Winfrid Burrows

The Right Reverend

Winfrid Burrows

Bishop of Chichester
DioceseDiocese of Chichester
In office1919–1929 (death)
PredecessorCharles Ridgeway
SuccessorGeorge Bell
Other post(s)Bishop of Truro (1912–1919)
Personal details
Born(1858-11-09)9 November 1858
Died13 February 1929(1929-02-13) (aged 70)
DenominationAnglican
EducationEton College
Alma materCorpus Christi College, Oxford

Winfrid Oldfield Burrows (9 November 1858–13 February 1929) was the Bishop of Truro[1] and later Chichester[2] in the first third of the 20th century.

Born into an ecclesiastical family,[3] Burrows was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi College, Oxford and ordained in 1888.[4] Appointed a Tutor at Christ Church, Oxford in 1883[5] he was later Principal of the Leeds Clergy School[6] and afterwards Vicar of Holy Trinity in the same city. He was vicar of St Augustine's Church, Edgbaston from 1903 to 1912 and was named Archdeacon of Birmingham in 1904.[7] In 1908 he turned down the post of Archbishop of Cape Town[8] before accepting the Truro See in 1912.

Burrows had planned a trip to Canada when the First World War began in August, 1914.[9] He supported British participation in the War,[10] and his monthly published diocesan magazines are filled with examples of clergy, clergy families, and church organisations committed to the War effort. For example, a Clerical Roll of Honour listed clergy and their sons 'serving their country', including, in May, 1915, 62 named by vicarage with one case of 6 of the same family.[11] In 1917, a list of daughters serving as nurses, teachers, cooks and munition workers was published.[12] Deaths of clergy and their sons and bravery awards featured prominently.[13] However, Burrows did not favour clergy serving as combatants. He said, "The impulse is good but it must be restrained. Whilst the 'general instinct is right' ... it would be shocking to us to realise that the hands that baptise our infants or break bread in the Sacrament, have just been working a machine gun or launching lethal gas on the fire"[14]

In 1919, Burrows was translated from Truro to Chichester where he served for ten years until his sudden death in Lambeth Palace.[15] William Champion Streatfeild,[16] Burrows' Suffragan at the time of Burrows' death, died three days after Burrows' passing.[17]

Burrows' cousin, Leonard, was appointed Bishop of Sheffield in 1914.

Burrows was a High Churchman, and while Bishop of Truro, he emphasised the importance of the services of the Book of Common Prayer; a book of services for special occasions which he compiled and authorised was entirely based on the contents of the prayer book and on Scripture.[18]

  1. ^ [1] Papers from this time within The National Archives
  2. ^ [2] Diocese website
  3. ^ His father was The Rev. Canon H. W. Burrows, Residentiary at Rochester > Who was Who 1897–1990. London, A & C Black, 1991 ISBN 0-7136-3457-X
  4. ^ The Clergy List, Clerical Guide and Ecclesiastical Directory. London, Hamilton & Co 1889
  5. ^ The Times; 19 December 1883; p. 10; Issue 31007; col B "University Intelligence"
  6. ^ The Times; 24 September 1891; p. 7; Issue 33438; col E "Ecclesiastical Intelligence"
  7. ^ Malden Richard (ed) (1920). Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1920 (51st edn). London: The Field Press. p. 267.
  8. ^ The Times; 25 November 1908; p. 6; Issue 38813; col D "The Archbishopric of Cape Town"
  9. ^ Truro Diocesan Magazine, September, 1914
  10. ^ Truro Diocesan Magazine, e.g. December, 1915
  11. ^ Truro Diocesan Magazine, e.g. May, 1915
  12. ^ Truro Diocesan Magazine, e.g. July, 1917
  13. ^ Truro Diocesan Magazine, e.g. Aug, 1915
  14. ^ Truro Diocesan Magazine, December 1915. Many clergy ordained post-War had served as combatants, and ten became diocesan bishops. See 'What Did You Do in the Great War, Bishop II' by Tom Scherb, Stand To, WFA 2014. Some had handled machine guns and used lethal gas.
  15. ^ The Times obituary, 14.2.1929
  16. ^ Father of the novelist Noel Streatfeild
  17. ^ "The Bishop of Lewes. Long Service in Sussex Parishes". The Times; 16 February 1929; p. 7; Issue 45129; col A
  18. ^ Brown, H. M. (1976) A Century for Cornwall. Truro: Oscar Blackford; p. 70