The Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

is the Ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...

 of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 Diocese of St Albans

Diocese of Saint Albans

The Diocese of St Albans forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion....

 in the Province of Canterbury

Province of Canterbury

The Province of Canterbury, also called the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England...

. The bishop is supported in his work by two suffragan bishop

Suffragan bishop

A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop. He or she may be assigned to an area which does not have a cathedral of its own.-Anglican Communion:...

s, the Bishop of Hertford

Bishop of Hertford

The Bishop of Hertford is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of St Albans, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire...

 and the Bishop of Bedford

Bishop of Bedford

The Bishop of Bedford is an episcopal title used by a Church of England suffragan bishop who, under the direction of the Diocesan Bishop of St Albans, oversees 150 parishes in Luton and Bedfordshire....

, and three archdeacon

Archdeacon

An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...

s.

The diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 covers the counties of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

 and Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 and parts of the London Borough of Barnet

London Borough of Barnet

The London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...

. The see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

 is in the City of St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

 in Hertfordshire, where the cathedra

Cathedra

A cathedra or bishop's throne is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran churches...

 (bishop's seat) is located at St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral church at St Albans, England. At , its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England...

. The cathedral building itself was an abbey church (part of St Albans Abbey) prior to the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

. Following its purchase by the town in 1553 it was then a parish church until its elevation to cathedral status in 1877 when the diocese was created from the diocese of Rochester

Bishop of Rochester

The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the west of the county of Kent and is centred in the city of Rochester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin...

 under Queen Victoria by the Bishopric of St. Albans Act 1875.

Incumbent

The current incumbent is the Right Reverend

Right Reverend

The Right Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures.*In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain it applies to bishops except that The Most Reverend is used for archbishops .*In some churches with a...

 Dr Alan Smith, 10th Bishop of St Albans, who signs + Alan St Albans. His nomination was announced by Downing Street

Downing Street

Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...

 on 13 January 2009 following the retirement of Christopher Herbert

Christopher Herbert

Christopher William Herbert is the former Bishop of St Albans.He was born on 7 January 1944, in Lydney in the Forest of Dean. His father helped run the family road haulage business, but was also very proud of his roots as a foundryman in a local iron works....

.

The election of the bishop by the College of Canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

s of the Cathedral took place on 13 February, and the Confirmation of Election with the Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

 followed on 31 March. Dr Smith was inaugurated on 19 September 2009.

The Bishop's residence is Abbey Gate House, Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire.

List of the Bishops of the Diocese of St Albans, England

Bishops of St Albans
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1877	1890	Thomas Claughton	Translated from Rochester Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the west of the county of Kent and is centred in the city of Rochester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin... ; nominated on 30 May and invested on 12 July 1877; resigned on 21 March 1890 and died on 25 July 1892
1890	1902	John Festing	Nominated on 10 June and consecrated on 24 June 1890; died in office on 28 December 1902
1903	1920	Edgar Jacob Edgar Jacob Edgar Jacob was an English churchman, who became Bishop of Newcastle and then Bishop of St Albans.-Early life and education:He was born at the Rectory, Crawley, Hampshire, on 16 November 1844...	Translated from Newcastle Bishop of Newcastle The Bishop of Newcastle is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Newcastle in the Province of York.The diocese at present covers the County of Northumberland and the Alston Moor area of Cumbria... ; nominated on 11 May 1903; resigned in December 1919 and died on 25 March 1920
1920	1944	Michael Furse	Translated from Pretoria, South Africa Anglican Diocese of Pretoria -History:The diocese originally covered the whole of the South African Republic, which later became the Transvaal province of South Africa. In 1922 the Diocese of Johannesburg, covering the Southern Transvaal, was formed. In the 1980s and 1990s several new dioceses were formed.The northernmost part... ; nominated on 28 January and invested on 19 April 1920; resigned on 1 September 1944 and died on 18 June 1955
1944	1950	Philip Loyd	Translated from Nasik, India Bishop of Nasik The Bishop of Nasik exercises episcopal leadership over the Diocese of Nasik of the Church of North India.-Succession:This is an incomplete list of people who have served as the Bishop of Nagpur.-See also:*Christianity in India... ; nominated on 13 October and confirmed on 14 December 1944; resigned on 1 May 1950 and died on 11 January 1952
1950	1970	Edward Jones	Translated from Willesden Bishop of Willesden The Bishop of Willesden is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Willesden, an area of the London Borough of Brent.... ; nominated on 23 January and confirmed on 25 July 1950; resigned on 16 December 1969 and died on 7 March 1982
1970	1980	Robert Runcie Robert Runcie Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, PC, MC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991.-Early life:...	Nominated on 10 January and consecrated on 24 February 1970; translated to Canterbury Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...  on 25 February 1980
1980	1995	John Taylor	Nominated on 5 March and consecrated on 1 May 1980; also Lord High Almoner (1988–1997); retired in 1995
1995	2009	Christopher Herbert Christopher Herbert Christopher William Herbert is the former Bishop of St Albans.He was born on 7 January 1944, in Lydney in the Forest of Dean. His father helped run the family road haulage business, but was also very proud of his roots as a foundryman in a local iron works....	Nominated and consecrated in 1995; retired on 7 January 2009.
2009	present	Alan Smith	Translated from Shrewsbury Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury The Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire and was first created under the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534... ; nominated on 13 January, elected on 13 February and inaugurated on 19 September 2009.