Memorial to Arthur Cayley Headlam in Gloucester Cathedral

Arthur Cayley Headlam (2 August 1862 – 17 January 1947) was an

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theologian who served as

Bishop of Gloucester The Bishop of Gloucester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire. The see's centre of governan ...

from 1923 to 1945.

Biography

Headlam was born in

Whorlton, County Durham Whorlton is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated near the River Tees and to the east of Barnard Castle. Whorlton Bridge is a 183 ft long suspension bridge which crosses the River Tees. It is Britain's 2nd oldest s ...

, the son of its

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 pre ...

, Arthur William Headlam (1826–1908), by his first wife, Agnes Favell. The historian

James Wycliffe Headlam Sir James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, CBE (24 December 1863 – 6 September 1929) was a British academic historian and classicist, who became a civil servant and government advisor on current foreign policy. He was known as James Wycliffe Headlam unti ...

was his younger brother. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

and New College, Oxford, where he read Greats. He was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, from 1885. He was ordained in 1888, and became Rector of

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, to distinguish it from the much newer and larger ...

in 1896. In 1900 Headlam married Evelyn Persis Wingfield. He was Professor of

Dogmatic Theology Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Ch ...

at King's College London from 1903–1916, where he served as Principal from 1903 to 1912 and as the first

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from 1908 until 1913. He was Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford from 1918 to 1923. His 1920

Bampton Lectures The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780. They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial ...

showed the theme of ecumenism that would preoccupy him. At the time of the

1926 General Strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governme ...

, he opposed the intervention of some of the other bishops. He was influential in the Church of England's council on foreign relations in the 1930s, chairing the Committee on Relations with Episcopal Churches. He supported the

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, and was a critic of the

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. He is thus generally considered an ' appeaser'. During the

Nazi rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

in 1933 he blamed

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for causing their own persecution, writing that they caused "the violence of the

Russian Communists Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: * Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and pe ...

" and "

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communities" and were "not altogether a pleasant element in German, and in particular

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

life." He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the

1921 Birthday Honours The 1921 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of the King, and were ...

for his services at Oxford.

Selected publications

* With William Sanday, ''A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans''. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1895. Fifth Edition: 1902. * * * * With William Sanday, Frederick Kenyon, F. Crawford Burkitt, & J. H. Bernhard. * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Arthur Cayley Headlam, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' * Agnes Headlam-Morley, (1948) memoir in A. C. Headlam, ''The Fourth Gospel as History'' * *

External links