The Deans of Canterbury Cathedral 1540-2000: The Lifetime Achievement Awards

This talk will be based upon John Butler’s recently published book “The Deans of Canterbury Cathedral 1540-2000: The Lifetime Achievement Awards” and is the first of the FSA Lecture Series. More to follow this year.

John Butler’s talk is a light-hearted review of some of the 38 Deans of Canterbury Cathedral who held the office between 1540, when the monastery of Christ Church was closed, and 2000, when the 38th Dean retired. The first Dean, Nicholas Wotton, was appointed by King Henry VIII on the eve of the Protestant Reformation in 1540 and the last, John Simpson, was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II in the ember years of the second millennium. In between came Deans whose job it was to maintain the worshiping life of the Cathedral through a civil war and the execution of a king, the importation of foreign monarchs from Holland and Germany, the rise of parliamentary democracy, the establishment of the British Empire, the industrial revolution, two global wars, and the shrinking place of formal religion in the daily life of the nation. The lives and times of the Deans of Canterbury are intimately woven into the history of both the city and the nation.

John Butler is Emeritus Professor of the University who first came to Kent in 1969. He and his wife will shortly be moving to Chester, and this will be the last of hundreds of talks and lectures that he has given in the University over the past half-century.

There will be a small reception in Grimond Foyer after the event, so please feel free to stay.

Please email r.a.j.higgins@kent.ac.uk if you would like to attend this event.