Leonard Kempthorne

Who was Leonard Kempthorne?

Leonard Stanley Kempthorne CBE was a long-serving Anglican bishop in the 20th century.

Born into a Kiwi ecclesiastical family, Kempthorne was educated at The Queen's College, Oxford and ordained in 1914. He worked for 18 months at Zaria in Northern Nigeria before a four year stint as Chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield. He was then Chaplain at Ipoh in the Federated Malay States from 1920 to 1922 when he was appointed Bishop of Polynesia, a post he held for forty years.