James Hughes (bishop)

William James Hughes (1894–5 December 1979) was an Anglican bishop^[1] in the 20th century.^[2]

Life and career

Born in 1894, Hughes was educated at the University of Leeds and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[3] He was ordained Deacon in 1921 and Priest in 1922 after a course of study at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.^[4] After a period as curate at St Matthew's, Leicester^[5] he was appointed Priest in charge at St Hilda's, Leicester.^[6] From there, he moved to become Vicar of St Benedict, Bordesley^[7] after which he was appointed Rector then Dean of St George's Cathedral, Georgetown, Guyana.^[8]

In 1944, Hughes was appointed Bishop of British Honduras.^[9] After a very short time in this post, he was translated to Barbados,^[10] during which time he set up the Barbados Church Association to prepare for disestablishment.^[11][12] In 1951, he returned to England^[13] to be Vicar of St George's Church, Edgbaston,^[14] and additionally served as an assistant bishop in Birmingham diocese. He was also made an honorary Canon of Birmingham Cathedral in 1952.^[15] Two years later, however, he was enthroned as the first Bishop of Matabeleland.^[16][17] During his time in Matabeleland, he became known for his dry comments on the administration of the region – for example, when it was proposed to have a second capital at Bulawayo, he offered this quote from W. S. Gilbert: "Ambassadors cropped up like hay, Prime Ministers and such they grew as asparagus in May and Dukes were three a penny."^[18] After four years, he became the Archbishop of Central Africa.^[19]

In 1957, he was awarded a Lambeth degree by Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[20] He was a Sub-Prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem from 1958^[21] and in 1961 he was translated for the final time to Trinidad.^[22][23] He retired in 1970 to Canada, where he continued to minister at Holy Trinity, Port Burwell, Ontario.^[24][25] He died whilst visiting friends in Harare on 5 December 1979.^[26]

References