Victor Whitsey

{{Short description|Anglican bishop (1916–1987)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Use British English|date=May 2017}} {{Infobox Christian leader | honorific-prefix = | name = Hubert Victor Whitsey | honorific-suffix = | title = Bishop of Chester | diocese = Diocese of Chester | term = 1974–1981 | predecessor = Gerald Ellison | successor = Michael Baughen | other_post = Bishop of Hertford 1971–1974 | ordination = | consecration = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1916|11|21}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1987|12|25|1916|11|21}} | death_place = | buried = | religion = Church of England | occupation = Bishop | alma_mater = St Edmund Hall, Oxford | module = }}

'''Hubert Victor Whitsey''' (21 November 1916 – 25 December 1987) was a British Church of England bishop. He was Bishop of Hertford 1971–1974<ref>{{cite book |title="Who was Who" 1897–2007 |place=London |publisher=A & C Black |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-954087-7}}</ref> and Bishop of Chester 1974–1981.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=New Bishop of Chester |date=31 October 1973 |page=1 |issue=58927 |column=E}}</ref>

==Biography== He was born on 21 November 1916 in Blackburn. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Blackburn and, after war service (in the Royal Artillery, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel), at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. After Oxford, he attended Westcott House, Cambridge for theological studies. He was ordained as a deacon on 18 December 1949 and appointed a curate in Chorley (St Laurence) in the Diocese of Blackburn. He was ordained as a priest on 1 January 1950, and was appointed as a perpetual curate in Farrington St Paul, in the Diocese of Blackburn a year later on 1 January 1951.

He remained in that post for four years, and on 1 January 1955, he was appointed to the position of a vicar at Halliwell (St Paul) in the Diocese of Manchester. Five years later, on 1 January 1960, he became the curate in charge at Langley St Aidan, again in the Diocese of Manchester, and he remained in this post until 19 October 1964. He was also an honorary canon of Manchester Cathedral appointed on 1 January 1963 and remained in this post until 1 January 1968.

On leaving Langley St Aidan he was appointed as Vicar of Langley All Saints and Martyrs, and then on 1 January 1968 he left Manchester Diocese and returned to Blackburn to become the Vicar of Downham St Leonard. His obituary in the ''Daily Telegraph'' stated that he suffered a breakdown in his health in 1968, and that was why he moved to the rural parish of Downham, "where he spent the next three years recuperating."

He was then consecrated as a bishop on 1 November 1971. His first bishopric was as suffragan bishop of Hertford within the Diocese of St Albans (1971–1974). On 22 January 1974 he was appointed as Bishop of Chester, and he remained as bishop until his resignation on 31 December 1981.

The Diocese of Chester is one of the larger dioceses in the country, both in terms of area and the number of parishes (about 270).

The Diocese of Manchester, where Whitsey officiated from 1955 to 1968 is to its north, as is Blackburn, where he officiated from 1950 to the end of 1954, and then again from 1968 to November 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Betrayal of Trust|date=22 May 2019 |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/A%20Betrayal%20of%20Trust%20-%20Learning%20Lessons%20Case%20Review%20Regarding%20Hubert%20Victor%20Whitsey%20%2814.10.20%29.pdf|access-date=25 April 2024|archive-date=4 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104163107/https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/A%20Betrayal%20of%20Trust%20-%20Learning%20Lessons%20Case%20Review%20Regarding%20Hubert%20Victor%20Whitsey%20%2814.10.20%29.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

He died in 1987, aged 71.

==Allegations of sexual abuse== In 2016–17 Cheshire Constabulary conducted a 13-month investigation called Operation Coverage to investigate allegations that Victor Whitsey had sexually abused persons who were under the age of consent. In October 2017 the force announced that five male and eight female witnesses had alleged they were victims, and that were Whitsey still alive he would have been interviewed in connection with 10 of those 13 allegations.<ref name="Holmes1">{{cite news|last=Holmes|first=David|date=17 October 2017|title=Child sex attack shame of former Bishop of Chester|newspaper=Chester Chronicle|publisher=Trinity Mirror|url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/child-sex-attack-shame-former-13772353|access-date=17 October 2017|archive-date=17 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017152212/http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/child-sex-attack-shame-former-13772353|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Sherwood>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/17/former-bishop-of-chester-hubert-whitsey-investigated-over-abuse-allegations?CMP=share_btn_tw |last=Sherwood |first=Harriet |title=Former bishop of Chester investigated over abuse allegations |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 October 2017 |access-date=17 October 2017 |archive-date=18 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018013239/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/17/former-bishop-of-chester-hubert-whitsey-investigated-over-abuse-allegations?CMP=share_btn_tw |url-status=live }}</ref>

Slater and Gordon Lawyers represented four of Whitsey's alleged victims.<ref name=Sherwood/> Through Slater and Gordon, one alleged victim stated: <blockquote>I longed for [Whitsey]'s blessing to achieve my wish of a future as a vicar, serving God and the community. He told me he agreed I had a calling from God. He also told me he had the power to give me everything I wanted in life and the power to take it all away. He then proceeded to abuse me sexually and psychologically. I was powerless to stop him.<ref name=Sherwood/><ref name=Holmes2>{{cite news |url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/sexual-abuse-victim-former-bishop-13775212 |last=Holmes |first=David |title=Sexual abuse victim of former Bishop of Chester speaks out |newspaper=Chester Chronicle |publisher=Trinity Mirror |date=17 October 2017 |access-date=17 October 2017 |archive-date=18 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018012859/http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/sexual-abuse-victim-former-bishop-13775212 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

The alleged victim, who was a teenage boy at the time, added that as a result he lost his religious faith, started self-harming, and later had a mental breakdown and as a result had attempted suicide.<ref name=Holmes2/>

The ex-Bishop of Chester (retired 2019), Peter Forster, and the ex-Archbishop of the Province of York (retired 2020), John Sentamu, accepted the allegations and issued an apology.<ref name=Sherwood/>

A report into the conduct of Whitsey was published in 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/A%20Betrayal%20of%20Trust%20-%20Learning%20Lessons%20Case%20Review%20Regarding%20Hubert%20Victor%20Whitsey%20%2819.01.21%29.pdf | access-date=9 February 2021 | title=A Betrayal of Trust | date=22 May 2019 | publisher=Church of England | archive-date=6 March 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306085539/https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/A%20Betrayal%20of%20Trust%20-%20Learning%20Lessons%20Case%20Review%20Regarding%20Hubert%20Victor%20Whitsey%20%2819.01.21%29.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Christianity}} *Anglican Communion sexual abuse cases *Peter Ball (bishop) – who was convicted in 2015 for sexually abusing boys when he was Bishop of Gloucester in the 1970s and 80s

==References== {{Reflist}} {{S-start}}

{{S-rel|en}} {{S-bef|before=John Trillo}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Hertford|years=1971–1974}} {{S-aft|after=Peter Mumford}} {{S-bef|before=Gerald Ellison}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Chester|years=1974–1981}} {{S-aft|after=Michael Baughen}} {{S-end}} {{Bishops of Hertford}} {{Bishops of Chester since 1908}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitsey, Victor}} Category:1916 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century Church of England bishops Category:Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Category:Bishops of Chester Category:Bishops of Hertford Category:Child sexual abuse in England Category:Christian hymnwriters Category:People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn