William Thompson (bishop)

For other people named William Thompson, see William Thompson (disambiguation).

William Jameson Thompson, CBE (27 October 1885 – 17 November 1975) was a long-serving Anglican bishop[1] who spent much of his career in Iran (then Persia).[2]

Educated at Monkton Combe School[3] and Trinity College, Cambridge, he served in the Great War as an officer in the Royal Engineers. Ordained in 1921,[4] he was initially principal of the Stuart Memorial College, Isfahan[5] then archdeacon of the area until his elevation to the episcopate as the third Anglican bishop of Iran in 1935. He retired in 1960[6] and died 15 years later.

William Thompson's daughter, Margaret, married Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, who succeeded him as Bishop in Iran; their daughter in turn, Guli Francis-Dehqani, became the first bishop of Loughborough and subsequently bishop of Chelmsford.

  1. ^ National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives
  2. ^ National Archives
  3. ^ "Who was Who" 1897-1990 London, A & C Black, 1991 ISBN 0-7136-3457-X
  4. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory1940-41 Oxford, OUP,1941
  5. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica
  6. ^ The Times, Thursday, 8 Sep 1960; p. 14; Issue 54871; col B Ecclesiastical News Bishop in Iran To Retire