Archdeacon of Maidstone

The archdeaconry was created from the ancient Archdeaconry of Canterbury by Order in Council on 4 June 1841.[1]

The archdeaconry covers approximately the north-west and south-west corners of the diocese. As of 2012, the archdeaconry of Maidstone consists the following deaneries in the Diocese of Canterbury:

• Deanery of Maidstone
• Deanery of North Downs
• Deanery of Ospringe
• Deanery of Sittingbourne
• Deanery of the Weald

• 4 June 1841 – 1845 (res.): William Lyall
• 4 December 1845 – 25 March 1887 (d.): Benjamin Harrison
• 1887–26 March 1900 (d.): Benjamin Smith[2][3]
• 1900–1921 (ret.): Henry Spooner[4][5]
• 1921–1934 (res.): John Macmillan[6] (also Bishop suffragan of Dover from 1927)[7]
• 1934–1939 (res.): Karl Sopwith[8]
• 1939–1942 (res.): Alexander Sargent[9]
• 1942–1958 (ret.): Julian Bickersteth[10][11][12][13]
• 1959–1965 (res.): Gordon Strutt[14][15][16]
• 1965–1968 (res.): Michael Nott[17][18]
• 1968–1972 (res.): Thomas Prichard[19][20]
• 1972–1979 (ret.): Niel Nye[21][22] (later archdeacon emeritus)[23]
• 1979–1989 (res.): Michael Percival Smith[24]
• 1989–2002 (res.): Patrick Evans[25][26]
• 2002–13 March 2011 (res.): Philip Down[27]
• 18 September 2011 – 27 September 2020 (res.): Stephen Taylor[28][29] (on leave 2019–2020; became an Archdeacon without territory and Senior Chaplain to the Bishop of Dover)[30]
• 27 September 2020 – present: Andrew Sewell[30] (previously Acting, 30 November 2019[31] – 31 May 2020)[32]

• Horn, Joyce M. (1974), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857, 3, p. 17