Harold Fielding (priest)

{{Short description|English Anglican priest}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = priest

| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|Ven||size=100%}}

| name = Harold Fielding

| honorific-suffix = MA

| title = Archdeacon of Rochdale

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| church = Church of England

| archdiocese =

| province = York

| diocese = Manchester

| term = 1972–1982

| predecessor = Arthur Henry Ballard

| successor = David Bonser

| other_post = Vicar of St Peter's Church, Bolton (1965–1982)

| ordination =

| ordained_by =

| birth_name = Harold Ormandy Fielding

| birth_date = 13 November 1912

| birth_place =

| death_date = 30 August 1987 (aged 74)

| death_place =

| nationality = English

| religion = Anglican

| spouse = Elsie Whillance

| children = 3 sons and 1 daughter

| profession =

| education = Farnworth Grammar School

| alma_mater = Magdalene College, Cambridge

}}

{{Portal|Christianity}}

Harold Ormandy Fielding (13 November 1912 – 30 August 1987) was an Anglican priest who served as Archdeacon of Rochdale from 1972 to 1982.{{Cite newspaper The Times|department=Church news|date=February 9, 1982|page=12|issue=61153}}

Born in 1912, the son of Harold W. Fielding and Florence Fielding (née Ormandy), he was educated at Farnworth Grammar School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, and then trained for the Anglican ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon.{{Who's Who|title=Fielding, Harold Ormandy|id=U164120|type=was|volume=1920–2016|edition=November 2012 online|access-date=4 July 2013}} Fielding married to Elsie Whillance at St James' Church, Farnworth in 1939. They had four children: Timothy, Robert, Catherine, and John. After curacies at St Mary's, Leigh and St Paul's, Walkden, he was Vicar of St James', New Bury from 1944 to 1965.{{cite web|last1=Fielding|first1=Canon H. O.|author-link=Harold Fielding (priest)|url=http://www.sevensaints.talktalk.net/st_james_centenary_magazine.pdf |title=Parish of New Bury 1840-1965|website=Seven Saints Team|access-date=4 July 2016}} Fielding was then Vicar of St Peter's, Bolton from 1965 to 1982, during which time he also became Archdeacon of Rochdale.{{cite book|author=Crockford's|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975-76|location=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1976|isbn=0-19-200008-X}} After his retirement, he lived in Bromley Cross, a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. He published a book in 1983 about James Slade, Vicar of St Peter's, Bolton, one of Fielding's 19th-century predecessors.{{cite book|last1=Fielding|first1=H. O.|author-link=Harold Fielding (priest)|title=James Slade: vicar of Bolton, 1817-1856|year=1983|publisher=Friends of Bolton Parish Church|location=Bolton}} He died on 30 August 1987, aged 74.{{cite web|author1=Probate Service|title=Wills and Probate 1858–1996|url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Fielding&yearOfDeath=1987&page=2#calendar|website=Find a will|publisher=GOV.UK|access-date=4 July 2016|quote=FIELDING, Harold Ormandy of 6 High Meadows, Bromley Cross, Bolton, died 30 August 1987. Probate Manchester 19 November [1987] £59579.}}{{cite web|author1=General Register Office|title=England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837–2007|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ7-1WGM|website=FamilySearch|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|at=Jul-Aug-Sep 1987, Bolton Registration District, Volume 38, Page 120.|access-date=21 July 2016}}