{{Short description|British Anglican bishop, theologian, and academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox Christian leader | name = Godfrey Ashby | title = Bishop of St&nbsp;John's (1980–1985); Assistant Bishop of Leicester | diocese = Diocese of St Johns, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; Diocese of Leicester | term = 1980-1985; 1987–1995 | successor = Jacob Dlamini; Bill Down | other_post = Dean of Grahamstown (1975–1980) <!-- -------- Orders -------- -->| ordination = 1955 (deacon) <br /> 1955 (priest) | consecration = 1980 <!-- -------- Personal details -------- -->| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1930|11|6}} | religion = Anglican | parents = William & Vera Hickey | spouse = {{marriage|Sally Hawtree|1957|2015}} | children = 4 sons; 2 daughters | occupation = | profession = Writer (theologian) | alma_mater = King's College London | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2023|12|29|1930|11|6}} | death_place = The College of St Barnabas, Lingfield, Surrey }} {{Portal|Christianity}} '''Godfrey William Ernest Candler Ashby''' (6 November 1930 – 29 December 2023) was a British Anglican bishop, theologian, and academic. From 1980 to 1985, he was the eighth Bishop of St&nbsp;John's in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. From 1988 to 1995, he was the Assistant Bishop of Leicester in the Church of England.

==Early life== Ashby was educated at The King's School in Chester, Cheshire.<ref name="whoswho2011">{{cite book|title=Who's Who 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZv4tgAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4081-4229-5}}</ref> After two years in the British Army Intelligence Corps, he studied at King's College London, and graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree and the Associateship of King's College (AKC).<ref name=Crockford /> He was an Overseas Visiting Scholar at [https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/ St John's College, Cambridge], in 1975. He also became a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

==Ordained ministry== Ashby was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1955 and as a priest in 1955.<ref name=Crockford /> His first post was as a Curate in the Parish of St&nbsp;Helier in the Diocese of Southwark.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.southwark.anglican.org/parishes/233t1.htm |title=Parish details |access-date=5 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041228075941/http://www.southwark.anglican.org/parishes/233t1.htm |archive-date=28 December 2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1958, Ashby emigrated to South Africa.<ref name=Crockford /> Here he rose steadily in the church hierarchy, being successively: Subwarden of St Paul's College, Grahamstown; Rector of Alice, Eastern Cape; lecturer at the Federal Theological Seminary, Alice; a senior lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Rhodes University; Dean of Grahamstown and Archdeacon in the Diocese of Grahamstown.<ref name="Press1976">{{cite book|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory: A Reference Book of the Clergy of the Provinces of Canterbury and York and of Other Anglican Provinces and Dioceses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lg3CbwAACAAJ|access-date=19 September 2013|year=1976|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-200008-8}}</ref><ref name=Crockford>{{Crockford | id=37305 | forenames=Godfrey William Ernest Candler | surname=Ashby| accessed= 22 June 2018}}</ref>

===Episcopal ministry=== In 1980, Ashby was consecrated a bishop.<ref name=Crockford /> From 1980 to 1985, he served as diocesan Bishop of St&nbsp;John's. He was then professor of Divinity at the University of the Witwatersrand and an assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg.<ref>{{Church Times|title=Declaration of Unity, Witness and Mission|archive=SUPP_1988_07_01_001|issue=AAMBIT 3|date=1 July 1988|page=1|accessed=22 July 2019}}</ref>

In 1988, Ashby moved back to England. He served as the Assistant Bishop of Leicester in the Diocese of Leicester from 1988 to 1995. Additionally, he was Priest-in-Charge of All Saints, Newtown Linford between 1992 and 1995. In 1993, he was made an Honorary Canon of Leicester Cathedral.<ref name="Crockford" />

Ashby retired from full-time ministry in 1995. He returned to South Africa, where he served as an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of George. In 2008, he returned to England. He served as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Portsmouth between 2008 and 2011 and in the Diocese of Exeter (in which he lived at Broadclyst, Devon) from 2011 until he entered full retirement at the College of St Barnabas in Surrey in 2017.<ref name=Crockford />

==Personal life== Bishop Ashby was married to Valerie "Sally" Ashby, née Hawtree (she died on 7 October 2015). Together, they had six children: Garmon, John Mark, Mary, Philip, Ruth, and Charles.

== Publications ==

* {{cite book|first= Godfrey William |last=Ashby |display-authors=0|title=Theodoret of Cyrrhus as exegete of the Old Testament|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=400SAQAAIAAJ|year=1972|publisher=Rhodes University|location=Grahamstown|isbn=9780949980168 }}<ref name="MagillAves1998">{{cite book|first1=Frank Northen |last1=Magill|first2=Alison |last2=Aves|title=Dictionary of World Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyKaVFZqbdUC&pg=PA1140|year=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-57958-040-7|pages=1140–}}</ref> * {{cite book|first= Godfrey William |last=Ashby |display-authors=0|title=Sacrifice: its nature and purpose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVMcAAAAMAAJ|date=1988|publisher=SCM|isbn=978-0-334-01437-9}} * {{cite book|first= Godfrey William |last=Ashby |display-authors=0|title=Go Out and Meet God: A Commentary on the Book of Exodus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izoG2SiixXYC|date=January 1998|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4332-6}} * Translation of [https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-7798-5 The Stone Mason of Saint-Point by Alphonse de Lamartine]. [https://www.cambridgescholars.com/ Cambridge Scholars Publishing]. February 2016. {{ISBN|1-4438-7798-0}}

== References == {{Reflist}} {{S-start}} {{S-rel|sa}} {{S-bef|before=Michael Nuttall}} {{S-ttl|title=Dean of Grahamstown|years=1975&ndash;1980}} {{S-aft|after=Roy Barker}} {{S-bef|before=James Schuster}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of St John's|years=1980–1985}} {{S-aft|after=Jacob Dlamini}} {{S-new}} {{S-ttl|title=Assistant Bishops of Leicester|years=1987–1995}} {{S-aft|after=Bill Down}} {{S-end}} {{Deans of Grahamstown}} {{Bishops of St John's}} {{Bishops of Loughborough}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashby, Godfrey William Ernest Candler}} Category:1930 births Category:2023 deaths Category:People educated at The King's School, Chester Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Associates of King's College London Category:Academic staff of Rhodes University Category:Anglican archdeacons in Africa Category:Anglican bishops of St John's Category:20th-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops Category:Assistant bishops of Leicester (1987–2017) Category:Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand Category:Deans of Grahamstown Category:Academic staff of St Paul's College, Grahamstown