Michael Humphrey Dickens Whinney (8 July 19303 February 2017) was a
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 Britai ...
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 c ...
who served in two episcopal posts; he was also a great-great-grandson of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
.
He was born in
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on 8 July 1930 and educated at
Charterhouse School and
Pembroke College, Cambridge (he became a
Cambridge Master of Arts ); he later gained a
Master of Sacred Theology
The Master of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Magister; abbreviated STM) is a graduate-level, North American, academic degree in theology equivalent to ThM. The Roman Catholic equivalent is the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). An ...
(STM) degree from
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) is an Episcopal seminary in New York City. Founded in 1817, GTS is the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church and the longest continuously operating Seminary in the Anglican Communi ...
. 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 ...
in 1957 after an earlier career as an
accountant. His first ministry position was as a
curate at
Rainham after which he held two posts in
Bermondsey
Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham ...
, firstly as
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 the Cambridge University Mission Settlement and later as the
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...
of St James' with Christ Church. He became the
Archdeacon of Southwark before being ordained 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 ...
in 1982 as the
Bishop of Aston
The Bishop of Aston is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Birmingham, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Aston, an area of the City of Birmingham; the See was er ...
. After three years 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 Southwell where he remained until 1988. Taking temporary early retirement from Southwell with an injury in early 1988, he returned to
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
for a sabbatical year. In February 1989 (aged 59 and long before retirement age), he was invited to become an
Assistant Bishop of Birmingham and Canon of the Cathedral. In retirement he continued to serve as an
honorary assistant bishop
An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop.
Church of England
In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...
in Birmingham.
He died on 3 February 2017 at the age of 86.
References
1930 births
2017 deaths
People from Chelsea, London
People educated at Charterhouse School
Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Archdeacons of Southwark
20th-century Church of England bishops
Bishops of Aston
Bishops of Southwell
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