Donald Seymour Arden (12 April 1916 – 18 July 2014) was a British-Australian

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 ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, and campaigner for issues of justice and equality.

Ministry

Arden was educated at

St Peter's College, Adelaide St Peter's College (officially The Anglican Church of Australia Collegiate School of Saint Peter, but commonly known as Saints) is an Private school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Primary school, primary and Secondary school ...

and the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. He was ordained

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 ...

in 1939 and priest in 1940 after studying at the

College of the Resurrection A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

, Mirfield. His first posts were curacies in

Hatcham Hatcham was a manor and later a chapelry in what is now London, England. It largely corresponds to the area around New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ancient parish of Deptford straddled the counties of Surrey and Kent and ther ...

and Nettleden. In 1944 he joined the Pretoria African Mission, eventually becoming Director of the Usuthu Mission in

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

. From 1961 to 1971 he was the Bishop of Nyasaland/Malawi – as Bishop of Nyasaland until Malawian independence in 1964 and as Bishop of Malawi thereafter.Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi – History
/ref> When the diocese split in 1971, he became bishop of one of the two new dioceses as Bishop of Southern Malawi. Also in that year, he became

Archbishop of Central Africa This is a list of the archbishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, which encompasses the present-day Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. List of Archbishops of Central Africa References {{reflist External linksLambeth ...

, and held both posts until retiring in 1980. Having given up the archbishopric, Arden returned to the UK to become

priest in charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

of St Margaret's Church,

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

, where he served from 1981 to 1986. Arden had a great love of Africa and campaigned tirelessly for the rights of indigenous African people. Within the Church he made widespread provision for the education of indigenous black African priests, and campaigned for the appointment of indigenous bishops. It was a matter of pride to him that he was the last white Archbishop of Central Africa.

Retirement

In retirement Arden served as an honorary assistant priest at St Alban's Church in

North Harrow North Harrow is a suburban area of North West London, situated north-west of central Harrow, London, Harrow within the London Borough of Harrow. Its residential roads have expanded from North Harrow tube station, a station on the Metropolitan ...

, and as an honorary assistant bishop in the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

. He gave up these roles in 2011 and moved to

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is situated northwest of Southampton, southwest of Winchester and southeast of Salisbury. It sits on the outskirts of the New Forest, just over northeast of ...

, Hampshire, where he lived the final years of his life. In December 2011, Arden celebrated 50 years of episcopal ministry with his family at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

, London. He was consecrated (as Bishop of Nyasaland) on 30 November 1961. He died at home in Romsey, Hampshire on 18 July 2014, aged 98. His family announced that he would be cremated in an African banana leaf coffin on 31 July 2014. His wife Jane Arden survived him. She was a dedicated church worker.

References

External links

Donald Arden's Reflections
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Donald Seymour 1916 births 2014 deaths People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the College of the Resurrection English Anglican missionaries Anglican bishops of Nyasaland Anglican bishops in Malawi Anglican bishops of Southern Malawi 20th-century Anglican bishops in Malawi Anglican archbishops of Central Africa 20th-century Anglican archbishops Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire