Leonard John Stanford (26 September 1896 – 20 November 1967) was Archdeacon of Coventry from 1946 to 1965. Stanford was born in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

. During the First World War he served with various London regiments, and was attached to the North Staffordshire Regiment. He was wounded on the Somme and spent 18 months recovering in hospital. In 1919 he became a student at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, graduating in 1922, and going on to study at

Cuddesdon Theological College Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay min ...

. He was ordained as a priest in 1926. After a curacy in

Royston Royston may refer to: Places Australia *Royston, Queensland, a rural locality Canada *Royston, British Columbia, a small hamlet England *Royston, Hertfordshire, a town and civil parish, formerly partly in Cambridgeshire *Royston, South Yorkshi ...

he was Priest in charge of

Brierley Brierley () is a village and former civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The civil parish was abolished in 2016. The settlement is tightly clustered and green buffered on a modest escarpment close ...

until 1931, then

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, Norton Lindsey from 1931 to 1940; Vicar of

Newbold-on-Avon Newbold-on-Avon (usually shortened to just Newbold) is a suburb of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, located around 1½ miles north-west of the town centre, it is adjacent to the River Avon from which the suffix is derived. Newbold was historicall ...

from 1940 to 1947 (during which time he was an honorary

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

in the RAF from 1941 to 1945);

of Bilton from 1947 to 1959; and, finally, Great with Little Packington from 1959 to 1966.‘STANFORD, Ven. Leonard John’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 200
accessed 4 May 2013
/ref> Stanford was married twice: in 1927 to Dora Kathleen Timms (she died in 1939), with whom he had three sons and a daughter; and in 1941 to Hilda Kathleen Cooke.

References

1896 births 1967 deaths People from Islington (district) North Staffordshire Regiment officers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon Archdeacons of Coventry {{Canterbury-archdeacon-stub