William Streatfeild

Who was William Streatfeild?

William Champion Streatfeild was the Anglican Bishop of Lewes for a brief period in the second quarter of the 20th century. He was also the father of the novelist Noel Streatfeild, and appears as the beloved but over-saintly father of the heroine, Victoria, in her autobiographical novel A Vicarage Family.

William was the eldest son of the Rev. William Champion Streatfeild and Selina Frances Diana Leveson-Gower, and was educated at Marlborough and Pembroke College, Cambridge before being ordained in 1890. His ministry began with a curacy at Sittingbourne under his father-in-law, Henry Venn, after which he was Curate to his own father in Frant, Sussex. He then began a long period as Incumbent at several Sussex parishes, Amberley, St Leonards-on-Sea from 1902, and Eastbourne. He was elevated to the Episcopate in December 1928, and only served as bishop for two months until his death.

A small brass memorial to him lies in the north aisle of Chichester Cathedral.