Ian Robert Bentley (28 April 1955 – 31 May 2022) was an English Anglican priest. He was

Archdeacon of Lynn The Archdeacon of Lynn is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Norwich. As archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the area deaneries. The archdeaconry of Lynn was created from those of N ...

from 2018 to 2022. Bentley was born on 28 April 1955. He was educated at

Westcliff High School for Boys Westcliff High School for Boys (WHSB) is an 11–18 selective academy grammar school for boys in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England. In September 2001 the school was awarded ‘Beacon’ status for its breadth of achievements and quality of work. T ...

; the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

; and

Cranmer Hall, Durham Cranmer Hall is a Church of England theological college based at Durham, England. Cranmer Hall forms part of St John's College, Durham which is a recognised college of Durham University. It stands in the Open Evangelical tradition. Cranmer Hall ...

. After an earlier career as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

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 Chur ...

in 1995, and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in 1996. After a

curacy 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 ...

in Mattishall he was Vicar of the Earsham group of parishes for 7 years and vicar of St.Mark’s Oulton Broad for a further 12. He was briefly

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 ...

at St Faith,

Plumstead, Cape Town Plumstead is a residential suburb situated in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. History Plumstead was first mentioned when, in 1762, a large portion of the land beyond Wynberg and the Constantia Val ...

during a sabbatical. He held incumbencies at

Earsham Earsham is a small village in Norfolk, England. Its postal town is the nearby Bungay, Suffolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 907 in 357 households at the 2001 census, the population falling to 882 at the 2011 census. Earsham h ...

Oulton Broad Oulton Broad refers to both the lake and the suburb of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. The suburb is located west of the centre of Lowestoft. It became a civil parish in 2017. It had an estimated population of 10,338 at the 2011 Uni ...

and

St Peter Mancroft St Peter Mancroft is a parish church in the Church of England, in the centre of Norwich, Norfolk. After the two cathedrals, it is the largest church in Norwich. It was originally established by the then Earl of East Anglia, Ralph de Gael between ...

. Bentley died on 31 May 2022, shortly after being diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer and having resigned his archdeaconry about a month earlier.

References

1955 births 2022 deaths 20th-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English Anglican priests Schoolteachers from Essex People from Southend-on-Sea People educated at Westcliff High School for Boys Alumni of the University of Sheffield Alumni of Cranmer Hall, Durham Archdeacons of Lynn {{Canterbury-archdeacon-stub