Eric Arthur John Mercer (6 December 1917 – 8 November 2003) was an

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 ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. He was the first

Bishop of Birkenhead The Bishop of Birkenhead is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Chester, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after Birkenhead, a town located on the Wirral Peninsula Wirr ...

from 1965 to 1973 and, from then until his retirement, the

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

. Mercer was educated at

Dover Grammar School for Boys Dover Grammar School for Boys (DGSB) is a selective secondary school located in Dover, United Kingdom, whose origins can be traced back to the Education Act (the 'Balfour Act') of 1902. Originally founded as the Dover County School for Boys a ...

and

Kelham Theological College Kelham is a small village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire about northwest of Newark on a bend in the A617 road near its crossing of the River Trent. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 207. Historical Kelham i ...

. After wartime service with the

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to f ...

he began his ordained ministry as a

curate 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 w ...

Coppenhall Coppenhall is a small settlement in Staffordshire, England. Coppenhall lies southwest of Stafford and NNW of Penkridge with Baron Stafford as lord of the manor. The parish of ~ is bounded on the east by the Pothooks Brook. The centre of the ...

. In 1951 he was appointed

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 ...

Heald Green Heald Green is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. In the south-west of the borough, near Manchester Airport and within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is bordered by Gatley and C ...

and then became

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of St Thomas' Church, Stockport and, from 1959 (his final appointment before his ordination to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

), the

Diocese of Chester The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside. History Ancient diocese Before the si ...

's diocesan missioner. In 1973 he was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to be the Bishop of Exeter.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 30 August 1973, p14, "Bishops named for Exeter and Hereford" He died in retirement, at

Chilmark, Wiltshire Chilmark is a Wiltshire village and civil parish of some 150 houses straddling the B3089 road, west of Salisbury, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Mooray and Portash, both close to the south of Chilmark village; and the dispersed h ...

, aged 85.

References

1917 births People educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys Bishops of Birkenhead Bishops of Exeter 20th-century Church of England bishops 2003 deaths {{ChurchofEngland-bishop-stub