Donald Seymour Arden (12 April 1916 – 18 July 2014) was a British-Australian

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, and campaigner for issues of justice and equality.

Ministry

Arden was educated at

St Peter's College, Adelaide , other_name = The Collegiate School of St Peter , seal_image = St Peter's College, Adelaide Logo.svg , seal_size = 150 , image = SPSC chapel and memorial hall.jpg , image_size ...

and the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. He was ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in 1939 and priest in 1940 after studying at the

College of the Resurrection The College of the Resurrection, popularly known as Mirfield, is an Anglo-Catholic theological college of the Church of England in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England. The college was founded in 1902 and describes itself as "A Theological Coll ...

, Mirfield. His first posts were

curacies A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy ...

Hatcham Hatcham was a manor and later a chapelry in what is now London, England. It largely corresponds to the area around New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ancient parish of Deptford straddled the counties of Surrey and Kent and there c ...

and

Nettleden Nettleden is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Nettleden with Potten End, in the Dacorum district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about four miles north-west of Hemel Hempstead, near L ...

. In 1944 he joined the Pretoria African Mission, eventually becoming Director of the Usuthu Mission in

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. From 1961 to 1971 he was the Bishop of Nyasaland/Malawi – as Bishop of Nyasaland until Malawian independence in 1964 and as Bishop of Malawi thereafter.Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi – History
/ref> When the diocese split in 1971, he became bishop of one of the two new dioceses as Bishop of Southern Malawi. Also in that year, he became

Archbishop of Central Africa This is a list of the Archbishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, which encompasses the present-day Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. List of Archbishops of Central Africa References {{reflist External linksLambeth ...

, and held both posts until retiring in 1980. Having given up the archbishopric, Arden returned to the UK to become

priest in charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent. Such priests are not legally responsible for the churches and glebe, but simply hold a ...

of St Margaret's church

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

, where he served from 1981 to 1986. Arden had a great love of Africa and campaigned tirelessly for the rights of indigenous African people. Within the Church he made widespread provision for the education of indigenous black African priests, and campaigned for the appointment of indigenous bishops. It was a matter of pride to him that he was the last white Archbishop of Central Africa.

Retirement

In retirement Arden served as an honorary assistant priest at St Alban's Church in

North Harrow North Harrow is a suburban area of North West London, situated north-west of central Harrow within the London Borough of Harrow. Its residential roads have expanded from North Harrow tube station, a station on the Metropolitan line of the Lo ...

, and as an honorary assistant bishop in 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 ...

. He gave up these roles in 2011 and moved to

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...

, Hampshire, where he lived the final years of his life. In December 2011, Arden celebrated 50 years of episcopal ministry with his family at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, London. He was consecrated (as Bishop of Nyasaland) on 30 November 1961. He died at home in Romsey, Hampshire on 18 July 2014, aged 98. His family announced that he would be cremated in an African banana leaf coffin on 31 July 2014.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Donald Seymour 1916 births 2014 deaths People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the College of the Resurrection English Anglican missionaries Anglican bishops of Nyasaland Anglican bishops in Malawi Anglican bishops of Southern Malawi 20th-century Anglican bishops in Malawi Anglican archbishops of Central Africa 20th-century Anglican archbishops Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Anglican missionaries in Eswatini Anglican missionaries in Malawi