Richard Parsons

Who was Richard Parsons?

Richard Godfrey Parsons was an Anglican bishop who served in three dioceses during the first half of the 20th century and a renowned liberal scholar.

Parsonshe was born into a Lancashire family on 12 November 1882 and educated at Durham School and Magdalen College, Oxford. Ordained priest in 1907 he was a curate at Hampstead before four years as Chaplain at University College, Oxford. Principal of Wells Theological College from 1911-16 he was then appointed a chaplain to the forces before two Lancashire incumbencies. Ideally suited to pastoral work he became Bishop of Middleton, a Suffragan appointment in 1927. During this period he was one of several clerics who made a major contribution to the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. A man with much sympathy to the poor he enjoyed his time at the See of Southwark before translation to Hereford. A devoted family man, he married Dorothy Streeter in 1912. His son died in the Siege of Tobruk and he died himself on 26 December 1948.