James Housden

Who was James Housden?

James Alan George Housden was the fifth Anglican Bishop of Rockhampton in Queensland from 1947 to 1958. In 1958 he then became the Bishop of Newcastle in New South Wales until 1972.

Housden was born in Birmingham and educated at Essendon High School and the University of Queensland before being ordained in 1929. His first positiont was as a curate at St Paul’s Ipswich, Queensland after which he was chaplain of the Mitchell River Mission. He then became rector of Darwin, Northern Territory then vicar of Coolangatta. From 1940 to 1946 he was the Rural Dean of Warwick and finally vicar of Christ Church, South Yarra. He was translated from Rockhampton to Newcastle where he remained until his retirement in 1972.