Dean of the Arches

The Dean of the Arches is the judge who presides in the provincial ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This court is called the Arches Court of Canterbury. It hears appeals from consistory courts and bishop's disciplinary tribunals in the province of Canterbury.

The Dean of the Arches is appointed jointly by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York with the approval of the monarch signified by warrant under the sign manual. The same person presides in the Chancery Court of York where he or she has the title of Auditor and hears appeals from consistory courts and bishop's disciplinary tribunals in the province of York. The Dean of the Arches is also Official Principal of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, and acts as Master of the Faculties to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The current dean of the Arches is Morag Ellis, who succeeded Charles George on 8 June 2020.

List of Deans of the Arches

YearsDean
1273–William de Middelton
1297–William de Sardinia
1308–John de Ross (?afterwards Bishop of Carlisle, 1325)
1322–?1323John de Stratford (afterwards Bishop of Winchester, 1323)
1333John de Ufford
c.1346Simon Islip (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 1349)
1350–John de Carleton
1360–William de Wittersley
1364–Thomas Young
1376–John Barner
1381–Thomas de Baketon, Appointed by Archbishop Courteney (Baketon/Bakton/Bacton/Bactone and variants) Likely a member of the Mynyot/Minot family that included Thomas Minot, Archbishop of Dublin who died in London 1375 (research ongoing)
1407–Richard Brinkley
1415–Henry Ware
1419–John Stafford afterwards Archdeacon of Salisbury, 1419)
1423–Thomas Beckington (also Archdeacon of Buckingham, 1424–1443 and afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1443}
1426–William Lyndwood (also Archdeacon of Stow, 1434)
1434–1440John Lyndfeld
1441–Zanobius Mulakyn (alias Naufer)
1448–William Wytham (also Dean of Wells, 1469–1472)
1452–Zanobius Mulakyn (alias Naufer)
1453–1454Richard Leyte
1454–William Spaldyng
1469–John Boteler
1474–John Morton (cardinal), afterwards Bishop of Ely, 1478 and Archbishop of Canterbury, 1486
1504–1515Humphrey Hawardyn
c.1511Richard Bodewell also known as Blodwell
1520–1522Thomas Wodynton
?–1532Peter Ligham
1532–1543Richard Gwent (died 1543) (also Archdeacon of Brecon, 1534 and Archdeacon of London, 1534) and Archdeacon of Huntingdon, 1542)
1543–1545John Cock (or Cockys)
1545–William Coke or Cooke (1st lay dean)
1549–Griffin Leyson
1553–John Story (afterwards MP for East Grinstead, 1553 and Bramber, 1554)
1556–1557David Pole (afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, 1557}
1557–1558Henry Cole
1558–1559Nicholas Harpisfield
1559–1560William Mowse
1560–?1567Robert Weston (afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland, 1567)
1567–1573Thomas Yale
1572–John Cooke
1573–1589/90Bartholomew Clerke
1590–1597Richard Cosin
1597–1598Thomas Byng
1598–1617Daniel Donne
1618–1624Sir William Bird
1624–1633Sir Henry Marten
1633–1643Sir John Lambe
c.1646William Sammes
c.1647–1655William Clerke
c.1658–John Godolpin
c.1660Walter Walker
c.1660Richard Zouch
1660–1672Sir Giles Sweit
1672–1684Sir Robert Wiseman
1684–1686Sir Richard Lloyd
1686–1688Sir Thomas Exton
1689–1703George Oxenden
1703–1710Sir John Cooke
1710–1751John Bettesworth
1751–1758Sir George Lee
1758–1764Sir Edward Simpson
1764–1778Sir George Hay
1778–1788Peter Calvert
1788–1809Sir William Wynne
1809–1834Sir John Nicholl
1834–1852Herbert Jenner-Fust
1852–1858Sir John Dodson
1858–1867Stephen Lushington
1867–1875Sir Robert Phillimore
1875–1898Lord Penzance
1898–1903Sir Arthur Charles
1903–1934Sir Lewis Dibdin
1934–1955Sir Philip Wilbraham-Baker
1955–1971Sir Henry Willink
1971–1972Walter Wigglesworth
1972–1976Sir Harold Kent
1977–1980Kenneth Elphinstone
1980–2000Sir John Owen
2001–2009Sheila Cameron
2009–2020Charles George
2020–Morag Ellis

Notes

  1. ↑ Details of that court's responsibilities: Ecclesiastical court#Church of England
  2. ↑ The parliamentary history of the principality of Wales, from the earliesr times to the present day, 1541–1895

References

  1. ↑ Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018, section 10
  2. ↑ Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018, section 23
  3. 1 2 Pocklington, David. "Dean of the Court of Arches appointed". Frank Cranmer and David Pocklington. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Newcourt, Richard. Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense: Comprising all London and . p. 434. Google Books
  5. ↑ Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge. "Offord, John de" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 42. pp. 7–8.
  6. ↑ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Simon Islip".
  7. ↑ Susan Cavanaugh, A Study of Books Privately Owned in England 1300–1450 (University of Pennsylvania, 1980), Ph.D. Dissertation, p. 517.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Logan, F. Donald. The Medieval Court of Arches. p. 203.
  9. ↑ Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, Register of John Carpenter, bishop of Worcester, 2 vols, II, fol.53. This source is open to question, however, as the text simply describes Morton as rector of St Dunstan-in-the-East in the deanery of the arches; it does not actually call him the dean. There are no other known references to Morton as dean.
  10. ↑ "The 1552 Reform of English Church Discipline" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Senior, William (1927). "The Judges of the High Court of Admiralty". The Mariner's Mirror. 13 (4): 336. doi:10.1080/00253359.1927.10655437.
  12. ↑ The Dictionary of National Biography in its first edition had Hugh Barker Dean c.1632; see- Henderson, Thomas Finlayson. "Barker, Hugh" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 03. p. 201. ; but this was retracted in the 1904 Errata.
  13. ↑ YourArchives page Archived 2011-12-07 at the UK Government Web Archive.
  14. ↑ Boase, George Clement. "Dodson, John" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 15. pp. 175–176.
  15. ↑ Barker, G.F.R. "Lushington, Stephen (1782-1873)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 34. pp. 291–293.