Walter Howard Frere (23 November 1863 – 2 April 1938) was a co-founder of the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

religious order the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, and

Bishop of Truro The Bishop of Truro is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Truro in the Province of Canterbury. History There had been between the 9th and 11th centuries a Bishopric of Cornwall until it was merged with Crediton ...

(1923–1935).

Biography

Frere was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, England, on 23 November 1863, the younger son of

Philip Howard Frere Philip Howard Frere (1813–1868) was an English academic and writer on agricultural matters. Life He was the eldest son of William Frere and his wife Mary, daughter of Brampton Gurdon Dillingham. Educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Camb ...

and his wife Emily, née Gipps. His siblings were Arthur, Ellen and Lucy. Lucy became the wife of Wilfred J. Barnes. He was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

and Wells Theological College; and

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 va ...

in 1889. His first post was as a

curate 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 ...

at Stepney Parish Church. He was

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 Southwark from 1896 to 1909. Frere was twice Superior of the order 1902–1913 and 1916–1922, and returned to it after resigning the see of Truro. He was consecrated bishop at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

on 1 November 1923, by

Randall Davidson Randall Thomas Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, (7 April 1848 – 25 May 1930) was an Anglican priest who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. He was the longest-serving holder of the office since the English Reformation, Re ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

; and as he regarded membership of a religious order an obligation taking precedence over others, the bishop's palace became a branch house of the Community. Frere assisted the Indian Malankara Orthodox Church with the foundation of the Bethany religious order in 1919: however the dioceses forming this church were received into the Roman Catholic communion in 1930. He was a member of the Anglican delegation to the

Malines Conversations The Malines Conversations were a series of five informal ecumenical conversations held from 1921 to 1927 which explored possibilities for the corporate reunion between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, forming one stage of Anglic ...

in the 1920s, and active in various other

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

projects including relations with the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. He was a noted liturgical historical scholar; he was also a high churchman and a supporter of

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

ideas. In his early writings and addresses he emphasised the importance of spiritual life, and explained some of the liturgical revision which was then in preparation. He played a major part in the proposed revision of the

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 Britain ...

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'' in 1928, which was later rejected by Parliament, and was responsible for the service book for the Guild of the Servants of the Sanctuary. Some of the books which belonged to Walter Frere form part of the Mirfield Collection which is housed in the University of York Special Collections. He died on 2 April 1938 and was buried at Mirfield.

Bibliography

*''Recollections of Malines'', 1935. Concerning discussions with Cardinal Mercier, Old Catholic Archbishop. *''A Collection of his Papers on Liturgical and Historical Subjects'', Alcuin Club, 1940. *''Correspondence on liturgical revision and construction'', Alcuin Club, 1954. *''The Use of Sarum'', 2 vols. 1898 and 1901. *''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer'' (based on F. Procter's earlier work), 1901. *''A Manual of Plainsong for Divine Service containing the Canticles Noted ndthe Psalter Noted to Gregorian Tones together with the Litany and Responses'', edited by Frere and H. B. Briggs, Novello and Company, London, 1902.Stone, D.
The Manual of Plainsong, 1902 edition
updated 28 August 2009, accessed 15 September 2021 *''The Principles of Religious Ceremonial'', 1906. *''Black Letter Saints' Days'', 1938. Providing eucharistic propers for a selection of saints in the interim 1928 Prayer Book Calendar.

References

Citations

Works cited

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frere, Walter 1863 births 1938 deaths 20th-century Church of England bishops Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of Wells Theological College Anglo-Catholic bishops Anglo-Catholic socialists Bishops of Truro Burials in West Yorkshire English Christian socialists Anglican monks Anglican liturgists English Anglo-Catholics

Walter Howard Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...