Derrick Childs


Derrick Childs
Archbishop of Wales
ChurchChurch in Wales
Appointed1983
In office1983–1986
PredecessorGwilym Williams
SuccessorGeorge Noakes
Previous post(s)Bishop of Monmouth (1970-1986)
Orders
Consecration1970
Personal details
Born(1918-01-14)January 14, 1918
DiedMarch 18, 1987(1987-03-18) (aged 69)

Derrick Greenslade Childs (14 January 1918 – 18 March 1987 [1]) was the Anglican Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales.

Childs grew up in Laugharne.[2] He was educated at Whitland Grammar School, before reading history at University College, Cardiff.[2] He studied theology at Salisbury Theological College, before being ordained in 1942.[3] He was a curate in Milford Haven and then Laugharne. In 1947 he became editor of Cymry'r Groes, a magazine to serve the official youth organization of the Church of Wales.[2] It was renamed Province in 1949; Childs remained its editor until 1967.[2]

Childs married Cicely Davies in 1951; they were to have a son and a daughter.[4] Also in 1951 Childs became Warden of Llandaff House, Penarth in 1951; this was a university hall of residence provided by the diocese.[2] Four years later he became secretary of the provincial council for education and then, in 1956, secretary and treasurer of the Historical Society of the Church in Wales.[2] In 1961 he left Llandaff House to become first director of the Church in Wales Publications.[2] In 1965 he became chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral and then principal of Trinity College, Carmarthen.[2][5] At that time church colleges were fighting for their survival; Childs had an important role in ensuring that Trinity College both survived and embarked on a period of imaginative development.[2] In 1972, he was elected bishop of Monmouth and in 1983 became Primate of the Church in Wales.[6] Childs was a sub-prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

Childs retired in 1986.[4] He died shortly afterwards as the result of a motor accident.[4]

  1. ^ “Who was Who” 1897-2007 London, A & C Black, 2007 ISBN 978-0-19-954087-7
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Most Rev Derrick Childs". The Times. 18 March 1987.
  3. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory1947-48 Oxford, OUP,1947
  4. ^ a b c Wales, The Church in. "Derrick Greenslade Childs". The Diocese of Monmouth. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  5. ^ Diocese of Monmouth Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ The Times, 10 February 1983; pg. 12; Issue 61453; col F News in Brief