Henry Southwell (bishop)

Henry Kemble Southwell CMG VD (20 November 1860 – 9 March 1937) was the third Bishop of Lewes from 1920 until 1926.

Memorial within Chichester Cathedral

Biography

Born in 1860, and educated at Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford,[1] he held curacies at Ellesmere in Shropshire, St Clement's in Bournemouth and St Nicolas in Guildford; then incumbencies at Chetton[2][3] and Bodmin before becoming a Canon Residentiary of Chichester Cathedral.[4]

He served throughout the First World War in the Army Chaplains' Department, from 1914 to 1919, and was appointed Assistant Chaplain-General, and became a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1916 Birthday Honours for services in the field.

Already Archdeacon of Lewes and a Canon Residentiary of Chichester Cathedral since 1911, he was also appointed to the episcopate in 1920[5] and held the suffragan See of Lewes office for six years. He resigned his Archdeaconry in 1923, his See in 1926, and his canonry in 1935. At his death, he was Canon Precentor of Chichester Cathedral and Provost of Lancing College, and had been an Assistant Bishop of Chichester since 1930;[1] he died on 9 March 1937 in Chichester,[6] his son having predeceased him during the First World War.[7] A fund initiated after his death yielded enough contributions to provide a memorial,[8] which can be seen at St Cuthman Whitehawk in Brighton.[9]

Southwell was a very prominent Freemason, initiated in the Apollo University Lodge, Oxford, in 1880. He was appointed as Grand Chaplain of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1913.[10]^:138

References

1. "Southwell, Henry Kemble". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
2. Details of tenure
3. Successor
4. 1911 Kelly's Directory
5. Material within The National Archives
6. The Times, Thursday, Mar 11, 1937; pg. 1; Issue 47630; col A Death The Rt Rev H.K. Southwell
7. Roll of honour
8. Bishop Southwell Memorial Unveiled In A Brighton Church The Times Monday, Nov 21, 1938; pg. 9; Issue 48157; col B
9. Church details
10. Crook, Prof. Joe Mordaunt; Daniel, Dr. James Wallace (2018). Oxford Freemasons: A Social History of Apollo University Lodge (First ed.). Oxford: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1-85124-467-6.