The Bishop of Taunton is an episcopal

Episcopal polity

Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

 title used by a 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:...

 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 Bath and Wells

Diocese of Bath and Wells

The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England.The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the tiny city of...

, 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...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The title was first created under the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534

Suffragan Bishops Act 1534

The Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 was an Act of the Parliament of England that authorised the appointment of suffragan bishops in England and Wales...

 and takes its name after Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

, the county town

County town

A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...

 of Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

.

The current bishop is The Right Revd Peter Maurice. Peter was vicar of All Saints, Tooting for seven years before his appointment as 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...

 and is a graduate of St Chad's, Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

, and was trained for the ministry at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield. He was ordained deacon in 1972 and priest in 1976. He had a wide-ranging parish ministry in the Diocese of Southwark

Anglican Diocese of Southwark

The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 44 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was formed on May 1, 1905 from part of the Diocese of Rochester...

 and was at one time Rural Dean

Rural Dean

In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...

 of Bermondsey

Bermondsey

Bermondsey is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth and Peckham.-Toponomy:...

 and was also the local ministry adviser.

List of the Bishops of Taunton

No.	Incumbent	From	Until	Notes
1	William Finch William Finch (bishop) William Finch was appointed Bishop of Taunton under the provisions of the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 in 1538, a post he held to his death in 1559. He had previously been Prior of Breamore before his elevation to the Episcopate. He was additionally the incumbent at West Camel from 1536.-Notes:...	1538	1559
–	in abeyance	1559	1911
2	Charles de Salis	1911	1931
3	George Hollis	1931	1945
4	Harry Thomas Harry Thomas (bishop) Harry Thomas was the Bishop of Taunton from 1945 until his death a decade later. Born in 1897 and educated at Oriel College, Oxford he was ordained in 1924. He was a Lecturer at Ely Theological College and then Archdeacon of Brisbane. An Anglo Catholic he was taken ill in the summer of 1955...	1945	1955
5	Mark Hodson	1955	1961	Translated Translation (ecclesiastical) Translation is the technical term when a Bishop is transferred from one diocese to another.This can be* From Suffragan Bishop status to Diocesan Bishop*From Coadjutor bishop to Diocesan Bishop*From one country's Episcopate to another...  to Hereford Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.The see is in the City of Hereford where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelbert which was founded as a cathedral in 676.The Bishop's residence is...
6	Francis West	1962	1977
7	Peter Nott	1977	1985	Translated to Norwich Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...
8	Nigel McCulloch	1986	1992	Translated to Wakefield Bishop of Wakefield The Bishop of Wakefield is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Wakefield in the Province of York.The diocese based in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, covers Wakefield, Barnsley, Kirklees and Calderdale...
9	Richard Lewis	1992	1997	Translated to St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
10	William Stewart	1997	1998
11	Andrew Radford	1998	2006
12	Peter Maurice	2006	present

External links

• Crockford's Clerical Directory - Listings

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