Henry Wilson (bishop)

Born in Port Bannatyne, Wilson was educated at Camberwell Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.{{acad|id=WL895HA|name=Wilson, Henry Albert}}

Wilson was made a deacon in Advent 1899 (on St Thomas' Day, 21 December) by Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London, at Holy Trinity, Chelsea;{{Church Times | title = The Advent ordinations. | archive = 1899_12_29_772 | issue = 1927 | date = 29 December 1899 | page = 772 | accessed = 2 February 2023 }} and ordained a priest the next Advent (23 December 1900) by Alfred Barry, assistant bishop for West London, at St Paul's Cathedral.{{Church Times | title = The Advent ordinations. | archive = 1900_12_28_745 | issue = 1979 | date = 28 December 1900 | page = 745 | accessed = 2 February 2023 }} He began his career with a curacy at Christ Church, Hampstead, in London; after which he became Vicar of Norbiton. He was then Rural Dean of Cheltenham, until his appointment to the episcopate in 1929 as the third Bishop of Chelmsford.[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=109-aa_1-1_1-2&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18#-1 National Archives]

He was consecrated a bishop on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, 25 January 1929, by Arthur Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London, at Westminster Abbey.{{Church Times | title = Consecration of bishops. | archive = 1929_02_01_143 | issue = 3445 | date = 1 February 1929 | page = 143 | accessed = 2 February 2023 }} (He had recently taken his See by the confirmation of his election, after his predecessor had translated on 21 January,{{Church Times | title = Personal. | archive = 1929_01_25_099 | issue = 3444 | date = 25 January 1929 | page = 99 | accessed = 2 February 2023 }} but before his own consecration on 25 January.) A proposal to expedite divorce – by having divorce cases heard in a magistrates' court rather than a higher court – prompted his strenuous objection in 1944: "the landslide in sexual morals" meant that Christianity was "hanging by a thread in this country today".[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930075709/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,803176,00.html Religion: Pretty Pass], Time Magazine, 31 June 1944 He resigned effective 30 November 1950,{{Church Times | title = Bishop of Chelmsford | archive = 1950_10_06_729 | issue = 4574 | date = 6 October 1950 | page = 729 | accessed = 2 February 2023 }} and retired to Southwold. He had become a Doctor of Divinity (DD).

Wilson's son was the architect Colin St John Wilson.

• Episcopacy and Unity, 1912
• The Master and His Friends, 1925
• Your Faith or Your Life, 1940
• Reflections of a Back-Bench Bishop, 1948

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{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Chelmsford|years=1929–1950}}

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Category:1876 births

Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Bishops of Chelmsford

Category:1961 deaths

Category:20th-century Church of England bishops

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