Geoffrey Stanley Johnston (called Geoff; 7 November 1944 - 9 March 2025) was a

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, ...

priest serving as Archdeacon of Gibraltar, in the

Diocese in Europe The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, known simply as the Diocese in Europe (DiE), is a diocese of the Church of England. It was originally formed in 1842 as the Diocese of Gibraltar. It is geographically the largest diocese of the Church of Englan ...

Education and training

Born in 1944, Johnston entered Kelham Theological College in 1964, beginning to train for the priesthood at age 20. He subsequently gained a

Certificate in Education The Certificate in Education (Cert Ed) is a professional qualification for teachers in the United Kingdom. There have been two incarnations of the Cert Ed over the years. New Cert Ed The current Cert Ed is a non-compulsory qualification offering ...

(CertEd) from

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in 1978 and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(MBA) from

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...

in 1981.

Ministry

He was ordained in the

: made a

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 ...

Advent Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Chri ...

1968 (22 December) by

Richard Clitherow Richard Clitherow (18 January 1902 – 3 June 1947) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. Born in Liverpool, Clitherow was educated at the University of Liverpool, qualifying as a doctor and pharmacist. From 1919 until 1922, he ...

Bishop of Stafford The Bishop of Stafford is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Stafford, the county town of Staffordshire. The Bishop o ...

, at St Luke's Church, Blakenhall and ordained a

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 ...

the following Advent (19 December 1969), by William Parker, Bishop of Shrewsbury, at

St Matthew's Church, Walsall St Matthew's Church (formerly All Saints' Church) is a Church of England parish church in Walsall, West Midlands, England. It was rebuilt in 1820-1821 by Francis Goodwin, but includes remains of the earlier church built around 1220 and dedica ...

. He served his first

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 ...

at Blakenall Heath (in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

) until 1972, when he went for a year to serve

St Buryan St Buryan () is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1412. The village of St Buryan is situated approximately west of ...

with

St Levan St Levan () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is rural with a number of hamlets of varying size with Porthcurno probably being the best known. Hewn out of the cliff at Minack Point and ...

and Sennan (at

Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

), before returning to Blakenall Heath. Remaining in the West Midlands, Johnston next served as

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 Stephen's Church,

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, Walsall district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census of 49,587. It is ...

, from 1975, until the next year, when he moved to

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

: he served All Saints and St Mary Magdalene until 1977, and became a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

at West Bromwich College of Commerce and Technology in 1978. From 1982, he served in Dudley borough for 26 years: first as an industrial chaplain and Team Vicar of St John the Baptist,

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, ...

until 1994. He became a

self-supporting minister In the Church of England, self-supporting ministers (SSMs), previously called non-stipendiary ministers (NSMs) or non-stipendiary priests, are ministers who do not receive a stipend. They usually have alternative employment. There were around 2,000 ...

at St Francis,

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

, where he became

in 1999; he additionally served as priest-in-charge of the Church of St Edmund, Dudley from 2004, until his retirement in 2008.

Retirement

On first retiring, Johnston became Chaplain (i.e. parish priest) of

Nerja Nerja () is a municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is part of the comarca of La Axarquía. It is on the country's southern Mediterranean coast, about east of ...

and

Almuñécar Almuñécar () is a Spanish city and municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the southwestern part of the comarcas of Spain, comarca of the Costa Granadina, in the province of Granada. It is located on the shores of the Mediterranean sea ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, for the Church of England

. He became one of the Area Deans of Gibraltar Archdeaconry in January 2013, and was (additionally) commissioned Acting Archdeacon of Gibraltar and collated a Canon at Gibraltar Cathedral that November. On 17 October 2014, around the time he resigned the chaplaincy, he was re-licensed to the Archdeaconry, this time on a more long-term basis. In February 2019, he took on the extra role of Acting Archdeacon of Italy and Malta. On 6 November 2019, the eve of his 75th birthday, Johnston retired again. Johnston died in 2025, aged 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Geoffrey Stanley 1944 births Archdeacons of Gibraltar 2025 deaths 21st-century Anglican priests