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Ian Wotton Allnutt Shevill AO (11 May 1917 – 3 November 1988) was an Australian Anglican bishop.

Early life and education

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

Ordained ministry

Shevill was ordained in 1941 and his first position was as a curate of St Paul's, Burwood. 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. 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.

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 on 6 August 1973.

Shevill retired in 1977 following a stroke 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.

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.

References

1. "Ian Wotton Allnutt Shevill AO". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
2. "New bishop for Australia", The Times, 22 December 1972, p. 15.
3. Who was Who 1987-1990: London, A & C Black, 1991, ISBN 0-7136-3457-X
4. ^ Kidd, Alex (2012). "Shevill, Ian Wotton Allnutt (1917–1988)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
5. Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975-76 London: Oxford University Press, 1976 ISBN 0-19-200008-X
6. Church website
7. "BISHOP SHEVILL ENTHRONED". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Vol. LXXIII. Queensland, Australia. 24 April 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 20 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
8. ^ McCarthy, Joanne (27 August 2014). "'Charming' Bishop Shevill's abuse link". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
9. Diocesan History
10. "DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE.—In pursuance of the provisions". Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales. No. 105. New South Wales, Australia. 17 August 1973. p. 3550. Retrieved 20 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
11. Bible to thousands: fulfilling the vision with the Bible Society in Australia 1963 to 1979, S. Preston Walker, 2005, ISBN 9780646521473
12. McCarthy, Joanne (26 October 2015). "Anglican bishop Greg Thompson sexually abused by late Bishop Ian Shevill". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2017.

• 1917 births
• 1988 deaths
• People educated at Scots College (Sydney)
• University of Sydney alumni
• Anglican bishops of North Queensland
• Anglican bishops of Newcastle (Australia)
• Officers of the Order of Australia