Ian Shevill Explained

Type:Bishop
Honorific-Prefix:The Right Reverend
Ian Shevill
Honorific-Suffix:AO
Church:Anglican Church of Australia
Diocese:North Queensland
Predecessor:Wilfrid Belcher
Successor:John Lewis
Other Post:Bishop of Newcastle (1973–1977)
Diocese2:Diocese of Newcastle
Predecessor2:James Housden
Successor2:Alfred Holland
Term Start2:1973
Term End2:1977-->
Ordination:1941
Consecration:19 April 1953
Birth Name:Ian Wotton Allnutt Shevill
Birth Date:11 May 1917
Birth Place:Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Death Place:Auchenflower, Queensland
Spouse:
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    Ian Wotton Allnutt Shevill AO[1] (11 May 19173 November 1988) was an Australian Anglican bishop.[2]

    Early life and education

    Ian Shevill was educated at Scots College, Sydney, and Sydney University,[3] then at Moore Theological College and the Australian College of Theology.

    Ordained ministry

    Shevill was ordained in 1941[4] and his first position was as a curate of St Paul's, Burwood.[5] From 1948 to 1953 he worked for the Society for the Propagation of Gospel (USPG).

    In 1953, he was ordained to the episcopate as Bishop of North Queensland, a post he held for 17 years. He was enthroned on 23 April 1953 at St James' Cathedral, Townsville.[6] Shevill was nicknamed "the boy bishop" as he was only 34 when he became Bishop of North Queensland, then the world's youngest Anglican bishop.[7]

    In 1970, Shevill's wife died and he became secretary of USPG in London. In 1973 he returned to Australia and was enthroned as Bishop of Newcastle[8] on 6 August 1973.[9]

    Shevill retired in 1977 following a stroke[7] and died on 3 November 1988. He opened Bible House, Townsville, on 7 November 1964 with Canon Herbert Maxwell Arrowsmith and Preston Walker of the British and Foreign Bible Society.[10]

    Author

    Shevill was an author, both during his work and after his retirement. Amongst others he wrote New Dawn in Papua (1946); Pacific Conquest (1948); God’s World at Prayer (1951); Orthodox and other Eastern Churches in Australia (1964); Going it with God (1969); One Man’s Meditations (1982); O, My God (1982); Between Two Sees (1988) and an autobiography, Half Time (1966), while bishop in Townsville.

    Personal life

    Shevill married June Stephenson, an English missionary he had met in New Guinea, in 1959; she died in 1970. He married again in 1974 to Margaret Ann Brabazon at Bishopscourt Chapel in Darling Point, Sydney.

    The then Bishop of Newcastle, Greg Thompson, reported in 2015 that he had been sexually abused by Shevill as a young man when he was 19 and interested in the priesthood.[11]

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Ian Wotton Allnutt Shevill AO. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 24 February 2012.
    2. "New bishop for Australia", The Times, 22 December 1972, p. 15.
    3. [Who's Who (UK)|Who was Who 1987-1990]
    4. Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975-76 London: Oxford University Press, 1976
    5. http://stpaulsburwood.anglican.asn.au/ Church website
    6. News: BISHOP SHEVILL ENTHRONED . . LXXIII . Queensland, Australia . 24 April 1953 . 20 January 2017 . 1 . National Library of Australia.
    7. Web site: 'Charming' Bishop Shevill's abuse link . Joanne . McCarthy . 27 August 2014 . . 15 January 2017.
    8. http://www.angdon.com/history/ Diocesan History
    9. News: DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE.—In pursuance of the provisions . . 105 . New South Wales, Australia . 17 August 1973 . 20 January 2017 . 3550 . National Library of Australia.
    10. Bible to thousands: fulfilling the vision with the Bible Society in Australia 1963 to 1979, S. Preston Walker, 2005,
    11. Web site: Anglican bishop Greg Thompson sexually abused by late Bishop Ian Shevill . Joanne . McCarthy . . 26 October 2015 . 15 January 2017.