William Wand
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John William Charles Wand, (25 January 1885 – 16 August 1977) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
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 ...
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. He was the
Archbishop of Brisbane In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...
in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
before returning to England to become the
Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of Do ...
before becoming the
Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
.


Early life

William Wand was born in
Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
, Lincolnshire, the son of Arthur James Henry Wand, a butcher, and his wife Elizabeth Ann Ovelin, ''née'' Turner. Despite Wand's father being a staunch
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
, his mother brought him up in 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 ...
. Educated at
The King's School, Grantham The King's School is a British grammar school with academy status, in the market town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The school's history can be traced to 1329, and was re-endowed by Richard Foxe in 1528. Located on Brook Street, the sch ...
and
St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...
, Oxford, where he took first-class honours in theology (BA, 1907; MA, 1911), he prepared for ordination at
Bishop Jacob Hostel A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
,
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
. He was ordained a deacon in 1908 and a priest in 1909. He served curacies at Benwell and Lancaster. On 11 October 1911 he married Amy Agnes Wiggins (1883-1966) at St Leonard's parish church in
Watlington, Oxfordshire Watlington is a small market town and civil parish about south of Thame in Oxfordshire, near the county's eastern edge and less than from its border with Buckinghamshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Christmas Common, Greenfield and Ho ...
and they had two children. In 1914, he was appointed vicar-choral of Salisbury, and became part of a cathedral family centred on ‘the Close’.


World War I

Wand volunteered for the army chaplaincy in July, 1915. He was Anglo-Catholic in a Chaplaincy in which ‘low church’ predominated. He was posted to
Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
, and would write vividly of his experience there. For example, his simile of Sulva Bay conveys the fearsome context of British positions on a narrow beach. "Our position on that beach was rather like that of a theatre orchestra as he turns his back on the stage and looks up at the tiers of boxes and galleries in front and on either hand. Only in this case they were not filled with an applauding audience but with the enemy and his guns". Wand's autobiography is an evocative but rarely used source of first-hand experience of Gallipoli,Church Quarterly Review of 'A Changeful Page' by Charles Smyth and Wand also wrote letters published in the ''Salisbury Diocesan Chronicle'', including a reflection on how the reputation of padres depended on their willingness to display bravery. "The soldier needs not only a man who can preach to him, however eloquently, or pray with him, however movingly, or arranges his recreation for him, however good humouredly, but one who will lay his remains to rest in his last resting place in spite of the terror by night or the arrow that flieth by day. And who can blame him?" Wand was attached to Australian hospitals and hospital ships but caught
paratyphoid Paratyphoid fever, also known simply as paratyphoid, is a bacterial infection caused by one of the three types of ''Salmonella enterica''. Symptoms usually begin 6–30 days after exposure and are the same as those of typhoid fever. Often, a grad ...
and had to be evacuated to
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and then to London. He had recovered by April, 1916, and was posted to
Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
and after the
Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...
, to
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
.


Archbishop of Brisbane

Demobilised in March 1919, Wand was made perpetual curate of St Mark's,
Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
, where
St Clair Donaldson St Clair George Alfred Donaldson (11 February 1863 – 7 December 1935) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the first Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia. Early life Donaldson was the third son of Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson and hi ...
was bishop. In 1925 Wand became a fellow and the dean of
Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...
and university lecturer in church history. Eight years later Bishop
St Clair Donaldson St Clair George Alfred Donaldson (11 February 1863 – 7 December 1935) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the first Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia. Early life Donaldson was the third son of Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson and hi ...
was asked by archbishop Cosmo Lang to nominate a candidate for the see of Brisbane as
archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
. Wand was consecrated in
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
, London, on 1 May 1934, by archbishop Lang, together with the new bishop of Johannesburg and the suffragan bishop of Plymouth. He was enthroned in
St John's Cathedral, Brisbane St John's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane and the metropolitan cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of Queensland, Australia. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. The cathedral is situated in Ann Street ...
on 5 September, after arriving in Brisbane on 30 August. Wand's arrival in Queensland was almost immediately clouded by the death in a climbing accident, near
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...
on the France/Switzerland border, of his only son, Paul (1912–34). He had a difficult reception: those who had wanted a local dignitary as their new bishop united to oppose Wand. His attempts to eradicate slackness made him appear authoritarian to his clergy. Sturdy in appearance, shy and gracious, Wand was often seen as being aloof and something of an intellectual snob though this belied his natural humour and quick wit. The decision to move St Francis's Theological College from
Nundah Nundah (previously called German Station) is an inner suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It contains the neighbourhood of Toombul. In the , Nundah had a population of 12,141 people. Prior to European settlement, Nundah was i ...
to the
Bishopsbourne Bishopsbourne is a mostly rural and wooded village and civil parish in Kent, England. It has two short developed sections of streets at the foot of the Nailbourne valley south-east of Canterbury and centred from Dover. The settlement of P ...
property was unpopular, although Wand's relations with its students won him their respect and affection and its proximity to the Archbishop's home improved the standards of training. His establishment of a property and finance board to handle the economic problems of the diocese also did not meet with general favour. As a member of the
University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...
senate, Wand worked to promote biblical studies and helped to create the first university theological faculty in Australia. During his episcopate he wrote a weekly article for ''
The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...
'', translated the New Testament epistles and gave the Moorhouse lectures in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
in 1936. He consecrated Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral, Dogura, Papua (now
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
) on 29 October 1939. The date was continually altered owing to the start of World War II and its isolated position. Dogura is in
Milne Bay Province Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,345 km² of land and 252,990 km² of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. The province has a ...
. The cathedral was built on a battle site, held 800 with a further 500 standing outside at the consecration. Wand made a lecture tour of the United States of America in 1940. He argued in support of a new constitution for the Church, but thought that the proposed appellate tribunal should have a majority of bishops, rather than legal laymen, to determine points of doctrine.


Bishop of Bath and Wells

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when Brisbane resembled a garrison town, Wand and his wife worked for the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Help Society. His 1942 address to the
Royal Society of St George The Royal Society of St George is an English patriotic society established in 1894 to encourage interest in the English way of life, and English customs and traditions. History In 1415 St. George became the Patron Saint of England after the En ...
defended the British war effort and was published as the pamphlet, "Has Britain Let Us Down?" This brought Wand to the attention of
Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, PC (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958) was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a minister in the British Conservative cabinet. He is best remembered for supporting Winston Churchill durin ...
, Minister of Information, and of Prime Minister
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
. It was already known that Wand was unpopular in Australia since the Archbishop of Perth had written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, asking Temple to find a post for Wand in England. The death of the Bishop of Bath and Wells provided that opportunity. Early in 1943, Wand was offered the see of Bath and Wells, and the family left Brisbane in July the same year.


Bishop of London

Wand was surprisingly translated to London two years later, being interviewed personally by Winston Churchill at a lunch he described in his autobiography. Both appointments caused some dissension since Wand was suspected ‘...of Papish practice, and was roughly handled by Protestant demonstrators at his confirmation ....’ In London post-war difficulties, including the rebuilding of shattered city churches, challenged and revealed Wand's administrative gifts. As bishop, Wand was a
privy counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...
; in 1955 he was appointed KCVO;Despite being a knight, the tradition in Britain is that no cleric bears the title of "Sir". in 1946-57 he was
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...
of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
. He resigned his see as Bishop of London in 1956. Archbishop Fisher had preceded Wand at London, and was no admirer of Wand, writing after Wand's retirement, ‘Wand had been interested only in certain aspects of diocesan life. It was high time that the Diocese of London was placed in firm hands’. Conversely, the scholarly Canon Charles Smyth wrote of Wand that he ‘ Was methodical, patient, shrewd, far-sighted, never complacent, but always cheerful, and physically robust.’ Dean Marcus Wright noted ‘There was nothing deceitful or ‘smooth’ about him: he was a straight man of integrity and you always knew where you were with him. He was no actor.’ High-powered as Wand was, the human side was expressed through a supply of detective stories read in bed at night and, as a family man, notably Saturday afternoons ‘sacred to the weekly visit to the cinema with Mrs Wand'. With the Bishop of Fulham
Basil Batty Basil Staunton Batty OBE (12 May 1873 – 19 March 1952) was an Anglican suffragan bishop in the 20th century.'' Who was Who 1897-1990'', London, A & C Black, 1991. Basil Batty was born into an ecclesiastical family on 12 May 1873: his father, ...
, he supported the early ecumenical movement. He was the first Chairman of the Executive body of the British Council of Churches, attending the 1948 foundation of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam.Peart-Binns, John S. Wand of London. (Oxford, Mowbray, 1987)


Seretse Khama affair

On 25 September 1948,
Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal fam ...
, a 27-year-old black African man, and
Ruth Williams Ruth Williams ''Heverly(February 12, 1926 – February 10, 2005) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 139 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Ruth Williams debuted ...
, a 24-year-old white English woman, went to the Anglican St George's Church in
Campden Hill Campden Hill is a hill in Kensington, West London, bounded by Holland Park Avenue on the north, Kensington High Street on the south, Kensington Palace Gardens on the east and Abbotsbury Road on the west. The name derives from the former ''Campde ...
, London, to get married. Half an hour before the service their vicar, the Reverend Leonard Patterson, under severe pressure from various parties opposed to the inter-racial marriage, told the couple he was not willing to perform at the ceremony. Khama, who was heir to the kingship of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, and Williams, who was a London insurance clerk, pleaded with Patterson to change his mind, but instead he took them to the nearby
St Mary Abbots St Mary Abbots is a church located on Kensington High Street and the corner of Kensington Church Street in London W8. The present church structure was built in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who combined neo-Gothic and early- ...
church in Kensington to meet Wand, who, as Bishop of London, was performing an ordination. There they attempted to gain Wand's consent to be married in the Church of England. However, Wand refused such permission without even speaking to the couple himself, sending the
Archdeacon of Middlesex The Archdeacon of Middlesex is a senior cleric in the Church of England, co-responsible for the Archdeaconry of "Middlesex", which mirrors the "Kensington" episcopal area of the Diocese of London — the other person responsible being the Bish ...
with a message that read: "Get in touch with the Colonial Office. When they agree to the wedding, I will". Although senior officials at the Colonial Office had no say over whether the couple could get married in a church, or indeed anywhere else, they had made it known through various back channels that they were opposed to the union, not only because they found it distasteful but because they believed that, given Khama's royal status, it would create political difficulties with apartheid South Africa, a neighbouring state to Bechuanaland. Wand's refusal to sanction a church ceremony forced Khama and Williams to get married in a civil service four days later, at Kensington Registry Office in London.


Latter years

After resigning as bishop, Wand was appointed minor canon and later Canon Treasurer of
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
, London, until 1969 and edited '' The Church Quarterly Review''. A wide-ranging and facile historian, he wrote forty-five books, among them a ''History of the Modern Church'' (1930), ''History of the Early Church'' (1937), ''White of Carpentaria'' (1949), ''Anglicanism in History and Today'' (1961) and an autobiography, ''The Changeful Page'' (1965). Survived by a daughter, Wand died on 16 August 1977 at the College of St Barnabas,
Lingfield, Surrey Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, approximately south of London. Several buildings date from the Tudor period and the timber-frame medieval church is Grade I listed. The stone cage or old ...
, and was cremated. An obituary in the ''
Church Times The ''Church Times'' is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays. History The ''Church Times'' was founded on 7 February 1863 by George Josiah Palmer, a printer. It fought for the ...
'' paid tribute to his scholarship, administrative genius and unsentimental piety.


Selected works

*''A History of the Modern Church from 1500 to the Present Day'', 1930. *''A History of the Early Church to A.D. 500'', Methuen, 1937. *''The Authority of the Scriptures'', Mowbray, 1949. *''Seven Steps to Heaven'', Longman, Green & Co. Ltd, 1956. *''The Church Today: A brief description of the Christian Church in its external variety and its inner unity'', Penguin, 1968.


Notes


References


Sources

*F. R. Arnott,
Wand, John William Charles (1885 - 1977)
, ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Vol. 12, MUP, 1990, p. 377. Retrieved 19 January 2010 *


External links


Bibliographic directory
from
Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ho ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wand, William Charles 1885 births 1977 deaths People from Grantham Anglican archbishops of Brisbane Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford Bishops of Bath and Wells Bishops of London Deans of the Chapel Royal 20th-century Anglican bishops in Australia Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Officers of the Order of St John Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Prelates of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The King's School, Grantham 20th-century Church of England bishops 19th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century Anglican theologians