Penny Jamieson

Who is Penny Jamieson?

Penelope Ann Bansall "Penny" Jamieson DCNZM was the seventh Bishop of Dunedin in the Anglican Church of New Zealand from 1989 until her retirement in 2004. Jamieson was the second woman in the world to hold the position of bishop in the Anglican Communion and the first to be elected a diocesan bishop.

Born in Chalfont St Giles Buckinghamshire England on 21 June 1942, Jamieson attended Wycombe High School and studied linguistics at the University of Edinburgh before moving to New Zealand, her husband's country of birth. She worked at the Wellington Inner City Mission while completing her doctoral thesis at Victoria University. In 1985 she was ordained to priesthood and became assistant curate of St James’ Lower Hutt. After this she was Vicar of Karori West with Makara in the Diocese of Wellington. In 1990 she was elected to head the country's southernmost diocese, the Diocese of Dunedin. Jamieson was challenged by the power-structures of a predominantly male institution and spoke publicly about the difficulties of being the world's first woman diocesan bishop. At her retirement, after 14 years as Bishop of Dunedin, Jamieson expressed her regret that no other women bishops had been elected a bishop in New Zealand.