976–2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elkington, Audrey Anne 1957 births Living people Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford Alumni of the University of East Anglia Archdeacons of Bodmin Alumni of Durham University People from Ponteland