The Archdeacon of St Albans is an ecclesiastical post in the Church of England Diocese of St Albans in the

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

. The post has been held by Jane Mainwaring since March 2020.

History

Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Henrican reforms of the 16th century, there were Archdeacons of St Albans from within the Abbey. Registers list archdeacons starting in 1420, but this old "abbey archdeaconry" is supposed to have been created in the reign of Henry III (13th century). The "diocesan archdeaconry" was newly constituted from

St Albans Abbey St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be ...

's parishes in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

and Bedfordshire in 1550; it remained a part of the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames. For centuries the diocese covered a vast tract and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the north ...

until 1845, when it and was transferred to the diocese of Rochester, at which point its boundaries were made to coincide with those of

. Thirty years later, the archdeaconries of Essex, of Colchester, and of St Albans were taken from the Rochester diocese to create the Diocese of St Albans in 1878. Shortly after the two Essex archdeaconries were erected into the Diocese of Chelmsford in 1914, the St Albans diocese received the ancient county archdeaconry of Bedford from the

Diocese of Ely The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely. There is one suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. The diocese now co ...

; there has once again been a third archdeaconry since the split on 1 January 1997 of the Hertford archdeaconry from the Archdeaconry of St Albans.

List of archdeacons

Medieval

:''From the 13th century, there was an archdeaconry within the Abbey's jurisdiction. These "abbey archdeacons" were monks from the abbey monastery:'' *1415–bef. 1420:

John Blebury John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

*1420–bef. 1425: John Hatfield *1425–bef. 1435: William Alnwick/ Alnewyke (possibly the Bishop of Norwich and of Lincoln) *1435–bef. 1437: John Peyton *1437–bef. 1441: John Hatfield *1441–bef. 1446:

Stephen London Stephen London is the eleventh and current bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, having been elected in 2021. Life and career London was born in 1973 in McKinney, Texas in the United States. He earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy from M ...

*1446–bef. 1450:

William Albon William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

*1450–bef. 1476:

William of Wallingford William of Wallingford (died 20 June 1492) was the 47th abbot of St Albans Abbey. He was a Benedictine monk at Holy Trinity Priory, Wallingford, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England and like John of Wallingford and Richard of Wallingford, mov ...

*1476–bef. 1478:

Nicholas Boston Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and it ...

*1478–bef. 1490:

John Rothebury John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

*1490–bef. 1494: John Thornton *1494–bef. 1495:

Thomas Newland Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas t ...

/ Newlonde *1495–bef. 1505:

Richard Runham Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

*1505–bef. 1506:

John Stonewell John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

/ Stonywell *1506: John Killingworth *1506–bef. 1509: John Albon *1509–bef. 1512: John Mainard/ Maynard *1512–bef. 1514: Richard Runham *1514–bef. 1517: Thomas Marshall *1517–bef. 1531:

Thomas Kyngesbury Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas th ...

*1531:

Egidius Ferrers Aegidius (died 464 or 465) was a magister militum in Gaul. Aegidius, Ægidius, or Egidius may also refer to: Pre-modern era :''Chronological order'' * Saint Aegidius or Saint Giles (c. 650–c. 710), hermit saint from Athens * Aegidius Corbolien ...

*1531–bef. 1539:

*1539–1550: William East/ Este

Early modern

:''On 1 April 1550,

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

annexed the abbey's parishes to the

. Not long after, the diocesan archdeaconry was erected and East (re-)appointed:'' *1550–bef. 1557 (res.):

William Este William Este was an English priest in the 16th century. Este was educated at the University of Oxford. A Benedictine, he held the living at St Mary Magdalen, Milk Street in the City of London; was a Canon of Windsor and Rector and Archdeacon of ...

*26 February 1557–bef. 1560 (deprived): James Dugdale (deprived) *17 July 1560–bef. 1581 (res.): David Kempe *3 January 1581–bef. July 1581 (res.): Giles Lawrence *5 July 1581–aft. 1602:

William Hutchinson William, Willie, Willy, Billy or Bill Hutchinson may refer to: Politics and law * Asa Hutchinson (born 1950), full name William Asa Hutchinson, 46th governor of Arkansas * William Hutchinson (Rhode Island judge) (1586–1641), merchant, judge, ...

*bef. 1626–bef. 1631 (d.): Thomas Raymond *14 November 1631 – 25 June 1644 (d.): Thomas Westfield (''in commendam'' as Bishop of Bristol from 1642) *19 December 1660–bef. 1664 (d.): Mark Frank *30 June 1664 – 24 April 1671 (d.):

Christopher Shute Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

*28 April 1671 – 19 July 1683 (d.): William Bell *9 August 1683–bef. 1688 (d.): Edward Carter *4 June 1688–bef. 1713 (d.): John Cole *21 April 1713–September 1715 (d.): Lionel Gatford *6 October 1715 – 13 September 1738 (d.): Philip Stubbs *14 October 1738 – 1741 (res.):

Fifield Allen Fifield Allen, DD(1700–1764) was Archdeacon of Middlesex from 6 May 1741 until his death on 26 April 1764. Allen was born in Oxford and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was Rector of Chigwell, a Prebend of St Pancras in St Paul's Cathedra ...

(afterwards

Archdeacon of Middlesex The Archdeacon of Middlesex is a senior cleric in the Church of England, co-responsible for the Archdeaconry of "Middlesex", which mirrors the "Kensington" episcopal area of the Diocese of London — the other person responsible being the Bish ...

) *14 June 1741 – 29 August 1754 (d.): John Cole *13 September 1754 – 12 August 1781 (d.):

James Ibbetson James Ibbetson, D.D., J.P. (1717–1781) was Archdeacon of St Albans in the Church of England from 13 September 1754 until his death on 12 August 1781. Life He was the son of Ebenezer Ibbetson, of the parish of St Martin, Ludgate in the City of L ...

*5 September 1781 – 1788 (res.): Samuel Horsley (afterwards Bishop of St David's) *8 January 1789 – 1813 (res.): Joseph Pott (afterwards

Archdeacon of London The Archdeacon of London is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England. They are responsible for the eastern Archdeaconry (the Archdeaconry of London) of the Two Cities (London and Westminster) in the Diocese of London, an area with ...

) *4 January 1814–bef. 1816 (res.): Robert Hodgson *23 January 1816 – 9 June 1839 (d.): John Watson *17 June 1839 – 1840 (res.):

William Hale William Hale may refer to: Academics *William Gardner Hale (1849–1928), American classical scholar and professor of Latin * William Jasper Hale (1874–1944), president of the historically black Tennessee State University * William Mathew Hale (b ...

(afterwards

) *16 October 1840 – 28 August 1845 (res.):

Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...

(afterwards Archdeacon of Colchester) :''The archdeaconry, by this point covering all Hertfordshire, was transferred to Rochester diocese by Order in Council on 8 August 1845'' *13 January 1846 – 25 November 1883 (d.): Anthony Grant (also Archdeacon of Rochester, 1863–1882)

Late modern

*1884–1909 (res.):

Walter Lawrance Walter John Lawrance (1840 – 1914) was a priest in the Church of England at the end of the 19th century and the very first part of the 20th. Lawrance was born in 1840 and educated at St Paul’s and Trinity College, Cambridge, before he bec ...

(also the first Dean of St Albans from 1900) *1909–1933 (ret.):

Kenneth Gibbs Kenneth Francis Gibbs, M.A., D.D. (1856–1935) was a Church of England clergyman who served as the Archdeacon of St Albans from 1909 until his death in 1935.Arthur Parnell Arthur Henry Parnell (died 31 December 1935) was an Anglican priest. Parnell was educated at Merton College, Oxford, and ordained in 1886. He was Vicar of Abbots Langley from 1893 to 1924; and Rector of Aspley Guise from then until 1928. He was ...

*1936–1942 (res.):

Aylmer Skelton Henry Aylmer Skelton (11 October 188430 August 1959) was a bishop in the mid part of the twentieth century. He was born in 1884''West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813–1910'1939 England and Wales Register'' and e ...

(also suffragan Bishop of Bedford from 1939; afterwards Bishop of Lincoln) *1942–1951 (res.): Thomas Wood (also suffragan Bishop of Bedford from 1948) *1951–1962 (ret.):

Charles Cockbill Charles Shipley Cockbill , MA (27 January 1888 -13 March 1965) was the Archdeacon of St Albans in the Church of England from 1951 until 1962. Cockbill was educated at Bristol Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1911 ...

(afterwards archdeacon emeritus) *1962–1973 (ret.): Basil Snell (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) *1973–1974 (res.): Peter Mumford (afterwards suffragan Bishop of Hertford) *1974–1981 (res.):

David Farmbrough David John Farmbrough (4 May 1929 – 9 March 2013) was Bishop of Bedford from 1981 to 1993. Farmbrough was educated at Bedford School and Lincoln College, Oxford before embarking on an ecclesiastical career with a curacy at Bishop's Hatfield ...

(afterwards suffragan Bishop of Bedford) *1982–1987 (ret.):

Edward Norfolk The Ven. Edward Matheson Norfolk, BA (29 September 1921 – 22 July 2017) was the Archdeacon of St Albans in the Church of England from 1982 until 1987. Although of service age, Norfolk did not serve in World War II. Norfolk was educated at ...

(afterwards archdeacon emeritus) *1987–1998 (ret.): Philip Davies (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) *1999–2002 (res.): Richard Cheetham (afterwards area Bishop of Kingston) *2003–2007 (ret.):

Helen Cunliffe Helen Margaret Cunliffe (born 1954) is a British Anglican priest who was Archdeacon of St Albans from 2003 to 2007. Early life and education Cunliffe was born in Derbyshire, educated at Homelands School, Derby and St Hilda's College, Oxford and t ...

(afterwards archdeacon emeritus) *2008–2020 (ret.): Jonathan Smith (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) *14 March 2020present: Jane Mainwaring

References

Sources

*Madden, Bandinel et al. (1st ed.) & Nichols (2nd ed.). Collectanea Topographica & Genealogica, Vol. VI
p. 302
*Hardy & Le Neve: Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: or a calendar of the principal''...'', Volume 2. pp
344

345
* *

External links

Records of the Archdeaconry of St Alban's
(National Archives) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Albans, Archdeacon of Archdeacons of Saint Albans Diocese of St Albans