John Gibbs (15 March 1917 – 20 December 2007) was 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 ...

. He was the

Bishop of Coventry The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichf ...

in 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, ...

from 1976 until 1985. He was the first Church of England bishop in modern times to have started his ministry in the nonconformist tradition. Born in Heywood, Lancashire in 1917, he left school to begin work before entering

Western College, Bristol Western College, in Bristol, England, opened on 27 September 1906 as a theological college for the Congregational Union of England and Wales. The building was designed by the Bristol architect Henry Dare Bryan, and given Grade II* listing in 1 ...

for training as a Congregational Minister. He was ordained in 1943, the year of his marriage, and served as minister of Sarisbury Green Congregational Church,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, and Garstang Road Congregational Church,

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...

. The turning point in his career came in 1949 when he joined the Student Christian Movement, working in Bristol. This meant he liaised with many churches and, becoming drawn to the Anglican tradition, he re-trained for the ministry at

Lincoln Theological College Lincoln Theological College was a Church of England theological college in Lincoln. History Founded by Edward White Benson, when he was chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, the college opened on 25 January 1874. It was also known as ''Scholae Cance ...

; he was 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 ...

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

1955 (5 June) at

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bristol. The cathedral was originally an abbey dedicated to St ...

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 ...

on 26 February 1956 at his title church — both times by Frederic Cockin,

Bishop of Bristol The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England. The present diocese covers parts of the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire together with a small area of Wiltshire. The see ...

; and took up a curacy at St Luke's Church, Brislington. His, however, was an educational vocation and in 1957 he became head of Divinity at St Matthias Teacher Training College, Bristol, rising to Vice-Principal in 1962. In 1964, Gibbs was appointed head of Keswick Hall College of Education in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. From 1967 he was a key member of the Durham Commission on the future of Religious Education in Schools. In 1968 he was appointed 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 ...

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Norwich and the mother church of the dioc ...

and in 1973 he was appointed

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Bishop of Bradwell The Bishop of Bradwell is an episcopal title used by an area bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex; the See was erected b ...

in Essex. He was consecrated a bishop on 19 June 1973 at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. Three years later he replaced the more flamboyant

Cuthbert Bardsley Cuthbert Killick Norman Bardsley (28 March 1907 – 9 January 1991) was an Anglican bishop and evangelist who served as Bishop of Croydon from 1947 to 1956 and Bishop of Coventry from 1956 to 1976. It was during his tenure at Coventry that ...

, eventually serving for nine years. One of his proudest achievements was founding

Myton Hamlet Hospice Myton may refer to: Places *Myton, Hull, originally a separate village and once a parish in Kingston-Upon-Hull *Myton, Utah, city in Duchesne County, Utah, United States *Myton-on-Swale, a village in North Yorkshire *Myton, Warwickshire, a suburb ...

and when he retired to

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is a Cotswold Hills, Cotswolds market town and a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Est ...

near

Stroud, Gloucestershire Stroud is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at ...

"Debrett's People of Today" Ellis, P(Ed): London, Debtrett's 1992 he was a leading figure in helping to start the Cotswold Care Hospice. In July 2006, while visiting his daughter near Cambridge he became completely paralysed from mid chest downwards. He found a new home in the Hope Nursing Home in Cambridge where he died on 20 December 2007 aged 90.

Styles

* ''

The Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

'' John Gibbs (1943–1968) * ''The Reverend''

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

John Gibbs (1968–1973) * ''The

Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated as The Rt Revd or The Rt Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian ministers and members of clergy. It is a variant of the more common st ...

'' John Gibbs (1973–2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, John 1917 births 2007 deaths Clergy from Bristol People from Heywood, Greater Manchester English Congregationalists Bishops of Coventry Bishops of Bradwell Alumni of Lincoln Theological College 20th-century Church of England bishops