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Derek Rawcliffe

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English Anglican bishop

The Right Reverend
Derek Rawcliffe
OBE
Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway
ChurchScottish Episcopal Church
DioceseGlasgow and Galloway
Elected1980
In office1981–1991
PredecessorFrederick Goldie
SuccessorJohn Taylor
Other post(s)Assistant Bishop of Ripon (1991-1996)
Previous post(s)Archdeacon of Southern Melanesia
Assistant Bishop of Melanesia (1974-1975)
Bishop of the New Hebrides (1975-1980)
Orders
Ordination1945
by William Wilson Cash
Consecration25 January 1974
by Allen Johnston
Personal details
Born(1921-07-08)8 July 1921
Manchester, England
Died1 February 2011(2011-02-01) (aged 89)
Leeds, England
ParentsJames Alec, Gwendoline Rawcliffe
Spouse Susan Speight ​ ​(m. 1977; died 1987)​
EducationSir Thomas Rich's School
Alma materLeeds University

Derek Alec Rawcliffe OBE (8 July 1921 – 1 February 2011) was an English Anglican bishop and author. He served as the Bishop of the New Hebrides and the Scottish Episcopal Church's Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway.

Life and ministry

Rawcliffe was born in Manchester, the son of a tobacconist, on 8 July 1921. He was brought up in Gloucester and educated at Leeds University. He was ordained deacon in 1944 and priest in 1945. After a curacy at Claines St George, Worcester between 1944 and 1947, he became a teacher in the Solomon Islands until 1953 when he became Archdeacon of Southern Melanesia and the New Hebrides. He was Assistant Bishop of Melanesia between 1974 and 1975, and then became the first Bishop of the New Hebrides, serving from 1975 to 1980 when he was translated to Glasgow and Galloway, in the Scottish Episcopal Church on 20 January 1981. In Scotland. He retired on 28 February 1991.

After retirement he was made an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ripon, where he became the first bishop in the Church of England to announce that he was gay, after disclosing his sexuality on television in 1995. Rawcliffe later argued for the age of consent for homosexual relations to be reduced to 14,

Rawcliffe died on 1 February 2011 at the age of 89.

Archives

Rawcliff's papers are held by SOAS Archives.

References

  1. Melanesian Anglican
  2. Amongst other books he wrote The Meaning of it All is Love (2000), Seasons of the Spirit (2003), Pilgrimage to Melanesia (2005) and Gethsemane to Calvary (2006). British Library website accessed 18:05GMT 20 December 2010
  3. Who's Who 2008: London, A & C Black, 2008 ISBN 978-0-7136-8555-8
  4. Crockfords, 1947-48 Oxford, OUP, 1947
  5. "Derek Rawcliffe: Church of England bishop who blessed same sex marriages" Obituary The Daily Telegraph Issue no 48,429 (dated 15 February 2011)
  6. "Gay English bishop Derek Rawcliffe dies at 89". The Washington Post. 11 February 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  7. "The Right Reverend Derek Rawcliffe". The Daily Telegraph. London. 13 February 2011.
  8. "Book of Condolences: Derek Rawcliffe". St Aidan's Church, Leeds. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.

External links

Archdeacons of Southern Melanesia
Bishops of the New Hebrides, of Vanuatu, and of Vanuatu and New Caledonia
New Hebrides
Vanuatu
V&NC
Dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia
Anglican Communion titles
New title Bishop of the New Hebrides
1975–1980 		Succeeded byHarry Tevi
Preceded byFrederick Goldie Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway
1981–1991 		Succeeded byJohn Taylor
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