Archdeacon of Leicester explained

The Archdeacon of Leicester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Leicester.

History

The first archdeacon of Leicester is recorded before 1092 – around the time when archdeacons were first appointed in England – in the Diocese of Lincoln. He was one of eight archdeacons appointed by the bishop: Lincoln, Huntingdon, Northampton, Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford and Stow.

In the Victorian era reforms, the archdeaconry became part of Peterborough diocese on 1 May 1839^[1] and, on 12 November 1926, the modern Diocese of Leicester was founded from Leicester and Loughborough archdeaconries and part of the archdeaconry of Northampton.

List of archdeacons

High Medieval

• bef. 1092–?: Ranulph (first Archdeacon of Leicester)
• Godfrey
• bef. –aft. : Walter
• bef. –1148 (res.): Robert de Chesney
• bef. 1150–bef. 1159 (res.): Hugh Barre
• bef. 1163–aft. 1177: Baldric de Segillo
• –1189 (res.): Hamo (afterwards Dean of Lincoln)
• bef. –1195 (res.): Roger de Rolleston (afterwards Dean of Lincoln)
• bef. –aft. 1224: Reimund
• bef. 1226–aft. 1228: William Blund of Lincoln
• bef. 1229–1232 (res.): Robert Grosseteste
• 1232–1234: William de Dratton
• bef. 1235–1252 (d.): John of Basingstoke
• 1252–bef. 1274: Solomon of Dover
• 1275–bef. 1295 (d.): Roger de Saxenhurst
• 16 January 1295 – 16 September 1310 (d.): Roger Martival

Late Medieval

• 13 October 1310 – 5 October 1346 (d.): Guillaume Cardinal de Farges (cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria Nova)
• 1346–26 February 1347 (res.): Raynald Orsini
• Arnald de Gavarreto was unsuccessfully provided to the archdeaconry in 1347 and was still claiming it – unsuccessfully – in 1355.
• 1347–bef. 1354 (d.): Henry Chaddesden
• 12 May 1354 – 1361 (d.): William Doune
• bef. 1371–27 August 1372 (d.): Philippe Cardinal de Cabassoles (Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina and Archdeacon of York)
• 1372–13 August 1379 (d.): Giacomo Cardinal Orsini, Dean of Salisbury (cardinal-deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro)
• 1380–2 February 1395 (d.): (cardinal-priest of San Clemente; papal claimant, never in actual possession)
• 1390– (res.): John Bottlesham (royal grant)
• 4 August 1392–bef. 1421: John Elvet
• 1392–1392 (rev.): Richard Holland (mistaken royal grant; revoked)
• bef. 1414–1424 (exch.): Richard Elvet
• 29 October 1424–bef. 1430: John Legbourne
• bef. 1430–aft. 1431: Thomas Barnsley
• 14 August 1454 – 1458 (res.): Richard Ewen (afterwards Archdeacon of Lincoln)
• 1458–bef. 1473 (d.): William Witham (also Dean of Arches from 1460 and Dean of Wells from 1467)
• 1473–bef. 1478: Roger Rotherham
• 1478–1479 (res.): John Morton
• 1485–bef. 1508 (d.): Richard Lavender
• 18 March 1508–bef. 1515: William Spark
• 1515–bef. 1518: Henry Wilcocks
• 1518–bef. 1531 (d.): Richard Maudeley

• 25 March 1531–December 1531 (res.): Stephen Gardiner
• 14 December 1531 – 1535 (res.): Edward Foxe
• 9 October 1535 – 1539 (res.): Edmund Bonner
• 24 September 1539–bef. 1541 (d.): William More, Bishop suffragan of Colchester

Early modern

• 19 February 1541–bef. 1560 (deprived): Thomas Robertson (deprived; also Dean of Durham from 1558, from which point archdeacon in commendam)^[2]
• 1560–15 February 1589 (d.): Richard Barber
• 10 May 1589 – 16 September 1590 (res.): Hugh Blythe
• 19 April 1591–bef. 1625 (d.): Robert Johnson
• 1 August 1625–bef. 1631 (d.): Richard Pilkington
• 21 September 1631–bef. 1641 (d.): William Warr
• 16 October 1641 – 1661 (res.): Henry Ferne
• 18 June 1661 – 27 June 1662 (exch.): Robert Hitch (afterwards Archdeacon of the East Riding, 1662 and Dean of York, 1665)
• 27 June 1662–bef. 1669 (d.): Clement Breton
• 30 July 1669 – 23 August 1679 (d.): William Owtram
• 10 September 1679 – 27 August 1683 (d.): Francis Meres
• 5 September 1683–bef. 1703 (d.): Byrom Eaton
• 1703–9 May 1715 (d.): John Rogers
• 17 May 1715 – 18 May 1756 (d.): David Trimnel
• 7 July 1756 – 29 August 1772 (d.): John Taylor
• 17 December 1772 – 23 December 1785 (d.): James Bickham
• 25 January 1786 – 9 March 1812 (d.): Andrew Burnaby
• 31 March 1812 – 13 November 1830 (d.): Thomas Parkinson
• 22 January 1831 – 7 April 1863 (d.): Thomas Bonney

Upon the death of Herbert Marsh on 1 May 1839, Leicester archdeaconry become part of the Diocese of Peterborough.

Late modern

• 1863–1884 (ret.): Henry Fearon
• 1884–1886 (d.): Assheton Pownall
• 1886–1899 (ret.): John Mitchinson (former Bishop of Barbados then of the Windward Islands)
• 1899–1920 (ret.): John Stocks
• 1921–1938 (ret.): Frederick MacNutt

From 12 November 1926, the archdeaconry formed part of the new Leicester diocese.

• 1938–1956 (ret.): Cecil Matthews (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1956–1963 (res.): Irven Edwards
• 1963–1980 (ret.): Berkeley Cole (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1980–1994 (res.): David Silk
• 1994–2002 (res.): Mike Edson
• 2002–April 2012 (res.): Richard Atkinson^[3]
• 20128 September 2018 (res.): Tim Stratford^[4] (became Dean of Chester)
• 4 November 2018present: Richard Worsfold^[5]

References

Sources

• • • • • Web site: The Archdeacons of Leicester 1092–1992 . Terence . Cocks . 15 January 2012 .
• Le Neve. John. Hardy. Sir Thomas Duffus. John Le Neve. Thomas Duffus Hardy. Archdeacons of Leicester. Page:Fasti_ecclesiae_Anglicanae_Vol.2_body_of_work_part_1.djvu/73. Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae. 2. 1854. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 59–63. 65–69.

Notes and References

1. Robert K. Forrest, 'Marsh, Herbert (1757–1839)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2012 Accessed 31 Aug 2013
2. Web site: Archdeacons deprived under Queen Elizabeth . 10 June 2012 .
3. Web site: Diocese of Leicester – Archdeacon of Leicester to be Bishop of Bedford . Diocese of Leicester . 4 March 2012 . 17 April 2013 . https://archive.today/20120804221231/http://www.leicester.anglican.org/news/details/archdeacon-of-leicester-to-be-bishop-of-bedford . 4 August 2012 . dead .
4. Web site: Diocese of Leicester News . Diocese of Leicester . 2 October 2012 . 17 April 2013 . https://archive.today/20130703173907/http://www.leicester.anglican.org/news/details/new-archdeacon-of-leicester-installed . 3 July 2013 . dead .
5. https://www.leicester.anglican.org/announcements/revd-canon-richard-worsfold-installation/