Penelope Ann Bansall Jamieson (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Allen; born 21 June 1942) is a retired

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. She was the seventh

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 ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in the Anglican Church of New Zealand from 1989 until her retirement in 2004. Jamieson was the second woman in the world, after Barbara Harris, to hold the position of

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 ...

in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

and the first to be elected a diocesan bishop.

Early life

Born in

Chalfont St Giles Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont. It lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, we ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England, in 1942, Jamieson attended

Wycombe High School Wycombe High School is a girls' grammar school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire taking girls from the age of 11 to 18. The school became an academy in 2011, and in 2020 had 1,308 pupils. History The school was the first state grammar school for ...

and studied linguistics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

before moving to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, her husband's country of birth. She worked at the

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Inner City Mission while completing her doctoral thesis at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

on English language acquisition by Tokelaun children.

Ordained ministry

In 1982, she was ordained a deacon and then a priest in 1983. She was

assistant curate 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 ...

of St James'

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

from 1982 to 1985. In 1985, she was

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 Karori West with

Mākara Mākara is a locality located at the western edge of Wellington, New Zealand, close to the shore of the Tasman Sea. The suburb is named after the Mākara Stream (''mā'' is Māori for white, ''kara'' is a kind of greywacke stone). The Wellingt ...

in the

Diocese of Wellington ThDiocese of Wellingtonis one of the thirteen dioceses and ''hui amorangi'' (Māori bishoprics) of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese covers the area between the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand up to ...

. In 1990 she was elected to head the country's southernmost diocese, the Diocese of Dunedin. She was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

on 29 June 1990.ACANZP Lectionary, 2019
(p. 145) She spoke publicly about the difficulties of being the world's first woman diocesan bishop. For instance, her ordination as bishop was not attended by the Anglican

Bishop of Aotearoa 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 ...

(

Whakahuihui Vercoe Whakahuihui "Hui" Vercoe (4 June 1928 – 13 September 2007) was an Anglican bishop in New Zealand. He was the Archbishop of New Zealand from 2004 to 2006, the first person from the Māori church to hold that office. He was also Bishop of Aot ...

) and the Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, (

Leonard Boyle Leonard Eugene Boyle, OP (13 November 1923 - 25 October 1999) was an Irish and Canadian scholar in medieval studies and palaeography. He was the first Irish and North American Prefect of the Vatican Library in Rome from 1984 to 1997. Ear ...

). On 15 March 2004 she announced her retirement. At her retirement, after 14 years as Bishop of Dunedin, Jamieson expressed her regret that no other woman had been elected a bishop in New Zealand.

Personal life

She is married to Ian Jamieson, an academic specialising in Scottish and medieval English literature. In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jamieson was appointed a

Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have r ...

, for services to the community. In 2009, following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government, she declined redesignation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

References

Works

* ''Living at the Edge: sacrament and solidarity in leadership'', Jamieson, P. A. B London, Mowbray 1997

External links

Monumental Studies biographyNew Zealand Herald articleNew Zealand honours
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamieson, Penny 1942 births Living people People from Chalfont St Giles People educated at Wycombe High School Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English emigrants to New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington alumni Women Anglican bishops 20th-century Anglican bishops in New Zealand 21st-century Anglican bishops in New Zealand Anglican bishops of Dunedin Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit