The Bishop of Chelmsford is the

Ordinary Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to: Music * ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast * ''Ordinary'' (album) (2011), by Every Little Thing * "Ordinary" (Alex Warren song) (2025) * "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016 ...

of 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, ...

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. It was created on 23 January 1914 from part of the Diocese of St Albans. It covers Essex and part of East London. Since 1984 it is divided into three ...

in the

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consi ...

.''

Crockford's Clerical Directory ''Crockford's Clerical Directory'' (''Crockford'') is the authoritative directory of Anglican clergy and churches in Great Britain and Ireland, containing details of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish benefices and churches, and biographies of aro ...

2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is

Guli Francis-Dehqani Gulnar Eleanor "Guli" Francis-Dehqani (born 18 June 1966) is an Iranian-born British Anglican bishop who has been Bishop of Chelmsford since 2021. She served as the first Bishop of Loughborough, the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Leicester ...

, since the

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...

of her

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

on 11 March 2021.

History

The diocese was founded in 1914 under

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

from the

Diocese of Saint Albans The Diocese of St Albans forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese is home to more than 1.6 million people and comprises the hi ...

(of which it had been a part since 1877). The present diocese covers the County of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

including those parts of Essex added to

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

on 1 April 1965 and Ballingdon-with-Brundon, transferred to

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and Great/Little Chishill and Heydon, transferred to

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

in 1894. The see is in the city of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary, Saint Peter and Saint Cedd which was elevated to cathedral status in 1914. The bishop's residence is Bishopscourt,

Margaretting Margaretting is a village and civil parish in the Chelmsford (borough), Chelmsford district, in the county of Essex, England. The population of the village taken at the United Kingdom 2011 Census, 2011 Census was 847. The village is located on th ...

List of bishops

Assistant bishops

Assistant bishops of the diocese have included: *19611966 (res.):

Geoffrey Stuart Smith Thomas Geoffrey Stuart Smith (called Geoffrey; surnamed Smith or Stuart-Smith; 28 February 19018 December 1981) was an Anglican bishop in the 20th century. Smith was educated at Felsted School; Jesus College, Cambridge; and Ridley Hall, Camb ...

was an assistant bishop; he was also Rector of

Danbury Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...

from 1960. *19721974: Br John-Charles SSF, former Assistant Bishop of Adelaide and

Bishop of Polynesia The Diocese of Polynesia, or the Tikanga Pasefika serves Anglicans in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands, within the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese's first bishop was consecrated in 1908. The diocese's cat ...

The appointment of Cecil de Carteret, Bishop of Jamaica, to be an assistant bishop was announced in 1931, but he died before he could take it up. Saulo Mauricio de Barros has been Priest-in-Charge of St Martin's Church, Plaistow since 2024. Barros was born in

Arcoverde Arcoverde is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil. It is located in the mesoregion of '' Sertão Pernambucano''. Arcoverde has a total area of 344 km² and lies west of the capital Recife by 256 km. Arcoverde has boundaries with Paraíba to the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

; he was made deacon in 1995 and ordained priest in 1996. Having served in the Diocese of Recife, he was sent to the then-Missionary District of the Amazon in 2002, becoming the bishop of the area as it became a full diocese. He was consecrated a bishop on 14 October 2006, the same day his diocese was inaugurated. Having resigned as bishop, Barros served for a few years in southwestern Brazil before moving to his wife's native Britain, arriving in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

in 2019. He became Associate Priest of the Luso-Hispanic Mission at St Martin's Plaistow and of East Ham Team Ministry in September 2022; in late 2023, he was also licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the Diocese of Chelmsford. When he became Priest-in-Charge in 2024, he kept his licenses in East Ham and as assistant bishop.

References

External links

Crockford's Clerical Directory - Listings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop Of Chelmsford

Diocese of Chelmsford

Bishops of Chelmsford 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 ...