{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} '''(John) Maurice Key''' (4 June 1905 – 21 December 1984)<ref>''Who was Who'' 1897-2007: London, A & C Black, 2008 {{ISBN|978-0-19-954087-7}}</ref><ref>''The Rt Rev J. M. Key (Obituaries)'' ''The Times'', Saturday, 29 Dec 1984; pg. 8; Issue 62023; col G</ref> was a British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Sherborne then the Bishop of Truro in the third quarter of the 20th century.
==Biography== He was educated at Rossall School and Pembroke College, Cambridge, before being ordained in 1928. Beginning his ministry with a curacy at ''St Mary’s Portsea'' he was successively Vicar of Aylesbeare, Rector of Newton Abbot and finally (before his elevation to the Episcopate) Rural Dean of the Three Towns.
In 1947, he was consecrated a bishop and appointed Bishop of Sherborne, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Salisbury.<ref>The Times, Friday, 7 Nov 1947; pg. 6; Issue 50912; col F ''Ecclesiastical News Consecration of Bishop Key''</ref> He translated to become the Bishop of Truro, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Truro, and enthroned in March 1960.<ref>The Times, Friday, 18 Mar 1960; pg. 14; Issue 54723; col D Bishop of Truro enthroned</ref>
Key failed to take action or to launch an investigation into Jeremy Dowling (later Dowling was convicted of sex offences against boys). A review found, "There is no doubt that there were a number of missed opportunities for the diocese of Truro to undertake its own investigations into the allegations made in 1972 against Jeremy Dowling." The review also stated, "No institution or organisation should have relied on a police criminal investigation to make judgments on the conduct of those it employs or engages with. It has its own responsibilities to judge such behaviour. These judgments are not tied to the criminal standard but to the civil standard, ie 'are events more likely than not to have happened' or 'on the balance of probabilities'."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sherwood |first1=Harriet |title=Four bishops failed to act over abuse by synod member, review finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/25/four-bishops-failed-to-act-over-abuse-by-synod-member-review-finds |access-date=21 July 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=25 May 2018}}</ref>
==References== {{Portal|Christianity|Cornwall}} {{reflist}}
{{S-start}} {{S-rel|en}} {{S-bef|before=Harold Nickinson Rodgers}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Sherborne|years=1947 –1959}} {{S-aft|after=Victor Joseph Pike }} {{S-bef|before=Edmund Robert Morgan}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Truro|years=1960 –1973}} {{S-aft|after=Graham Douglas Leonard }} {{End}}
{{Bishops of Sherborne}} {{Bishops of Truro}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Key, John Maurice}} Category:1905 births Category:People educated at Rossall School Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:1984 deaths Category:Bishops of Sherborne Category:Bishops of Truro