Francis Walmsley

Francis Joseph Walmsley CBE (9 November 1926 – 26 December 2017) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of the Forces from 1979 to 2002.[1]

Born in Woolwich on 9 November 1926, he was ordained to the priesthood on 30 May 1953. He was appointed the Bishop of the Forces and Titular Bishop of Tamalluma by the Holy See on 8 January 1979. His consecration to the Episcopate took place on 22 February 1979, the principal consecrator was Bishop Gerard Tickle, retired Bishop of the Forces, and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop Mario Conti of Aberdeen (later Archbishop of Glasgow) and Archbishop Michael Bowen of Southwark.[1] During his term the military vicariate of the British Forces was raised to the status of a military ordinariate on 21 July 1986.[2]

He resigned as Titular Bishop of Tamalluma on 7 March 1998 and retired as Bishop of the Forces on 24 May 2002.[1] He died on Boxing Day 2017 in Reading, and is buried in the grounds of St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough.[3]