Wilfrid Bernard Belcher MC, (25 July 1891 – 28 January 1963) was an

Anglican bishop The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglica ...

in the mid 20th century.

Early life

Belcher was educated at

King's School, Bruton King's Bruton is an independent fully co-educational secondary day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in Bruton, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1519 by Richard FitzJames, and received royal foundation status ...

and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

, the son of William Henry Belcher, a Newbury solicitor and his wife, Mary.

Religious life

Belcher was ordained in 1922. His early career was spent with the

Bush Brotherhood The Bush Brotherhood was a group of Anglican religious orders providing itinerant priests to minister to sparsely-settled rural districts in Australia. They were described as a "band of men" who could "preach like Apostles" and "ride like cowboys" ...

in Australia. He held incumbencies at

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and t ...

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...

and

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

before being appointed Bishop of North Queensland in 1947, a post he held for five years. He was consecrated a bishop on 15 February 1948. After this he was

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 Diss and Assistant Bishop of Norwich, then

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 pref ...

of York cum Ravensworth in Natal. His last post was that of

Ovington, Hampshire Itchen Stoke and Ovington () is an English civil parish consisting of two adjoining villages in Hampshire, England, west of Alresford town centre in the valley of the River Itchen, north-east of Winchester, and south-east of Itchen Abbas. Itc ...

Later life

He died on 28 January 1963.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, Wednesday, 30 January 1963; p. 15; Issue 55612; col A ''Obituary Rt. Rev. W. B. Belche''r

References

1891 births People educated at King's School, Bruton Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Recipients of the Military Cross Anglican bishops of North Queensland 1963 deaths Alumni of Bishops' College, Cheshunt Bush Brotherhood priests {{Australia-anglican-bishop-stub