David Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool

David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool (born March 6, 1929 in Reigate , Surrey , England - † March 5, 2005 in West Kirby , Merseyside , England) was a British cricketer and Anglican theologian . He was Bishop of Liverpool in the Church of England from 1975 to 1997 .

Life

Family and education

Sheppard was the son of a solicitor and attended Sherborne School in Sherborne, Dorset , where his talent for cricket was first recognized. After his military service as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment, he studied at Trinity Hall College of the University of Cambridge .

David Sheppard

Player information
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling style	Slow left arm orthodox
International games
National team	England
Test debut (cap 353)	August 12, 1950 v  West Indies
Last test	March 19, 1963 v  New Zealand
National teams
Years	team
1950-1952	Cambridge University
1947-1962	Sussex
1950-1963	MCC
Career statistics
Game form	Testing	FC
Games	22nd	230
Runs (total)	1,172	15,838
Batting average	37.80	43.51
100s / 50s	3/6	45/75
Highscore	119	239 *
Balls	-	120
Wickets	-	2
Bowling Average	-	44.00
5 wickets in innings	-	-
10 wickets in play	-	-
Best bowling performance	-	1/5
Catches / stumpings	12 / -	194 / -
Source: Cricinfo , April 16, 2015

Career as a cricketer

He played for the Cambridge University Cricket Club (Blue 1950, 1951 and 1952; Captain 1952), the Sussex County Cricket Club (Captain 1953) and for the English national cricket team . As a student he played with Freddie Brown on the tour of the English national cricket team in Australia (1950/1951). Due to his success at Cambridge University Cricket Club, he was awarded the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1953, making him one of the top five players of the English cricket season. In 1954 he was the captain, as a substitute for the absent Len Hutton , in two tests England against Pakistan . Sheppard played a total of 233 first-class games for the Sussex County Cricket Club, scoring 15,838 runs. In his 22 appearances for the national team, he scored 1,172 runs until 1963.

Church career

Sheppard, who originally wanted to be a barrister , chose church service while studying at Cambridge. In preparation for the priesthood he attended Ridley Hall College at Cambridge University, where he attended lectures by Owen Chadwick and Maurice Wiles . The lectures given by the cleric, socialist and pacifist Donald Soper, Baron Soper , who was a visiting professor at Cambridge, made a great impression on him . Theologically, Sheppard was particularly influenced by EJH Nash . In 1955 he was ordained a deacon ; In 1956 he was ordained a priest . Since he played for the national team until 1963, he was the first ordained clergyman who was active as a cricketer, but especially in the last years of his sports career, he focused more and more on his church career.

After his ordination he was first parish vicar ( curate ) in Islington . He then became director and head ( Warden ) of the Mayflower Family Center in the Canning Town district of London.

In 1969 he was named " Bishop of Woolwich " suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Southwark. In 1975 he became Bishop of Liverpool. At the age of 46 he was the youngest diocesan bishop of the Church of England. Sheppard was particularly committed to reducing poverty for social reforms and better living conditions in the inner city communities of Liverpool; he was also a staunch opponent of apartheid .

He worked closely with Derek Worlock , the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, and worked hard to work together and improve relations between the Anglican Church and Catholicism . In 1985, after the disaster at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels , where many Italian fans of the Juventus soccer team died, he traveled with Worlock to Turin as a gesture and sign of reconciliation. Sheppard was also an open critic of Margaret Thatcher's administration . In 1985 he became a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Urban Priority Areas, which, in its Faith in the City report, addressed the social problems and hot spots in inner city communities. In 1997, Sheppard retired. He was succeeded by James Jones .

Membership in the House of Lords

After Sheppard had served as spiritual lord in the House of Lords from 1980 to 1997 while serving as bishop , he was named a Life Peer in the 1998 New Year Honors . He was named Baron Sheppard of Liverpool , of West Kirby in the County of Merseyside and sat in the House of Lords for the Labor Party . Sheppard published two autobiographies: Parson's Pitch (1966) and Steps Along Hope Street (2002); he chose the title Hope Street after the street in Liverpool that connects Liverpool Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral .

Private and death

Sheppard was married to Grace Sheppard (née Isaac), whom he had met in Cambridge. The marriage produced a daughter, Jenny. This later converted to Catholicism . Lady Sheppard died on 10 November 2010 at the age of 75 years to cancer .

In December 2003, Sheppard announced that he had colon cancer. Sheppard died on March 5, 2005 at the age of 75. In the Liverpool Cathedral his ashes were interred.

Web links

• David Sheppard at Hansard (English)
• biography
• Obituary: Lord Sheppard - obituary
• Obituary: The Right Rev Lord Sheppard - Obituary in: The Guardian, March 7, 2005

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Page 4770 / Issue 38392, 27 August 1948 ( English ) London Gazette. August 27, 1948. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Obituary: The Right Rev Lord Sheppard ( English ) Guardian. March 7, 2005. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Obituary Lord Sheppard ( English ) BBC. March 6, 2005. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
4. ↑ Randle Manwaring From Controversy to Co-Existence: Evangelicals in the Church of England 1914-1980 (Cambridge: CUP, 2002), pg. 58
5. ^ The London Gazette ( English ) London Gazette. October 9, 1969. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
6. ↑ Page 5873 / Issue 46566, 6 May 1975 ( English ) London Gazette. May 6, 1975. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
7. ^ The London Gazette ( English ) London Gazette. December 30, 1997. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
8. ↑ Page 1975 / Issue 55048, 19 February 1998 ( English ) London Gazette. February 19, 1998. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
9. ^ Liverpool: Archbishop Kelly pays tribute to lady Grace Sheppard ( English ) Independent Catholic News. November 12, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
John AT Robinson	Bishop of Woolwich 1969–1975	Michael Marshall
Stuart Yarworth Blanch	Bishop of Liverpool 1975–1997	James Stuart Jones