John Monier Bickersteth (6 September 1921 – 29 January 2018) was an English Anglican clergyman who served as the

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

from 1975 to 1986, and

Clerk of the Closet The College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may, however, remain in office after leav ...

from 1979 to 1989. Bickersteth descended from a clerical family over several generations; in total six family members have been

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, ...

Bishops 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 ...

.''Run O' The Mill Bishop by John Bickersteth (Capella Archive)''
Biografische Angaben (Tablet Archive vom 17. September 2005) His father was the Rev. Canon Edward Monier Bickersteth , and his mother, Inez Katharine Jelf Bickersteth, was a friend of the actress

Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...

. His uncle was

Julian Bickersteth Kenneth Julian Faithfull Bickersteth, (5 July 1885 – 16 October 1962) was an English Anglican priest, military chaplain, and headmaster from the prominent Bickersteth family. He served as Archdeacon of Maidstone from 1942 to 1958. In 1953, h ...

and his great-great-grandfather was

Charles James Blomfield Charles James Blomfield (29 May 1786 – 5 August 1857) was a British divine and classicist, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years. Early life and education Charles James Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the eldest son (an ...

. Educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, he trained for ordination at

Wells Theological College Wells Theological College began operation in 1840 within the Cathedral Close of Wells Cathedral. It was one of several new colleges created in the nineteenth century to cater not just for non-graduates, but for graduates from the old universiti ...

and was ordained deacon in 1950 and priest in 1951. He began his career with a

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 St Matthew Moorfields

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

(1950-54). He was then Incumbent of St John the Evangelist, Hurst Green,

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...

(1954-62). After a spell as

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of St Stephen's Church, Chatham he ascended to the

Episcopate 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 ...

in 1970 as Suffragan Bishop of Warrington, and after five years was further promoted to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. From 1979 he was

for a decade. Bickersteth died in January 2018 at the age of 96.

Bibliography

References

External links

Imperial War Museum Interview from 1986
1921 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Church of England bishops Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Bishops of Bath and Wells Bishops of Warrington Clerks of the Closet Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Rugby School People from Canterbury

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

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