The Bishop of Stepney is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Stepney, an inner-city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The post is held by Joanne Grenfell[1] whose consecration as bishop, and start of her tenure as Bishop of Stepney, was on 3 July 2019 at St Paul's Cathedral;[2] the principal consecrator was Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury.[3]
The first bishop was appointed to take responsibility for North and East London, which had been under the care of the Bishop of Bedford; the new See was erected because the retiring bishop Robert Billing retained the See of Bedford, and Stepney was a more obvious See for the suffragan for the East End. In 1898, the new Bishop of Islington received responsibility for North London. In the experimental area scheme of 1970, the bishop was given oversight of the deaneries of Tower Hamlets, Hackney, and Islington. The Bishops suffragan of Stepney have been area bishops since the London area scheme was founded in 1979.[4]
| Bishops of Stepney | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
| 1895 | 1897 | George Forrest Browne | (1833–1930). Translated to Bristol | |
| 1897 | 1901 | Arthur Winnington-Ingram | (1858–1946). Translated to London | |
| 1901 | 1909 | Cosmo Gordon Lang | (1864–1945). Translated to York, and later to Canterbury | |
| 1909 | 1919 | Luke Paget | (1853–1937). Formerly Bishop of Ipswich. Translated to Chester | |
| 1919 | 1928 | Henry Mosley | (1868–1948). Translated to Southwell | |
| 1928 | 1936 | Charles Curzon | (1878–1954). Translated to Exeter | |
| 1936 | 1952 | Robert Moberly | (1884–1978) | |
| 1952 | 1957 | Joost de Blank | (1908–1968) | |
| 1957 | 1968 | Evered Lunt | (1900–1982) | |
| 1968 | 1978 | Trevor Huddleston | (1913–1998). Translated to Mauritius | |
| 1978 | 1991 | Jim Thompson | (1936–2003). First area bishop from 1979; translated to Bath and Wells | |
| 1992 | 1995 | Richard Chartres | (b. 1947). Consecrated on 22 May 1992. Translated to London in 1995 | |
| 1996 | 2002 | John Sentamu | (b. 1949). Translated to Birmingham, and later to York | |
| 2003 | 2010 | Stephen Oliver | (b. 1948) Retired 6 July 2010 | |
| 2010 | 2011 | Pete Broadbent Bishop of Willesden | Acted as Bishop of Stepney from 7 July 2010,[5] [6] effectively suspended from 23 November 2010 to 10 January 2011, resumed as Acting Bishop until 22 July 2011. | |
| 2011 | 2018 | Adrian Newman[7] [8] | (b. 1958) Resigned on 31 October 2018 on health grounds.[9] | |
| 2018 | 2019 | Pete Broadbent Bishop of Willesden | Acting as Bishop of Stepney from 31 October 2018 until Grenfell's consecration. | |
| 2019 | present | Joanne Grenfell | Since 3 July 2019 consecration. | |
| Source(s):[10] | ||||