| Godfrey Ashby | |
| Bishop of St John's (1980–1985); Assistant Bishop of Leicester | |
| Diocese: | Diocese of St Johns, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; Diocese of Leicester |
| Term: | 1980-1985; 1987–1995 |
| Successor: | Jacob Dlamini |
| Other Post: | Dean of Grahamstown (1975–1980) |
| Ordination: | 1955 (deacon) 1955 (priest) |
| Consecration: | 1980 |
| Birth Date: | 1930 11, df=y |
| Religion: | Anglican |
| Parents: | William & Vera Hickey |
| Children: | 4 sons; 2 daughters |
| Profession: | Writer (theologian) |
| Alma Mater: | King's College London |
| Death Place: | The College of St Barnabas, Lingfield, Surrey |
Godfrey William Ernest Candler Ashby (6 November 1930 – 29 December 2023) was a British Anglican bishop, theologian, and academic. From 1980 to 1985, he was the eighth Bishop of St John's in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. From 1988 to 1995, he was the Assistant Bishop of Leicester in the Church of England.
Ashby was educated at The King's School in Chester, Cheshire.[1] After two years in the British Army Intelligence Corps, he studied at King's College London, and graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree and the Associateship of King's College (AKC). He was an Overseas Visiting Scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, in 1975. He also became a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
Ashby was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1955 and as a priest in 1955. His first post was as a Curate in the Parish of St Helier in the Diocese of Southwark.[2]
In 1958, Ashby emigrated to South Africa. Here he rose steadily in the church hierarchy, being successively: Subwarden of St Paul's College, Grahamstown; Rector of Alice, Eastern Cape; lecturer at the Federal Theological Seminary, Alice; a senior lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Rhodes University; Dean of Grahamstown and Archdeacon in the Diocese of Grahamstown.[3]
In 1980, Ashby was consecrated a bishop. From 1980 to 1985, he served as diocesan Bishop of St John's. He was then professor of Divinity at the University of the Witwatersrand and an assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg.
In 1988, Ashby moved back to England. He served as the Assistant Bishop of Leicester in the Diocese of Leicester from 1988 to 1995. Additionally, he was Priest-in-Charge of All Saints, Newtown Linford between 1992 and 1995. In 1993, he was made an Honorary Canon of Leicester Cathedral.
Ashby retired from full-time ministry in 1995. He returned to South Africa, where he served as an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of George. In 2008, he returned to England. He served as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Portsmouth between 2008 and 2011 and in the Diocese of Exeter from 2011 until he entered full retirement at the College of St Barnabas in Surrey in 2017.
Bishop Ashby was married to Valerie "Sally" Ashby, née Hawtree (she died on 7 October 2015). Together, they had six children: Garmon, John Mark, Mary, Philip, Ruth, and Charles.