Donald Arden

Arden was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide and the University of Leeds. He was ordained deacon in 1939 and priest in 1940 after studying at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.{{Crockford

| surname = Arden

| forenames = Donald Seymour

| id = 30135

| accessed = 30 November 2015

}} His first posts were curacies in Hatcham and Nettleden. In 1944 he joined the Pretoria African Mission, eventually becoming Director of the Usuthu Mission in Swaziland.Note: In 1881, his [(Brunu's)] father, Mbandzeni, invited Reverend Joel Jackson to start a mission school at Luyengo (uSuthu Mission) for Bhunu, but the young heir did not go to school. {{Cite dictionary|last=Dlamini |first=Betty Sibongile |title= Bhunu (1876?–1899) |dictionary=The Dictionary of African Biography |location=Oxford, England |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.48417 }}

From 1961The Times, 8 September 1961, p.14, "News in Brief" to 1971 he was the Bishop of Nyasaland/Malawi – as Bishop of Nyasaland until Malawian independence in 1964 and as Bishop of Malawi thereafter.[http://www.angsoma.org/about.shtml Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi – History]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} When the diocese split in 1971, he became bishop of one of the two new dioceses as Bishop of Southern Malawi. Also in that year, he became Archbishop of Central Africa,[https://web.archive.org/web/20120526185317/http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk:8080/Archives/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo=='Ramsey/4-287/1967/111/269-72') National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives] and held both posts until retiring in 1980.

Having given up the archbishopric, Arden returned to the UK to become priest in charge of St Margaret's Church, Uxbridge, where he served from 1981 to 1986.

Arden had a great love of Africa and campaigned tirelessly for the rights of indigenous African people. Within the Church he made widespread provision for the education of indigenous black African priests, and campaigned for the appointment of indigenous bishops. It was a matter of pride to him that he was the last white Archbishop of Central Africa.

In retirement Arden served as an honorary assistant priest at St Alban's Church in North Harrow, and as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of London. He gave up these roles in 2011 and moved to Romsey, Hampshire, where he lived the final years of his life. In December 2011, Arden celebrated 50 years of episcopal ministry with his family at St Paul's Cathedral, London. He was consecrated (as Bishop of Nyasaland) on 30 November 1961.The Church Times #7760, 9 December 2011. p. 6

He died at home in Romsey, Hampshire on 18 July 2014, aged 98. His family announced that he would be cremated in an African banana leaf coffin on 31 July 2014.{{cite web|author=Diocese of London |url=http://www.london.anglican.org/articles/bishop-donald-arden-rip/ |title=Diocese of London | Bishop Donald Arden RIP |publisher=London.anglican.org |date=18 July 2014 |accessdate=25 July 2014}}

His wife Jane Arden survived him. She was a dedicated church worker.

{{reflist}}

• [https://donaldardensreflections.org/ Donald Arden's Reflections]

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{{s-bef|before=Frank Thorne}}

{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Nyasaland|years=1961–1964}}

{{s-aft|after=Himself|as=Bishop of Malawi}}

{{s-bef|before=Himself|as=Bishop of Nyasaland}}

{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Malawi|years=1964–1971}}

{{s-non|reason=Diocese split}}

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{{s-new|diocese}}

{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Southern Malawi|years=1971–1980}}

{{s-aft|after=Dunstan Ainani}}

{{s-bef|before=Oliver Green-Wilkinson}}

{{s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Central Africa|years=1969–1980}}

{{s-aft|after=Walter Khotso Makhulu}}

{{s-end}}

{{Bishops of Nyasaland}}

{{Archbishops of Central Africa}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Donald Seymour}}

Category:1916 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide

Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds

Category:Alumni of the College of the Resurrection

Category:English Anglican missionaries

Category:Anglican bishops of Nyasaland

Category:Anglican bishops in Malawi

Category:Anglican bishops of Southern Malawi

Category:20th-century Anglican bishops in Malawi

Category:Anglican archbishops of Central Africa

Category:20th-century Anglican archbishops