Geoffrey Fisher

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable
The Lord Fisher of Lambeth
GCVO PC
Archbishop of Canterbury
Fisher in 1939
Installed 1945
Term ended 1961
Predecessor William Temple
Successor Michael Ramsey
Personal details
Birth name Geoffrey Francis Fisher
Born (1887-05-05)5 May 1887
Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England
Died 15 September 1972(1972-09-15) (aged 85)
Buried St Andrew's Church, Trent, Dorset
Denomination Anglican
Spouse Rosamond Fisher
Children
  • Henry
  • Francis
  • Charles
  • Humphrey
  • Robert
  • Temple

Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, GCVO, PC (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 to 1961.

Background

Geoffrey Fisher was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and grew up in Higham on the Hill, Leicestershire. He was brought up an Anglican, being the son, grandson, and great-grandson of rectors of Higham. He was educated at Marlborough and Exeter College, Oxford. He was an assistant master at Marlborough College when he decided to be ordained, becoming a priest in 1913. At this time, the English public schools had close ties with the Church of England, especially in the case of Marlborough which had been founded for the education of sons of the Clergy. It was common for schoolmasters to be in Holy Orders, and headmasters were typically priests.

In 1914 Fisher was appointed Headmaster of Repton School (which is where Roald Dahl studied whilst Fisher was Headmaster), succeeding William Temple, whom he later also succeeded as Archbishop of Canterbury. Fisher married Rosamond Forman, daughter of Arthur Forman, who was a Repton master and Derbyshire cricketer.[1]

In 1932 Fisher was appointed Bishop of Chester, and in 1939 he became Bishop of London.[2] When William Temple died unexpectedly in 1944, Fisher was selected as Archbishop of Canterbury by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Fisher put considerable effort into the task of revising the Church of England's canon law. The canons of 1604 were at that time still in force, despite being largely out of date.[3]

He presided at the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and later at her coronation in 1953 as Queen Elizabeth II. The event was carried on television for the first time (the previous coronation, that of George VI in 1937, had been filmed for newsreels).

He is remembered for his visit to Pope John XXIII in 1960, the first meeting between an Archbishop of Canterbury and a Pope since the English Reformation, and an ecumenical milestone.

Fisher was also a committed Freemason,[4] as were many Church of England bishops of his day. Fisher served as Grand Chaplain in the United Grand Lodge of England.

Nuclear controversy

In 1958, at a time of heightened fear of nuclear war and mutual destruction between the West and the Soviet Union, Fisher said that he was "convinced that it is never right to settle any policy simply out of fear of the consequences. ... For all I know it is within the providence of God that the human race should destroy itself in this manner."[5] He was also quoted as saying, "The very worst the Bomb can do is to sweep a vast number of People from this world into the next into which they must all go anyway".[6]

He was heavily criticised in the press for this view, but a number of clergy, including Christopher Chavasse, Bishop of Rochester, defended him, saying, "In an evil world, war can be the lesser of the two evils."[5]

Successor

Fisher retired in 1961. He advised the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, that he did not consider Michael Ramsey, who had been his pupil at Repton, a suitable successor. Ramsey later relayed to the Reverend Victor Stock the conversation Fisher had with the Prime Minister.

According to this account, Fisher said:[7]

I have come to give you some advice about my successor. Whomever you choose, under no account must it be Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of York. Dr Ramsey is a theologian, a scholar and a man of prayer. Therefore, he is entirely unsuitable as Archbishop of Canterbury. I have known him all his life. I was his Headmaster at Repton.

Macmillan replied:[7]

Thank you, your Grace, for your kind advice. You may have been Doctor Ramsey's headmaster, but you were not mine.

Ramsey was duly appointed.

Retirement and death

Fisher was made a life peer, with the title of Baron Fisher of Lambeth, of Lambeth in the County of London (Lambeth being a reference to Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury).[8] By this time, appointment to the House of Lords as a peer had become a convention for retiring Archbishops of Canterbury (none had ever retired before Randall Davidson in 1928), although Fisher was the first to be created a "life peer" following the Life Peerages Act 1958.[9]

Fisher died on 15 September 1972 and was buried in a crypt in St Andrew's Church, Trent, Dorset, a place he had chosen himself. He had been an honorary assistant priest in Trent since his retirement.[10] A side chapel at Canterbury Cathedral was subsequently dedicated to his memory, situated next to a similar memorial chapel to Archbishop Michael Ramsey.

Honours

As well as being created a life peer, Fisher received the Royal Victorian Chain in 1949.[11] and was made Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1953.[12]

Legacy

A house at Tenison's School is named after him.

Literary reference

An incident of cruelty to a student said to involve Geoffrey Fisher is described in Boy: Tales of Childhood, by Roald Dahl. However the headmaster at the time was Fisher's successor, John Christie, and historians agree the allegations are based on a mistake by Dahl.

References

  1. ↑ "The Peerage.com". The Peerage.com. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "New Bishop of London Elected". Hull Daily Mail. British Newspaper Archive. 23 September 1939. (Subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ "Primate And Reform of Canon Law". Nottingham Evening Post. British Newspaper Archive. 20 May 1947. (Subscription required (help)).
  4. ↑ "Full Masonic Biography of Fisher". Mqmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  5. 1 2 Time, 28 July 1958 Retrieved July 2011
  6. ↑ The Guardian, 28 August 1999 Retrieved July 2012
  7. 1 2 Peter Hennessy, The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945 (Palgrave, New York, 2001), p. 250.
  8. ↑ "No. 42369". The London Gazette. 2 June 1961. p. 4053.
  9. ↑ George Carey interview
  10. ↑ Carpenter, E., Archbishop Fisher, His Life and Times, London, Canterbury Press, 2012.
  11. ↑ "No. 38493". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1949. p. 5.
  12. ↑ "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2946.

Bibliography

Primary:

  • Fisher Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, London

Secondary:

  • Edward Carpenter, Archbishop Fisher: His Life and Times. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1991.
  • Andrew Chandler and David Hein. Archbishop Fisher, 1945–1961: Church, State and World. The Archbishops of Canterbury Series. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2012.
  • P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, The Archbishops of Canterbury. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2006, pp. 268–71.
  • William Purcell, Fisher of Lambeth. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.
  • Alan Webster, "Fisher, Geoffrey Worth, Baron Fisher of Lambeth (1887–1972)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.
Church of England titles
Preceded by
Luke Paget		 Bishop of Chester
1932–1939		 Succeeded by
Douglas Crick
Preceded by
Arthur Winnington-Ingram		 Bishop of London
1939–1945		 Succeeded by
William Wand
Preceded by
William Temple		 Archbishop of Canterbury
1945–1961		 Succeeded by
Michael Ramsey
Academic offices
Preceded by
William Temple		 Headmaster of Repton School
1914–1932		 Succeeded by
John Christie
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