Joost de Blank

Who was Joost de Blank?

Joost de Blank was the Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa from 1957 to 1963 and was known as the "scourge of apartheid" for his ardent opposition to the whites-only policies of the South African government.

He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, King's College London, and Queens' College, Cambridge. He was ordained after a period of study at Ridley Hall, Cambridge in 1932 and began his career as a Curate in Bath. De Blank held incumbencies at Forest Gate and Greenhill, Harrow; and was the Bishop of Stepney in London from 1952 to 1957. He Succeeded Archbishop Clayton in Cape Town in 1957. In South Africa, he refused to preach in any church not open to blacks as well as whites. He opposed clause 29 of Natives Law Amendment Bill, which gave the civil authorities powers to exclude non whites from Anglican churches. In 1960 De Blank called on the Dutch Reformed Church to repudiate apartheid, and in the same year criticised the South African jubilee celebrations: "This is no time for rejoicing, but for shame". Ill health forced him to resign from Cape Town in 1963; he was appointed a canon of Westminster Abbey.