David Urquhart

Who is David Urquhart?

David Andrew Urquhart is the ninth Bishop of Birmingham.

Urquhart was educated at Rugby School and Ealing Technical College Business School. After a career in commercial management with British Petroleum, he studied for the ordained ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained in 1984 and served in Hull before becoming the vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Coventry in 1992. He was appointed suffragan Bishop of Birkenhead in the Diocese of Chester in 2000. Urquhart acts as the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy to China and accompanied him on a visit to China in October 2006. Urquhart was appointed Prelate of The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 2005 and holds the Freedom of the Borough of Wirral. He is unmarried.

His appointment as Bishop of Birmingham was announced in 2006 and he was enthroned on 17 November 2006, succeeding John Sentamu after Sentamu's appointment as Archbishop of York. Around 800 people attended his enthronement in Birmingham Cathedral. Urquhart was introduced as a Lord Spiritual to the House of Lords on 26 October 2010.