Lang, Cosmo Gordon, 1864-1945

William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth, was born on October 31, 1864, in Fyvie Manse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

He was a Scottish Anglican clergyman. He was educated at the University of Glasgow (M.A., 1882) and Balliol College, Oxford (1886). In 1887, he began his studies for the English Bar and in 1888, he was elected to an All Souls Fellowship. In 1889, after attending evening service at the theological college in Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire, he renounced his political ambitions and applied to Cuddesdon College. In 1890, he was ordained as a deacon and served in slum parishes in Leeds and Portsmouth. In 1901, he was appointed suffragan Bishop of Stepney in London, where he continued his work among the poor. He also served as a canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. In 1909, he was appointed Archbishop of York at the age of 44 and was seated at York Minster, York. In addition to his diocesan responsibilities for York, he became head of the entire Northern Province and a member of the House of Lords. He spoke out on various social and economic issues and supported improved working conditions. He voted against the 1914 Irish Home Rule Bill and opposed the liberalization of the divorce laws. In 1923, King George V awarded him the Royal Victorian Chain, and in 1926, he baptized Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace. In 1928, he became Archbishop of Canterbury. Throughout the 1930s, Lang became a strong supporter of the government's policy of appeasing the European dictators. He had preached before Queen Victoria and was close to the royal family during the period leading to the abdication of Edward VIII. He resigned in 1942. Upon his retirement, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lang of Lambeth in the County of Surrey. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Oxford University in 1901. He wrote several books, e.g., "The Young Clanroy" (1897), "The Miracles of Jesus" (1901), "The Opportunity of the Church of England" (1905), "Thoughts on Some of the Parables of Jesus" (1909), "The Unity of the Church of England" (1925), and "The Oppression of Religion in Russia" (1930).

He died on December 5, 1945, in Richmond, Surrey, England.