Spencer Leeson
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{short description|British headmaster and Anglican bishop}}
{{Portal|Christianity}}Spencer Stottisbury Gwatkin Leeson{{cite web|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person-list.php?sText=Spencer+Leeson&search=sas&OConly=true&firstRun=true&submitSearchTerm=Search|title=Spencer Stottesbery Gwatkin Leeson|publisher=National Portrait Gallery}} (9 October 1892 - 27 January 1956) was an eminent{{cite book|url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL18374027M/Spencer_Leeson|title=Spencer Leeson |date=1958 |publisher=S.P.C.K. |location=London|via=Internet Archive}} headmaster{{cite web|url=https://wyksoc.com/Document.Doc?id=14 |title=Wykeham Day Address|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718123955/https://wyksoc.com/Document.Doc?id=14 |archivedate=18 July 2011|work=The Trusty Servant|date=November 2005|number=100 }} and Anglican bishop[http://peterowen.org.uk/bishops/peterborough.html Bishops of Peterborough] in the mid 20th century.{{cite news|title=Ecclesiastical News. Canon Leeson For See Of Peterborough|work=The Times|date= April 1949|page=4G|issue=51351}} He was an influential and popular figure in the Church of England in the early 1950s and, had he survived, may well have been appointed to an archbishopric.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Leeson, Spencer Stottesbery Gwatkin (1892–1956)|author= W. F. Oakeshott, revised by R. D. H. Custance|encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=OUP|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34474|url-access=subscription}}
Life
File:Memorial Window to Bishop Spencer Leeson, Peterborough Cathedral.jpg
File:Plaque to Spencer Leeson in Peterborough Cathedral.jpg
He was born on 9 October 1892 and educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford.{{Who's Who | id= U239736 | title=Leeson, Spencer }} Although he had just been awarded a 1st in classical moderations and was on his way to further academic distinction, he enlisted in the army in August 1914, soon after the outbreak of the First World War.See Tom Scherb, "What Did You Do in the Great War, Bishop", Stand To!, number 99, and TNA WO374/41531 from which First World War information has been sourced. He was commissioned into the Middlesex Regiment and his first posting was to Gibraltar, where he gained the rare experience of guarding German-American prisoners who had been intercepted whilst attempting to reach Germany. In March 1915, he was sent to Ypres but returned to England with influenza. He was in hospital when his battalion was in action, with over 500 casualties. In September 1915, unfit for active service, he was attached to Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty and MI5. He was mentioned in despatches, gazetted in May 1917. He had lengthy periods of absence resulting from a heart problem.
Post-war, he was assistant principal at the Board of Education then an assistant master at his old school. He was appointed headmaster of Merchant Taylors'{{cite web|url=http://www.mtsn.org.uk/files/History%20of%20MTS_English.pdf |title=School notes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613064145/http://www.mtsn.org.uk/files/History%20of%20MTS_English.pdf |archivedate=13 June 2010 }} in 1927, then Winchester College{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765587,00.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501215741/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765587,00.html|title=Playing Fields of Eton |work=Time|date=1 May 2008|archivedate=1 May 2008}} eight years later. He was made deacon at Michaelmas 1939 (22 September) in the Wolvesey Palace chapel{{Church Times | title = Ordinations | archive = 1939_09_29_265 | issue = 4001 | date = 29 September 1939 | page = 265 | accessed = 7 November 2019 }} and ordained priest on Trinity Sunday 1940 (19 May) at Winchester Cathedral — both times by Cyril Garbett, Bishop of Winchester.{{Church Times | title = Trinity ordinations | archive = 1940_05_24_386 | issue = 4035 | date = 24 May 1940 | page = 386 | accessed = 7 November 2019 }} He was Rector of St. Mary's Church, Southampton{{cite news|work=The Times|date=21 January 1946|page= 4F|issue=50355|title=Canon Leeson's New Appointment}} and then Wiccamical Prebendary at Chichester Cathedral. Leeson had made such an immediate impression in Southampton that he was recommended for bishoprics. Added to that was his national reputation as an authority on education, particularly Church schools. Wakefield, Hereford and Peterborough dioceses all became vacant in 1949, and Leeson was eventually appointed to Peterborough.TNA PREM5/370 He was ordained and consecrated a bishop that All Saints' Day (1 November) at Westminster Abbey{{Church Times | title = [photo caption] | archive = 1949_11_04_729 | issue = 4526 | date = 4 November 1949 | page = 729 | accessed = 12 April 2017 }} by Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury;{{cite news|title=Right Rev Cyril Easthaugh|work=The Times|issue=63268|date=19 December 1988|page=14}} and held this post until his death on 27 January 1956.{{cite news|title=Obituary - Dr. Spencer Leeson The Bishop of Peterborough|work=The Times|date=28 January 1956|page=9A|issue=53440}} By then, his hyperactivity and zeal had damaged his health, so that when Archbishop Garbett of York announced his retirement in 1955, Leeson was not in the running.TNA PREM5/418 Nevertheless, during the previous six years at Peterborough, Leeson was one of the most eminent Church of England bishops.
Memorials
A memorial stained glass window was erected in the south aisle of Peterborough Cathedral to his memory.Plaque in Peterborough Cathedral
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=Claude Blagden}}
{{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Peterborough|years=1949–1956}}
{{S-aft|after= Robert Stopford}}
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{{s-bef|before=Alwyn Williams}}
{{s-ttl|title=Headmaster of Winchester College|years=1934–1946}}
{{s-aft|after=Walter Oakeshott}}
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{{Diocese of Peterborough}}
{{Bishops of Peterborough}}
{{Headmasters of Winchester College}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeson, Spencer Stottisbury Gwatkin}}
Category:People educated at Winchester College
Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford
Category:Headmasters of Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Category:Headmasters of Winchester College
Category:Bishops of Peterborough