Archdeacon of Derby

The Archdeacon of Derby is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Derby. The archdeacon has responsibility for church buildings and clergy discipline in her/his archdeaconry – the Archdeaconry of Derby – which roughly covers the southern half of Derbyshire.

History

The first mentions of an archdeacon in the area occurred in the twelfth century – around the time when archdeacons' posts were first being created across England. From that earliest point until the Victorian reorganisations of church structures, the archdeaconry was in the Diocese of Lichfield (which during those seven centuries was called Coventry, Coventry & Lichfield, Lichfield & Coventry and Lichfield). The archdeaconry, at that point covering the whole county of Derby, was transferred by Order in Council to the new Diocese of Southwell on 5 February 1884 and then split on 18 October 1910 – creating the Chesterfield archdeaconry – such that it now covers roughly the southern half of Derbyshire. On 7 July 1927, the Diocese of Derby was created from the two Southwell archdeaconries of Derby and of Chesterfield. The incumbent archdeacon is The Ven Dr Christopher Cunliffe.

List of archdeacons

High Medieval

• bef. 1139–aft. 1140: G.
• c. 1146: Richard (disputed)
• c. 1155–aft. 1167: Froger
• c. 1175: N.
• c. 1171–aft. 1182: Godfrey de Luci
• bef. 1191–aft. 1191: Yvo
• bef. 1199–aft. 1199: Vivian de Stagno
• bef. 1206–aft. 1231: William de Muschamp
• bef. 1238–aft. 1254: William de Luteby
• bef. 1256–aft. 1261: David de Sancta Frideswida
• bef. 1263–aft. 1263: William de Weston
• bef. 1278–aft. 1278: Simon
• bef. 1279–aft. 1281: Jordan de Wymburne
• bef. 1281–July 1311 (d.): Elias de Napton

Late Medieval

• 17 December 1311–February 1328 (d.): Geoffrey de Blaby or Glaston
• 15 March 1328–bef. 1338 (d.): Anthony de Monte Peliologo
• 23 February 1339–bef. 1351 (d.): John de Asheby
• 19 August 1351–1353 (res.): John de Marisco
• 26 November 1353–bef. 1361 (d.): Hugh de Marisco
• 17 October 1361–24 December 1369 (exch.): Robert de Stretton
• 24 December 1369–bef. 1381 (d.): William Lombe
• 15 November 1381–14 January 1418 (d.): John de Outheby
• bef. 1428–1431 (res.): Walter Bullock
• 2 September 1431–23 May 1473 (exch.): John Bride
• 23 May 1473–bef. 1485: William Chauntre
• 12 October 1485–8 May 1501 (d.): Edmund Hals
• bef. 1506–1515 (res.): Nicholas West
• 9 March 1516–bef. 1533 (res.): John Taylor (also Master of the Rolls

from 1527 and Archdeacon of Halifax from 1528)

• April 1533–7 January 1543 (d.): Richard Strete

Early modern

• 8 January 1543–1557 (res.): David Pole (also Archdeacon of Salop)
• November 1558–1559 (depr.): John Ramridge (also Dean of Lichfield)
• November 1559–September 1567 (d.): Richard Walker (also Archdeacon of Stafford)
• 17 September 1567–1576 (d.): Laurence Nowell (also Dean of Lichfield)
• 29 July 1577–1587 (d.): Luke Gilpin
• March 1588–23 November 1590 (rem.): Walter Marsh
• 23 November 1590–1 June 1603 (d.): John Walton
• 9 June 1603–bef. 1609: Valentine Overton
• 1609–bef. 1617: Christopher Helme
• 4 December 1617–bef. 1641 (d.): Samuel Clerk
• 1641–bef. 1666 (d.): William Higgins
• bef. 1666–1689 (res.): Thomas Brown (or Browne)
• 7 August 1689–bef. 1704 (d.): Francis Ashenhurst
• 14 December 1704–bef. 1719 (d.): Thomas Goodwin
• 24 September 1719–19 April 1755 (d.): Henry Ryder
• 5 May 1755–bef. 1769 (d.): Sneyd Davies
• 3 February 1769–28 February 1795 (d.): Henry Egerton
• 10 March 1795–25 April 1809 (d.): James Falconer
• 12 May 1809–7 February 1821 (d.): Edmund Outram
• 24 February 1821–1836 (res.): Samuel Butler
• 9 September 1836–5 May 1840 (res.): Francis Hodgson
• 30 December 1840–1847 (res.): Walter Shirley
• 11 January 1847–18 April 1873 (res.): Thomas Hill

Late modern

The archdeaconry became part of the Southwell diocese on 5 February 1884.

• 1873–29 November 1891 (d.): Edward Balston
• 1891–1900 (res.): Henry Freer
• 1900–1909 (res.): Edward Were

Since 7 July 1927, the archdeaconry has been in the Diocese of Derby.

• 1909–1943 (ret.): Edward Noakes (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1943–1952 (ret.): Henry FitzHerbert (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1952–1973 (ret.): John Richardson (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1973–1992 (ret.): Robert Dell (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1993–2005 (ret.): Ian Gatford
• 29 April 2006–present: Christopher Cunliffe

Sources

• Le Neve, John; Hardy, Sir Thomas Duffus (1854).  Archdeacons of Derby (Chapter). Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae. 1 (1854 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wikisource.  pp. 575–576.