Ronald Ralph Williams (14 October 1906 – 3 February 1979) was a Church of England bishop. He was Principal of St John's College, Durham from 1945 to 1953 and Bishop of Leicester from 1953 to 1979.

Early life and education

Williams was born on 14 October 1906 to the Revd Ralph Williams and Mary ( Sayers). He attended The Judd School, a grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent. He went on to study English and theology at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He obtained second class honours in Part I of the English Tripos in 1926, first class honours in Part I Theology Tripos, and a distinction in Part II of the Theology Tripos with which he graduated with Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1928.

Ordained ministry

Williams was too young to be ordained immediately after leaving university in 1928, and so spent the following year as a tutor at

St Aidan's College, Birkenhead St Aidan’s College was a Church of England theological college in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, open from 1847 to 1970. History The college was founded in 1846 by Revd Dr Joseph Baylee, vicar of Birkenhead, with the approval of John Bir ...

. Having been ordained in the Church of England, he served his curacy at

Leyton Parish Church The Parish Church of St Mary with St Edward and St Luke, Leyton, also known as Leyton Parish Church and formerly, St Mary the Virgin, Leyton, is a Church of England parish church in Leyton, East London. Although records of the church go back to ab ...

from 1929 to 1931, and

examining chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...

to the

Bishop of Chelmsford The Bishop of Chelmsford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford in the Province of Canterbury.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is Guli Francis ...

in 1931. He then returned to Ridley Hall, Cambridge, the theological college where he trained for ministry, serving as its chaplain from 1931 to 1934. He was Home Education Secretary for the Church Missionary Society (CMS) from 1934 to 1940. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Religions Division of the Ministry of Information in 1940, and went on to serve as its director from 1943 to 1945. In 1944, it was announced that he had been selected as the next Principal of St John's College, Durham in succession to C. S. Wallis. St John's College is both a residential college of the University of Durham and an evangelical Anglican theological college of the Church of England. He took up the appointment in 1945, and rebuilt the college physically and financially after the end of the War. He was also an honorary canon of

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

from 1953 to 1954. In October 1953, it was announced that Williams would be the next Bishop of Leicester. He was installed as diocesan bishop during a service at Leicester Cathedral in January 1954. He also served as President (ie its figurehead) of

Queen's College, Birmingham Queen's College was a medical school in central Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of the University of Birmingham. It was founded by surgeon William Sands Cox in 1825 as The Birmingham Medical School, a residential college for medi ...

from 1957 to 1963. He entered the House of Lords in 1959 as a

lord spiritual The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who serve in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. 26 out of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual (not counting retired archbi ...

. Although described as a liberal evangelical, he voted against an Anglican-Methodist reunion and was a staunch defender of the establishment of the Church of England. He abstained from voting on the Sexual Offences Act 1967: his twofold reasoning was that homosexuality should not be illegal but that it was still morally wrong, and so "the balance of my convictions can be expressed only by abstention". He retired in 1979, and was succeeded as Bishop of Leicester by Richard Rutt. He wrote ''The Perfect Law of Liberty: An Interpretation of Psalm 119''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ronald Ralph 1906 births Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Holders of a Lambeth degree Bishops of Leicester People educated at The Judd School 20th-century Church of England bishops 1979 deaths Principals of St John's College, Durham Evangelical Anglican bishops