Bob Jeffery

{{Short description|British Anglican priest (1935–2016)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Robert Martin Colquhoun Jeffery''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|AKC|FRSA}}, commonly known as '''Bob Jeffery'''<ref>{{Church Times | title = obituaries: Robert Martin Colquhoun Jeffery | url = http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/6-january/gazette/obituaries/the-very-revd-robert-martin-colquhoun-jeffery | issue = 8025 | date = 6 January 2017 | page = 28 | accessed = 10 January 2017 }}</ref> (30 April 1935{{snd}}21 December 2016), was an Anglican priest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk:8080/Archives/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo=='MSS/3588')|title=National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives|publisher=|accessdate=25 November 2017}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Jeffery was educated at St Paul's School, London, trained for the priesthood at King's College London and ordained in 1960.<ref>{{Who's Who | title=Jeffery, Robert Martin Colquhoun | id = U21914 | volume = 2017 | edition = November 2016 online | access-date = 10 January 2017 }}</ref> His first posts were curacies at St Aidan's, Grangetown<ref name="ReferenceA">''Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975-76'' London: Oxford University Press, 1976 {{ISBN|0-19-200008-X}}</ref> and St Mary's Church, Barnes.<ref>The Daily Telegraph Obituaries 'The Very Reverend Robert Jeffery: Sub-Dean of Christ Church Cathedral who was a stimulating preacher and hard working pastor": p31, issue no 50,296 dated Saturday 4 February 2017</ref> After this he was the assistant secretary of the Missionary and Ecumenical Council of the Church Assembly then secretary of the Department of Mission and Unity for the British Council of Churches.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> From 1971 to 1978 he was vicar of St Andrew's Headington<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.headington.org.uk/history/misc/vicars.htm|title=Vicars of the three older Headington parishes|website=Headington.org.uk|accessdate=25 November 2017}}</ref> and Rural Dean of Cowley, then in 1978 he was appointed Lichfield diocesan missioner, where he was also Priest-in-Charge of St Bartholomew's, Tong. He was appointed as the Archdeacon of Salop,<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=109-mss_2&cid=-1#-1 Manuscripts (MSS 3121–3385)], Lambeth Palace Library, The National Archives, UK.</ref> in 1980 and seven years later became the Dean of Worcester. In 1996 he became Sub-Dean of Christ Church, a post he held until his retirement in 2002. In 1999, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by the University of Birmingham, and in 2007 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Ripon College, Cuddesdon.

He married Ruth Tinling in 1968 and had four children, Graham (b. 1969), Hilary (b. 1971), Philippa (b. 1973) and Charles (b.1975).

He died on 21 December 2016 at the age of 81.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?n=robert-jeffery&pid=183366918&fhid=39229|title=Robert JEFFERY's Obituary on The Times|website=The Times|accessdate=25 November 2017}}</ref> Following a funeral service at Christ Church, Oxford on 16 January 2017, he was buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's, Tong, Shropshire on 17 January 2017. A collection of his writings compiled by his children, entitled ''The Kingdom of God is like a Yoghurt Plant'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hiljef.com/jeffery-archive/2017/yoghurt/|title=The Kingdom of God is like a Yoghurt Plant – Jeffery Archive|website=Hiljef.com|accessdate=25 November 2017}}</ref> was published in June 2017.

==Publications== ===Author=== *1968: ''Areas of Ecumenical Experiment: a survey and report to the British Council of Churches'' (London: British Council of Churches) *1971: ''Ecumenical Experiments: a handbook'' (London: British Council of Churches. {{ISBN|0-851-69010-6}}) *1972: ''Case Studies in Unity'' (London: SCM. {{ISBN|0-334-00161-7}}) *1994: ''Anima Christi: Reflections on Praying with Christ'' (London: Darton, Longman & Todd. {{ISBN|0-232-52056-9}}) *2007: ''Discovering Tong: Its History, Myths and Curiosities'' (Tong: Tong Parochial Church Council. {{ISBN|978-0-9555089-0-5}}) *2017: ''The Kingdom of God is like a Yoghurt Plant: Selected Writings by Bob Jeffery'' (Paisley: Jeffery Archive. {{ISBN|978-1-9997514-0-1}})

===Translator=== *2013: Thomas à Kempis, ''The Imitation of Christ'' (London: Penguin Classics. {{ISBN|978-0-1411917-6-8}})

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{S-start}} {{S-rel|en}} {{S-bef|before=Sidney Denham Austerberry}} {{S-ttl|title=Archdeacon of Salop|years=1980–1987}} {{S-aft|after=Peter Marshall}} {{S-bef|before=Tom Baker}} {{S-ttl|title=Dean of Worcester|years=1987–1996}} {{S-aft|after=George Frost}} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffery, Robert Martin Colquhoun}} Category:1935 births Category:2016 deaths Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London Category:Alumni of the Theological Department of King's College London Category:Associates of King's College London Category:Archdeacons of Salop Category:Deans of Worcester Category:Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts