John Diggle

Diggle was the son of William Diggle, a warehouseman of Pendleton, Lancashire and his wife Nancy Ann née Chadderton. His younger brother, Joseph Diggle (1849–1917) was to become chairman of the London School Board.{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45532 |title=Diggle, Joseph Robert (1849–1917) |author=Donald P. Leinster-Mackay |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/45532 |access-date=16 January 2010}} He was educated at Manchester Grammar School.“Who was Who” 1897–1990 London, A & C Black, 1991 {{ISBN|0-7136-3457-X}} and Merton College, Oxford.{{Cite EB1922 |wstitle=Diggle, John William |volume=30 |page=839 }}

Diggle began his career with curacies at St Margaret, Whalley Range,[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/MossSide/StMargaret.shtml Genuki] All Saints’, Liverpool and St John’s, Walton. From 1875 until 1897 he was Vicar of Mossley Hill.The Times, Thursday, Jul 11, 1889; pg. 5; Issue 32748; col D Ecclesiastical Appointments He was in 1896 collated Archdeacon of Westmorland, serving until November 1901, and then in 1903 Archdeacon of Birmingham.[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27747/pages/8791/page.pdf London Gazette]

In 1905, Diggle was appointed Bishop of Carlisle, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Carlisle.[http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/dean_and_chapter_f.html Images of Cumbria] He was one of the most vociferous episcopal supporters of British involvement in the Great War. He blamed Prussian militarism and was appalled at what he regarded as German cruelty to Belgian and French civilians who had been overrun in the German advance. He regarded it as a spiritual war, the 'Good'of Britain and her allies facing the wickedness of Germany and, therefore, fighting for a choice between '...public law or military licence...freedom or absolutism, independence or servitude, truth or falsehood, purity or corruption, faith or force, love or hate, Christ or Beliel...'Carlisle Diocesan Gazette, July 1915. These monthly published gazettes had regular news and features about the War He was very proud of clergy and their families who were especially active in the War. These included his own sons, Reginald, who won a MC as a chaplain, and Philip, who was a major in the Border Regiment;and Theodore Hardy, vicar of Hutton Roof, who was awarded the VC. His assistant, the Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness, who volunteered as a Chaplain and served with the Church Army, and the Vicar of Ambleside, who worked in a munitions factory during the week and returned to his parish at weekends to take services, were praised. Unlike most of his colleagues, he refused to forbid his clergy from joining the forces as combatants, writing 'If it is wrong for a clergyman to enlist, can he encourage others to enlist? If we honour and praise the dead for a sacred cause how can it be wrong for clergy to enlist in so noble a cause?'.Carlisle Diocesan Chronicle, December 1915 Diggle also refused to accept candidates for ordination if they were 'of military age and medically fit at this critical juncture in the nation's needs'.Carlisle Diocesan Chronicle June 1916 One of Diggle's last tasks was to join President Wilson of the USA in the nonconformist chapel where Wilson's ancestors had worshipped, and was widely criticised since he was a CofE bishop. Diggle was unmoved and wanted to welcome the President on his visit to the diocese.The Times obituary, 26.3.1920 Diggle continued as bishop until his death on 24 March 1920.[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=109-rced&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18#-1 National Archives]Obituary The Bishop Of Carlisle. A Liberal Prelate The Times Friday, Mar 26, 1920; p. 18; issue 42369; col B.

In 1874, Diggle married Cicely Jane Butterfield. In 1884, Diggle married Edith Moss. Diggle had five children: four sons and one daughter.{{cite web|title=Diggle, Rt. Rev. John William|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U195614|website=Who Was Who|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=31 January 2017|date=April 2014}}

His son, Percy Robert Diggle, was a rugby union international, representing the Combined British on the 1910 RFU tour to Argentina, an early incarnation of the British and Irish Lions.

{{Commons category|John William Diggle}}

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{{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Carlisle |years=1905–1920}}

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{{Archdeacons of Westmorland and Furness}}

{{Archdeacons of Birmingham}}

{{Bishops of Carlisle}}

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Category:1847 births

Category:People from Pendleton, Greater Manchester

Category:People educated at Manchester Grammar School

Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford

Category:Bishops of Carlisle

Category:20th-century Church of England bishops

Category:Archdeacons of Birmingham

Category:Archdeacons of Westmorland

Category:1920 deaths