Thomas Carlyle Joseph Robert Hamish Deakin, known as Robert Deakin (1917–1985), was the

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 of Tewkesbury The Bishop of Tewkesbury is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, but the bi ...

from 1973 until his death in 1985. He was born in the village of

Parkend Parkend is a village, located at the foot of the Cannop Valley, in the Royal Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England, and has a history dating back to the early 17th century. During the 19th century it was a busy industrial village with s ...

The Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, the son of Thomas Carlyle Deakin and Harriet Herries Deakin. His grandfather and his father had both been J.P.s and, at different times, managers of Parkend Colliery. When the mine closed, in 1944, his father trained to become an Anglican priest, eventually becoming rector of St Giles in

Uley Uley is a village and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Elcombe and Shadwell and Bencombe, all to the south of the village of Uley, and the hamlet of Crawley to the north. The village ...

and Holy Cross in

Owlpen Owlpen is a small village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, set in a valley in the Cotswold hills. It is about east of Uley, and east of Dursley. The Owlpen valley is set around the settlement like an amphi ...

, Gloucestershire. Deakin was educated at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and ''Wells Theological College'' before embarking on 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 ...

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 ...

(during which time he married Marion Dyer), the incumbency at Holy Trinity in

Drybrook Drybrook is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire, England. Location It lies in the north-west edge of the Royal Forest, bordering with Herefordshire, about from Cinderford, and about from Mitcheldean. ...

then St Mary's Charlton Kings and the

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...

ship of Cheltenham in 1949 until his elevation to

suffragan bishop 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 b ...

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

in 1973. He died on 3 August 1985 The Times, Monday, Aug 05, 1985; pg. 14; Issue 62208; col H Right Rev Robert Deakin Obituaries

Notes

1917 births Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Bishops of Tewkesbury 1985 deaths People from Forest of Dean District {{ChurchofEngland-bishop-stub