David Howard Nicholas Allenby SSM, (28 January 1909 – 28 February 1995) was an English clergyman in the Anglican Church and a member of the religious order the

Society of the Sacred Mission The Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM), with the associated Company of the Sacred Mission, is an Anglican religious order founded in 1893 by Father Herbert Kelly, envisaged such that "members of the Society share a common life of prayer and fello ...

. He held the position of

Bishop of Kuching The Bishop of Kuching is the ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Kuching in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. The bishop exercises episcopal authority over Anglican churches in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and in the independent n ...

from 1962 until 1968, and thereafter was an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Worcester.

Early life

Allenby was born in Essex in 1909, the son of William Allenby, an actor and stage manager, and his wife Irene Lambert Allenby (née Spratly), a teacher. Allenby joined the

at the age of 19, and was professed in 1933.

Clerical career

He trained for ordination at

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 ...

and was ordained deacon in 1934 and priest in 1935. He was then a tutor at Kelham (1936–44) and then Rector of St Michael and All Angels, Averham with Kelham (1944–57). During the latter incumbency he was also Rural Dean of Newark (1955–57). He was also a member of the

Church Assembly The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church o ...

(the predecessor of the

General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly (Church of England), Church Assembly, is t ...

). In 1957 he went to Australia as Warden of the Society's theological college,

St Michael's House St Michael's House was an Australian educational institution in Crafers outside Adelaide, under the auspices of the Society of the Sacred Mission, established in 1947 and which was destroyed by fire in the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983 shortly ...

, and Prior of the attached Priory. In the same year he was awarded a Lambeth MA. He was Warden of the

Community of the Holy Name The Community of the Holy Name (CHN) is an international Anglican religious order for women. The full name of the community is The Community of the Mission Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus, usually shortened to Community of the Holy Name. The o ...

from 1961 to 1962. In 1962 he was raised to the episcopate as

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

which, in 1963, became part of the new state of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It was Allenby who first mooted the idea of a Province of South East Asia, in 1963: the

Church of the Province of South East Asia The Church of the Province of South East Asia is an autonomous member of the Anglican Communion, created in 1996 with the four dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia. There are approximately 98,000 Anglicans within the pro ...

finally came into existence in 1996, over 30 years later. He retired from Kuching in 1968, being replaced by Basil Temenggong, the first native Sarawakian bishop. After his return from Malaysia in 1968, he was then an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Worcester until 1991. He was also Chaplain to St Oswald's Hospital,

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

(1973–74). Allenby was an original trustee of Holland House, the Worcester diocesan retreat house at

Cropthorne Cropthorne is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England within the Vale of Evesham, and on the North-west edge of the Cotswolds. It is approximately southeast of Worcester, north of Cheltenham, and southwest of Stratford-upon-A ...

Personal life

Allenby died in 1995, aged 86. At the end of his life he was at Willen Hospice, founded by the Society in 1979 as the Hospice of St Mary and St John and named for the Kelham Rood, which was then located in the garden of the Priory in Willen. He is buried in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene,

Willen Willen is a district of Milton Keynes, England and is also one of the ancient villages of Buckinghamshire to have been included in the designated area of the New City in 1967. At the 2011 Census the population of the district was included in t ...

, along with other members of the Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allenby, Nicholas 1909 births 1995 deaths People from Kuching Anglican missionaries in Malaysia 20th-century Anglican bishops in Asia Anglican bishops of Kuching