Geoffrey Fisher

Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth GCVO , PC (born May 5, 1887 in Nuneaton , Warwickshire , † September 15, 1972 in Sherborne , Dorset ) was Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Church of England from 1945 to 1961 .

origin

Fisher grew up in an Anglican home and studied at Marlborough and Exeter College . In 1913 he was an assistant at Marlborough College when he decided to be ordained a priest . At the time, public schools in England had close ties with the Church of England and it was not uncommon for school principals to be priests.

In 1914, Fisher became director of the Repton School, succeeding William Temple , who later also became Archbishop of Canterbury. Temple was not very successful in his office as headmaster and Fisher would have to restore general discipline to the school. Children's author Roald Dahl was a student at Repton at the time and described Fisher's tenure in his autobiography.

In 1932 he was appointed Bishop of Chester and in 1939 Bishop of London .

Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

In 1942, the Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang resigned and was replaced by William Temple. However, he died on October 26, 1944. Some believed that the best choice now would be George Bell , Bishop of Chichester , but it was Fisher who was appointed.

The appointment of bishops in the Church of England is ultimately in the hands of the Prime Minister. Winston Churchill had already confirmed William Temple only because he was an outstanding personality whose appointment no one could have seriously ruled out. This time, however, the situation was less clear. It was widely believed that Bishop Bell was not appointed because of his criticism in the House of Lords debate on the government's bombing strategy. While it is likely that this reduced his chances considerably, William Temple had apparently suggested Fisher as his successor. He was appointed on January 2, 1945 and solemnly inaugurated on April 19, 1945.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Fisher sought successfully to revise the canon law of the Church of England . The canonical guidelines of 1603 were still in effect at this point, although they were largely out of date.

On November 20, 1947, he married the then Crown Princess Elisabeth with Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey . He became world-famous for the TV broadcast of the coronation of Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, which he directed.

In 1960 he visited Pope John XXIII in Rome . , the first meeting between the Archbishop of Canterbury and a Pope since the Reformation and an ecumenical milestone.

Fisher was a dedicated Freemason , like many Bishops of the Church of England of his day. Fisher himself rose to a very high masonry degree as a "Grand Chaplain" in the United Grand Lodge of England .

successor

Fisher retired in 1961. He told Prime Minister Harold Macmillan that he did not consider his former student at Repton Arthur Michael Ramsey to be a suitable successor. Pastor Victor Stock later recalled the conversation with the Prime Minister: Fisher said,

“I have come to give you some advice about my successor. Whatever you choose, under no circumstances should it be Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of York. Dr. Ramsey is a theologian, scientist, and man of prayer. Therefore he is totally unsuitable for the Archbishop of Canterbury. I've known him all my life. I was his schoolmaster in Repton. "

Macmillan replied:

“Thank you, Your Grace, for your kind advice. You were Ramsey's headmaster, but you weren't mine! "

Accordingly, Macmillan disregarded Fisher's wishes and appointed Ramsey, who some believe to be the greatest Archbishop of Canterbury of the 20th century.

Titles and awards

On October 27, 1939, Fisher was appointed Privy Counselor . From 1948 to 1954 he was one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches . In 1949 he received an award from King George VI. the Royal Victorian Chain . In 1953 it was invested as the Knight Grand Cross for the Royal Victorian Order .

On May 31, 1961, he retired for reasons of age and became Baron Fisher of Lambeth , of Lambeth in the County of London on June 2, 1961 (the eighth anniversary of her coronation) , as one of the first Life Peers after the Life Peerages Appointed Act 1958 .

He was buried in the tomb of Andrew's Church, Trent , Dorset . His wife is also buried there.

family

He was married to Rosamond Chevallier Forman (1890-1986), daughter of the Reverend Arthur Francis Emilius Forman , since April 12, 1917 . They had six sons, including:

Hon. Sir Henry Arthur Pears Fisher (born January 20, 1918, † April 10, 2005).

literature

• William Purcell: Fisher of Lambeth. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1969.
• Edward Carpenter: Archbishop Fisher: His Life and Times. Canterbury Press, Norwich 1991.
• David Hein: Geoffrey Fisher: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945-1961. Pickwick Publications / Wipf & Stock, Eugene, OR 2008.

Web links

• Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth on thepeerage.com , accessed September 11, 2016.
• http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/great_speeches/speech_25.php
• Geoffrey Fisher at Hansard (English)
• Newspaper article about Geoffrey Fisher in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Famous Freemasons Geoffrey Fisher , Homepage: Lodge St. Patrick No.468 (accessed September 8, 2012)
2. ↑ Biography of Archbishop Fisher . Mqmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved April 30, 2011.

predecessor	Office	successor
Luke Paget	Bishop of Chester 1932-1939	Douglas Crick
Arthur Winnington-Ingram	Bishop of London 1939–1945	William Wall
William Temple	Archbishop of Canterbury 1945–1961	Arthur Michael Ramsey