Bishop to the Forces

The Anglican church in the British Armed Forces falls under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury; however, for all practical purposes the function is performed by the Bishop to the Forces. His full title is "The Archbishop of Canterbury's Episcopal Representative to the Armed Forces". The Bishop to the Forces is not a military chaplain.[1] The Bishop always sits in the Church's House of Bishops and (therefore) General Synod; since 2014, this fact has been utilised to give the Bishop of Lambeth (the Archbishop of Canterbury's episcopal chief of staff) a seat on both.

There is sometimes confusion between the (Anglican) "Bishop to the Forces" and the (Roman Catholic) "Bishop of the Forces": for this reason the latter is normally given his title in full, i.e. "The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Forces".[2]

List of bishops
Bishops to the Forces
From Until Incumbent Notes
1948 1956 Cuthbert Bardsley Also Bishop of Croydon; later became Bishop of Coventry.
1956 1966 Stanley Betts Also Bishop of Maidstone; later became Dean of Rochester.
1966 1975 John Hughes Also Bishop of Croydon.
1977 1984 Stuart Snell Also Bishop of Croydon.
1985 1990 Ronald Gordon Also Bishop at Lambeth.
1990 1992 David Smith Also Bishop of Maidstone; later became Bishop of Bradford.
1992 2001 John Kirkham Also Bishop of Sherborne.
2001 2009 David Conner Also Dean of Windsor.
2009 2014 Stephen Venner Also Bishop of Dover and Bishop for the Falkland Islands.
9 July 2014 2017 Nigel Stock Also Bishop at Lambeth and Bishop for the Falkland Islands;[3] retired August 2017.[4]
6 September 2017 present Tim Thornton As Bishop at Lambeth and Bishop for the Falkland Islands;[5] commissioned 6 September 2017.[6]

See also

References
  1. Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition), Church House Publishing (ISBN 978-0-7151-1030-0)
  2. Archived July 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "England: Archbishop Welby commissions new Bishop to the Forces". Anglicannews.org. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. Archbishop of Canterbury — Nigel Stock announces retirement as Bishop at Lambeth (Accessed 17 March 2017)
  5. Lambeth Palace — Tim Thornton announced as new Bishop at Lambeth (Accessed 4 April 2017)
  6. Lambeth Palace — Tim Thornton commissioned as new Bishop at Lambeth (Accessed 9 September 2017)


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