Geoffrey Lunt

Born into an ecclesiastical family{{Cite web |url=http://www.recyclegen.com/archives/montg_coll/klm/lunt.htm |title=Genealogical website |access-date=2009-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223174621/http://recyclegen.com/archives/montg_coll/klm/lunt.htm |archive-date=2010-12-23 |url-status=dead }} Lunt was educated at Sherborne and Exeter College, Oxford“Who was Who” 1897-1990 London, A & C Black, 1991 {{ISBN|0-7136-3457-X}} and ordained in 1909. His first post was as curate at Christ Church, Clifton, Bristol,[http://www.christchurchclifton.org.uk/ Church website] after which he was secretary of the Church Missionary Society for Public Schools and Young People's Work then Vicar of St Paul's, Bedminster.

While at Bedminster, Lunt was freed to join the Army Chaplain's Department and served in France and Flanders with the 17th Division on a one-year contract.TNA WO339/136476. Service Record He experienced the Battles of Arras and Passchendaele, witnessed cavalry attacks, bombardments and the effects of gas and helped with surgical operations, soup kitchens and mass burials. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for rescuing wounded soldiers.University of Leeds Brotherton Library. Unpublished biography by Lunt's son who also would earn a MC as a Chaplain, in World War 2

When peace returned, Lunt became Vicar of All Saints, Northampton then Archdeacon of Egypt. From 1928 he was Vicar of St Mary's, Portsea, Portsmouth, the largest parish of the city,Crockford's Clerical Directory1940-41 Oxford, OUP,1941 before his appointment to the episcopate as Bishop of Ripon in 1935.New Bishop Of Ripon Canon Lunt Appointed The Times Monday, 29 October 1934; p. 14; Issue 46897; col F

By 1946, Lunt's health was causing concern, and when the Bishop of Southwark turned down the offer of translation to Salisbury, Lunt was offered the post and accepted it. A rural diocese seemed to provide a more amenable setting than Ripon which included the city of Leeds.TNA PREM5/346 Unfortunately, Lunt's health did not improve and he died in 1948.

Lunt was married to Lillias M Sherbrooke (1889-1980)their marriage appears on Peerage website. Their son Ronald Geoffrey Lunt (1913-1994) was also a war chaplain who served with 7th commando in Libya;{{NPG name|id=78387|name=Ronald Geoffrey Lunt}} and later the rector of Martley. Lunt's sister, Norah Elisetta Lunt (21/06/1890 - 09/05/1988), married Norman Tubbs in 1918. Tubbs was successively Bishop of Tinnevelly, Bishop of Rangoon, Archdeacon of Chester (and Assistant Bishop of Chester) and Dean of Chester.

Lunt's brother was Theodore Robert Woosnam Lunt (1879-1951).{{cite book|last=Lunt|first=Theodore Robert Woosnam|title=The Story of Islam|url=https://archive.org/details/thestoryofislam00luntuoft|year=1901|publisher=United Council for Missionary Education|location=London }}

Lunt's sister Mary (Molly) Baskerville Lunt married Hugh Cecil Jenner (1872-1968) who was descended from Francis Lascelles (1744-1799) and the singer Ann Catley.

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{{Portal|Christianity}}

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{{S-bef|before=Edward Burroughs}}

{{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Ripon|years=1935–1946}}

{{S-aft|after=George Chase}}

{{S-bef|before=Neville Lovett}}

{{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Salisbury|years=1946–1948}}

{{S-aft|after=William Anderson}}

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{{Bishops of Ripon (modern diocese)}}

{{Bishops of Salisbury}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunt, Geoffrey Charles Lester}}

Category:1885 births

Category:1948 deaths

Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford

Category:Anglican archdeacons in Africa

Category:Bishops of Ripon (modern diocese)

Category:Bishops of Salisbury

Category:People educated at Sherborne School

Category:Recipients of the Military Cross

Category:Royal Army Chaplains' Department officers

Category:World War I chaplains

Category:20th-century Church of England bishops

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

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