George Clive Handford, CMG

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

, was the fourth Anglican Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf.

Life

Educated at Hatfield College

Hatfield College

Hatfield College is a college of the University of Durham in England. Founded in 1846 by the Rev. David Melville, it is the second oldest of Durham's colleges, and was originally called Bishop Hatfield's Hall...

 and Queen's College, Edgbaston, he was ordained in 1963 and began his ecclesiastical carer with a curacy

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

 in Mansfield

Mansfield

Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....

. He then began what was to be a long association with the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 by becoming a Chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 before a stint as Dean

Dean (religion)

A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...

 of St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem

St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem

thumb|rightSt. George's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Jerusalem, established in 1899. It is the seat of the Bishop of Jerusalem of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East....

.

Often embroiled in centuries old disputes he clearly stated his own view in a letter to The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 in 1977:

"I am neither pro-Arab nor pro-Jew, I am pro-human"

Returning to England he became successively Vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of Kneesall

Kneesall

Kneesall is a village in the East Midlands of England in the county of Nottinghamshire. Forming part of the civil parish of Kneesall, Kersall and Ompton and of Newark and Sherwood district, Kneesall is situated on the A616 between Newark-on-Trent and Ollerton...

, Archdeacon of Nottingham

Archdeacon of Nottingham

The historic Archdeaconry of Nottingham was an extensive ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the diocese of York, England. It comprised almost the whole of the county of Nottingham, and was divided into the four deaneries of Nottingham, Newark, Bingham and Retford...

 and then in 1990 Suffragan Bishop of Warwick

Bishop of Warwick

The Bishop of Warwick is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire....

. He was then 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 the Mediterranean 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...

 of Paphos

Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf

The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf is one of four dioceses in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and includes Cyprus, the Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and the Yemen...

 where he served the Anglican Community until retirement in 2007.