Person

Temple, William, 1881-1944

1881-1944

William Temple was born on October 15, 1881, in Exeter, Devon, England, son of Frederick Temple (1821-1902), Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902).

He was an English Anglican clergyman, educator, and author. He was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was president of the Oxford Union. He was a lecturer in philosophy at the Queen's College, Oxford (1904-1910) before becoming headmaster of Repton School (1910-1914). He was ordained a priest in 1909. After serving as a rector of St. James's Church, Piccadilly, London (1914-1917) and as a canon of Westminster Abbey in 1919, he was appointed Bishop of Manchester in 1921. In 1924, he chaired the interdenominational Conference on Christian Politics, Economics, and Citizenship at Birmingham. He served as Chairman of the Commission on Christian doctrine appointed by the archbishops (1925-1937) and was the principal preacher at a Cambridge University mission in 1926. From 1929 to 1942, he served as Archbishop of York. In 1942, he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held until he died in 1944. He was one of the founders of the Council of Christians and Jews in 1942. In March 1943, Temple addressed the House of Lords, urging action to be taken on the atrocities carried out by Nazi Germany. He wrote constantly and completed his largest philosophical work, “Mens Creatrix” in 1917. In 1932–1933, he gave the Gifford Lectures, published in 1934 as “Gifford Lectures, Nature, Man, and God”. He was the author of "Christianity and Social Order" (1942) and "The Church Looks Forward" (1944).

In 1916, he married Frances Gertrude Acland Anson (1890–1984). He died on October 26, 1944, in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, England.