Nicholas Allenby
{{short description|Anglican bishop in Malaysia}}
{{Portal|Christianity}}
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David Howard Nicholas Allenby SSM, (28 January 1909 – 28 February 1995) was an English clergyman in the Anglican Church and a member of the religious order the Society of the Sacred Mission. He held the position of Bishop of Kuching from 1962 until 1968, and thereafter was an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Worcester.
Early life
Allenby was born in Essex in 1909,West Ham Registry Office, March 1909 quarter, Vol 4a, page 57. the son of William Allenby, an actor and stage manager, and his wife Irene Lambert Allenby (née Spratly), a teacher.{{Cite web|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBC%2F1911%2FRG14%2F09382%2F0781%2F5|title=1911 census, via FindMyPast|access-date=18 March 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U170811|title=Who's Who 2021 & Who Was Who|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U170811 |access-date=19 March 2021}} Allenby joined the Society of the Sacred Mission at the age of 19,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/view/pagview/ChTm_1995_03_17_006|title=Church Times: "Obituary: Bishop Nicholas Allenby", 17 March 1995, p 6|access-date=19 March 2021}} and was professed in 1933.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/view/pagview/ChTm_1995_03_03_004|title=Church Times: "Deaths", 3 March 1995, p 4|access-date=18 March 2021}}
Clerical career
He trained for ordination at Kelham Theological College and was ordained deacon in 1934 and priest in 1935.{{Cite web|url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/33551/the-rt-revd-david-howard-nicholas-allenby|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory: The Rt Revd David Howard Nicholas Allenby|access-date=19 March 2021}} He was then a tutor at Kelham (1936–44) and then Rector of St Michael and All Angels, Averham with Kelham (1944–57).{{Cite web|url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/33551/the-rt-revd-david-howard-nicholas-allenby|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory: The Rt Revd David Howard Nicholas Allenby|access-date=19 March 2021}} During the latter incumbency he was also Rural Dean of Newark (1955–57).{{Cite web|url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/33551/the-rt-revd-david-howard-nicholas-allenby|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory: The Rt Revd David Howard Nicholas Allenby|access-date=19 March 2021}} He was also a member of the Church Assembly (the predecessor of the General Synod).{{Cite web|url=https://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/view/pagview/ChTm_1995_03_17_006|title=Church Times: "Obituary: Bishop Nicholas Allenby", 17 March 1995, p 6|access-date=19 March 2021}} In 1957 he went to Australia as Warden of the Society's theological college, St Michael's House, and Prior of the attached Priory.Mason, Alistair, History of the Society of the Sacred Mission, (1993: The Canterbury Press), {{ISBN|1-85311-079-5}}, p 236. In the same year he was awarded a Lambeth MA.Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973-74, 85th Edition, p 15. He was Warden of the Community of the Holy Name from 1961 to 1962.Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973-74, 85th Edition, p 15.
In 1962 he was raised to the episcopate as Bishop of Kuching in Sarawak which, in 1963, became part of the new state of Malaysia.Mason, Alistair, History of the Society of the Sacred Mission, (1993: The Canterbury Press), {{ISBN|1-85311-079-5}}, p 236. It was Allenby who first mooted the idea of a Province of South East Asia, in 1963:{{Cite web|url=https://www.diocesekuching.org/index.php/bishops-profiles-1963-1998/|title=Diocese of Kuching: Bishops' Profiles 1963-1998|access-date=19 March 2021}} the Church of the Province of South East Asia finally came into existence in 1996, over 30 years later. He retired from Kuching in 1968, being replaced by Basil Temenggong, the first native Sarawakian bishop.
After his return from Malaysia in 1968, he was then an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Worcester until 1991.{{Cite web|url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/33551/the-rt-revd-david-howard-nicholas-allenby|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory: The Rt Revd David Howard Nicholas Allenby|access-date=19 March 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U170811|title=Who's Who 2021 & Who Was Who|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U170811 |access-date=19 March 2021}} He was also Chaplain to St Oswald's Hospital, Worcester (1973–74).Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973-74, 85th Edition, p 15.Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1985-86, 89th Edition, p 7. Allenby was an original trustee of Holland House, the Worcester diocesan retreat house at Cropthorne.Collins, Christine, Building Piece by Peace: The History of Holland House, (1995: Gracewing), {{ISBN|0-85244-344-7}}, p 75.
Personal life
Allenby died in 1995, aged 86.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/view/pagview/ChTm_1995_03_03_004|title=Church Times: "Deaths", 3 March 1995, p 4|access-date=18 March 2021}} At the end of his life he was at Willen Hospice, founded by the Society in 1979 as the Hospice of St Mary and St John and named for the Kelham Rood, which was then located in the garden of the Priory in Willen.Strudwick, Vincent, "The Dynamics of Change in SSM", Society of the Sacred Mission European Province Newsletter, May 2019, p 6. He is buried in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene, Willen, along with other members of the Society.{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195576627/nicholas-david_howard-allenby|title=Find A Grave: Rev Nicholas David Howard Allenby|website=Find a Grave |access-date=19 March 2021}}
References
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{{Bishops of Labuan and Sarawak}}
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Category:Anglican missionaries in Malaysia