Bishop of Wakefield
The Bishop of Wakefield was the ordinary of the now-defunct Church of England Diocese of Wakefield in the Province of York.[1][2] The diocese was based in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, covering the City of Wakefield, Barnsley, Kirklees and Calderdale. The see was centred in the City of Wakefield where the bishop's seat (cathedra) was located in the Cathedral Church of All Saints, a parish church elevated to cathedral status in 1888.
The bishop's residence was Bishop's Lodge, Wakefield. The office existed from the founding of the diocese in 1888 under Queen Victoria until its dissolution on 20 April 2014. The cathedral contains a memorial to Bishop Walsham How, the Bishop of Wakefield. The last diocesan bishop of Wakefield was the Right Reverend Stephen Platten, the 12th Bishop of Wakefield, who signed +Stephen Wakefield and was in post when his diocese was dissolved.
Upon the creation of the Diocese of Leeds[3] on 20 April 2014, the see was dissolved and its territory added to the new diocese, within which the suffragan see of Pontefract will be renamed for the Area Bishop of Wakefield.[4] As well as being the area bishop for the Wakefield episcopal area, the bishop is also the provincial episcopal visitor (or "flying bishop") for the Diocese of Leeds as a whole, administering to those parishes in the diocese which cannot in good conscience accept the ordination of women as priests and bishops.
List of bishops
| Bishops diocesan of Wakefield | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| 1889 | 1897 | Walsham How | |
| 1897 | 1928 | George Eden | Translated from Dover |
| 1928 | 1938 | James Buchanan Seaton | |
| 1938 | 1946 | Campbell Hone | Translated from Pontefract |
| 1946 | 1949 | Henry McGowan | |
| 1949 | 1958 | Roger Wilson | Previously Archdeacon of Nottingham |
| 1958 | 1968 | John Ramsbotham | |
| 1968 | 1977 | Eric Treacy | Translated from Pontefract |
| 1977 | 1985 | Colin James | Translated from Basingstoke; later translated to Winchester |
| 1985 | 1992 | David Hope | Translated to London; later translated to York |
| 1992 | 2002 | Nigel McCulloch | Translated from Taunton; later translated to Manchester |
| 2003 | 20 April 2014[5] | Stephen Platten [6] | Previously Dean of Norwich |
| Area Bishops of Wakefield | |||
| 19 March 2015 | present | Tony Robinson | [7] Previously Bishop of Pontefract (See translated to Wakefield, 19 March 2015) and area bishop in Wakefield. |
| Source(s):[8] | |||
References
- ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory, 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7151-1030-0.
- ^ The Diocese of Wakefield. (Official website). Retrieved on 18 November 2008.
- ^ The Church of England – Synod approves new Diocese of Leeds for West Yorkshire and The Dales
- ^ Moving towards a new diocese for West Yorkshire and the Dales (Accessed 9 July 2013)
- ^ Bradford Diocese – General Synod votes for new diocese (Accessed 9 July 2013)
- ^ People. Bishop of Wakefield. (Official website). Retrieved on 18 November 2008.
- ^ The Transformation Programme – Archbishop appoints interim area bishops (Accessed 10 January 2014)
- ^ "Historical successions: Wakefield". Crockford's Clerical Directory. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
