William Charles Leonard Filby (21 January 1933 – 31 December 2009) was an

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 ...

priest who was

Archdeacon of Horsham The Archdeacon of Horsham is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Chichester. The diocese almost exactly covers the counties of East and West Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove, stretching for nearly a hundred m ...

from 1983 to 2002.

Birth and education

Filby was born on 21 January 1933, and educated at

Ashford County Grammar School __NOTOC__ Spelthorne College was a single-campus sixth form college on High Street, Ashford, Surrey, England. It was formed in 1975 as a successor to Ashford Sixth Form College and Sunbury Sixth Form College. Its campus was founded in 1911 as As ...

. He went on to study at

Oak Hill Theological College Oak Hill College is a conservative evangelical theological college located on Chase Side in Southgate, London, England. Its aim is to prepare men and women from the Church of England and Independent churches for ministry in the real world. Over ...

in north London, and as part of his ordination training he completed a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

through London University, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1958.

Church career

He was ordained deacon in 1959 and priest in 1960, and was 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 All Souls', Eastbourne, and Holy Trinity, Knaphill. He held three successive incumbencies at

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, Richmond-upon-Thames, Bishop Hannington Memorial Church, Hove, and

Broadwater, West Sussex Broadwater is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. Situated between the South Downs and the English Channel, Broadwater was once a parish in its own right and included Worthing when the latter was a sma ...

. He became Rural Dean of Worthing in 1980. He was

from 1983 until his retirement in 2002.

Private life

In 1958 he married Marion Erica Hutchison. They had four sons, Jonathan, Andrew, Christopher, and William; and a daughter, Rebecca. Filby was a keen cricketer, being a member of the Chichester Diocesan team that won the Church Times Cup on several occasions. He was also a supporter of

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

. He died on 31 December 2009.'' Church Times'', 8 January 2010.

Notes

1933 births People educated at Ashford County Grammar School Alumni of the University of London Archdeacons of Horsham 2009 deaths {{Canterbury-archdeacon-stub