Victor Alexander de Waal (born 2 February 1929) is a British Anglican priest. He was the

Dean of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter (religion), Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of dean (religion), Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Dea ...

from 1976 to 1986.

Early life

Victor de Waal was born in Amsterdam, the son of Hendrik de Waal, a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

businessman, and Elisabeth of the

Ephrussi family The Ephrussi family () is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family. The family's bank and properties were seized by the Nazi authorities after the 1938 "Anschluss", the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. History The Ephrussi family p ...

. His mother was born to a well-known Jewish family at the Ephrussi Palace in Vienna. Although she converted to Christianity this did not protect her from the

racial policy of Nazi Germany The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented in Nazi Germany under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, based on pseudoscientific and racist doctrines asserting the superiority of the putative "Aryan race", which cl ...

. Before the outbreak of World War II, the family moved to Britain and stayed there after the war, though retaining for many years their Dutch citizenship. The family came to live in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

when he was a boy and he was educated at

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. His second cousin once removed was the Right Revd

Hugo de Waal Hugo Ferdinand de Waal (16 March 1935 – 6 January 2007) was Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge from 1978 to 1991 and the suffragan Bishop of Thetford from 1992 until 2000. He was born at Jember on East Java and educated at Tonbridge School ...

Bishop of Thetford The Bishop of Thetford is an episcopal title which takes its name after the market town of Thetford in Norfolk, England. The title was originally used by the Normans in the 11th century, and is now used by a Church of England suffragan bishop. ...

Career

He served as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

from 1959 to 1963 and 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 ...

from 1963 to 1969,''What is the Church'', SCM Press, 1969 and

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

. From 1976 to 1986, he served as the

. He helped with the research into his family history by his son, Edmund de Waal, which culminated in the book ''

The Hare with Amber Eyes ''The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance'' (2010) is a family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal. De Waal tells the story of his family, the Ephrussi, once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty, centred in Odessa, Vien ...

''. De Waal is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Personal life

He married Esther Aline Lowndes-Moir, author (as Esther de Waal) of books on spirituality, especially Celtic. Among their sons are John de Waal, a barrister;

Alex de Waal Alexander William Lowndes de Waal (born 22 February 1963), is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is an authority on famine and has worked on the Horn of Afri ...

(born 1963), a writer on Africa;

Edmund de Waal Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, (born 10 September 1964) is an English contemporary artist, Pottery, potter and author. He is known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels often created in response to collections and archives or ...

(born 1964), a ceramic artist; and

Thomas de Waal Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal (born 1966) is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He is best known for his 2003 book '' Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War''. Li ...

(born 1966), a writer. He later separated from his wife.

Works

*''What is the Church'', 1969, SCM Press. *''The Politics of Reconciliation - Zimbabwe's first decade'', 1990

References

External links

Obituary
of his cousin

(1935–2007), former

. {{DEFAULTSORT:De Waal, Victor 1929 births Living people Deans of Canterbury Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Anglican chaplains University and college chaplains in the United Kingdom British people of Austrian-Jewish descent British people of Dutch descent Waal, Victor Waal, Victor Waal, Victor Ephrussi family People educated at Tonbridge School People from Royal Tunbridge Wells