John Thornley Finney was the eighth Suffragan Bishop of Pontefract

Bishop of Pontefract

The Bishop of Pontefract is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Wakefield, in the Province of York, England...

. He was born on 1 May 1927 and educated at Charterhouse

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

 and Hertford College, Oxford

Hertford College, Oxford

Hertford College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is located in Catte Street, directly opposite the main entrance of the original Bodleian Library. As of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £52m. There are 612 students , plus various visiting...

. Ordained in 1958, he began his career with curacies

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 Headington

Headington

Headington is a suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below. The life of the large residential area is centred upon London Road, the main road between London and Oxford.-History:...

 and Aylesbury

Aylesbury

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...

 and was then successively Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Tollerton

Tollerton, Nottinghamshire

Tollerton is a village situated in Rushcliffe just to the south of Nottingham, United Kingdom.The village is located in the Borough of Rushcliffe. The Parish Council of nine members runs local affairs and the population of the parish is registered as 1,776 residents.There is an annual village...

, 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 St Margarets Aspley

Aspley, Nottingham

Aspley is a suburb of the city of Nottingham. It is located within the boundaries of Nottingham City Council.It adjoins the nearby estates of Broxtowe Estate and Strelley...

 Adviser in Evangelism

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 to the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham

Michael Humphrey Dickens Whinney

Michael Humphrey Dickens Whinney is a Church of England bishop who served in two episcopal posts: he is also the great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens....

 and then Officer for the Decade of Evangelism

Decade of Evangelism

This was an initiative passed at the 1988 Lambeth Conference to …make the closing years of this millennium a Decade of Evangelism with a renewed and united emphasis on making Christ known to the people of his world.. Its first officer was John Thornley Finney, later the Bishop of Pontefract...

 before ascending to the Episcopate

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:...

 - a post he held from 1993 until 1998. An eminent author, in retirement he continues to minister, as an Assistant Bishop

Assistant Bishop

An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop.-Church of England:In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually are retired bishops – in which case they are honorary assistant bishops...

 within the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham

Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham

The Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York. It is headed by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham. The diocese covers all of the English county of Nottinghamshire and part of South Yorkshire...

.