Sarah Rowland Jones (born 8 September 1959) is a British

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 ...

priest. Since 2018, she has served as Dean of St Davids.

Life and career

She was born on 8 September 1959 in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

, the daughter of David Rowland Jones and Pearl Jones (née Jenkins). She was educated at

Welshpool High School Welshpool High School is located in Welshpool, Powys. It is a combined secondary school and sixth form, catering for pupils aged 11 to 19. In 2022, a new headteacher was appointed. Motto and the school The school's motto is ''Raising Achievement ...

and Shrewsbury High School, and studied Maths at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, graduating in 1980. She then joined the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

, with postings in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. She was made a

Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...

(LVO) for her role in arranging Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

to Hungary in 1993. She left the diplomatic service in 1996 to train as a priest, and was made an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1997. She trained for the ministry at

St John's College, Nottingham St John's College, Nottingham, founded as the London College of Divinity, was an Anglican and interdenominational theological college situated in Bramcote, Nottingham, England. The college stood in the open evangelical tradition and stated that i ...

. She was then ordained as a deacon at

Petertide Petertide (also known as St Peter's Tide) refers to the Sunday nearest to St Peter's Day on 29 June and to the period around that day. In Anglicanism, Petertide is one of two major traditional periods for the ordination of new priests (the other ...

1999 (26 June) and then as a priest the following Petertide (24 June 2000), both times by Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph and

Archbishop of Wales The post of Archbishop of Wales () was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England and disestablished. The four historic Welsh dioceses had previously formed part of the Province of Canterbury, and so came ...

, at St Asaph Cathedral. In 2002, she moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to marry

Justus Marcus Justus Mauritius Marcus (1955–1 December 2003) was a South African Anglican bishop. He was Regional Bishop of Saldanha Bay in the Diocese of Cape Town from 2002 to 2003, having served as Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian's Cathedral ...

, a South African bishop. Following his death from cancer in 2003, she worked as a Research Adviser to successive Archbishops of Cape Town. In 2011, she completed a PhD in

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

and

public theology Public theology is the Christian engagement and dialogue within the church and especially with the larger society. It seeks the welfare of the state and a fair society for all by engaging issues of common interest to build the common good. This is ...

at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

under the supervision of

Karen Kilby Karen Kilby (born 1964) is an American lay Catholic theologian. She is currently the Bede Professor of Catholic Theology and Director of thCentre for Catholic Studiesin the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. Early life an ...

, with a doctoral thesis titled "Doing God in Public: an Anglican interpretation of MacIntyre's tradition-based reasoning as a Christian praxis for a pluralist world". In the same year, she married Peter Evans, a Welsh man living in South Africa, and in 2013 they returned to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, where she became Priest in Charge of

St John the Baptist Church, Cardiff St John the Baptist Church is a Grade I listed parish church in Cardiff, Wales. Other than Cardiff Castle, it is the only medieval building in the city centre. Description ''Black's Picturesque Guide through Wales'' (1851) described St John's a ...

. After her appointment as Dean of St Davids was announced in November 2017, she was installed as Dean in May 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Sarah Rowland 1959 births Living people Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Nottingham Alumni of the University of Nottingham Deans of St Davids