Denis William Bryant DFC (31 January 1918 – 9 August 2005) was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

and then an

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 ...

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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the third quarter of the 20th century.

Early life

He was born on 31 January 1918, and educated at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. His father

Tom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

was a well-known

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing ...

and kept the Carpenters' Arms public house in Efail Isaf.

Air Force

Bryant served in the RAF both during the War and afterwards. In 1942 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was appointed Pilot Officer in 1943, Flying Officer in 1946 and Flight Lieutenant in 1948. He had a conversion experience whilst flying a plane, and proceeded to ordination.

Church

After training for ordination at Queen’s College, Birmingham, Bryant was ordained in the

Diocese of Guildford __NOTOC__ The Diocese of Guildford is a Church of England diocese covering eight and half of the eleven districts in Surrey, much of north-east Hampshire and a parish in Greater London. The cathedral is Guildford Cathedral and the bishop is the ...

, as deacon in 1958 and priest in 1959. He served curacies at St Thomas-on-the-Bourne,

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

, (1958-1960) and St Mary the Virgin, Cuddington,

Worcester Park Worcester Park is a suburban town in South London, England. It lies in the London boroughs of Sutton and Kingston, and partly in the Surrey borough of Epsom and Ewell. The area is southwest of Charing Cross. The suburb's population was 16,031 ...

(1960-1961). Having seen an advertisement in the church press for priests to serve in the remote and sparsely populated Australian Diocese of Kalgoorlie he became Rector of St Andrew's, Esperance (1961-1967). His new parish extended 200 miles north to south, and 65 east to west. During his incumbency, he replaced the galvanised iron church with a new building, which was opened in 1964. In 1966 he was additionally appointed as

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

of the Goldfields. He was consecrated a bishop on 30 November 1967 at St George's Cathedral, Perth, to become the 4th Bishop of Kalgoorlie. With closure of the goldfields, however, he realised that his diocese was no longer viable as a separate entity, and asked the Archbishop of Perth to reabsorb it, which occurred in 1973. After merger, he then served in parish ministry in Perth as Rector of St John the Evangelist, Northam (1973–1975) and St Lawrence's,

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

(1975–1985), as well as being an Assistant Bishop of Perth.

Personal life

He was married to Linda, and had a daughter. They both predeceased him. He died in 2005, aged 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Denis William 1918 births Alumni of Cardiff University Royal Air Force officers Anglican archdeacons in Australia 20th-century Anglican bishops in Australia Anglican bishops of Kalgoorlie Assistant bishops in the Anglican Diocese of Perth 2005 deaths People from Esperance, Western Australia