# Stephen Verney > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Stephen_Verney > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Stephen_Verney.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Verney > Source revision: 1343379638 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Anglican clergyman and suffragan bishop of Repton (1919–2009)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = bishop | honorific-prefix = [The Right Reverend](/source/The_Right_Reverend) | name = Stephen Verney | title = [Bishop of Repton](/source/Bishop_of_Repton) | image = Stephen_Verney.png | image_size = | alt = | caption = | church = [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) | diocese = [Diocese of Derby](/source/Diocese_of_Derby) | term = March 1977{{snd}}1985 | predecessor = [Warren Hunt](/source/Warren_Hunt_(bishop)) | successor = | other_post = | ordination = 1950 (deacon)
1951 (priest) | ordained_by = [Russell Barry](/source/Russell_Barry) | consecration = 31 March 1977 | consecrated_by = [Donald Coggan](/source/Donald_Coggan) | birth_name = Stephen Edmund Verney | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|04|17|df=y}} | birth_place = [Anglesey](/source/Anglesey), Wales{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/6555156/The-Right-Reverend-Stephen-Verney.html|title=The Right Reverend Stephen Verney|date=12 November 2009|website=The Telegraph}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|11|09|1919|04|17|df=y}} | death_place = | buried = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = [British](/source/British_people) | religion = [Anglican](/source/Anglican) | residence = | parents = [Sir Harry Verney, 4th Baronet](/source/Sir_Harry_Verney%2C_4th_Baronet) and Lady Rachel Verney | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Priscilla Schwerdt|1947|end=d|1974}} * {{marriage|Sandra Bailey|1981}} }} | children = | occupation = | education = [Harrow School](/source/Harrow_School) | alma_mater = [Balliol College, Oxford](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford) }} {{Portal|Christianity}} '''Stephen Edmund Verney''', [MBE](/source/Member_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (17 April 1919 – 9 November 2009)[Daily Telegraph](/source/Daily_Telegraph) Obituary p 37 Issue no 48,039 (dated 13 November 2009) was the second [Bishop of Repton](/source/Bishop_of_Repton) from 1977 to 1985;{{Cite web|url=http://www.derby.anglican.org/about/facts_n_stats.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120224719/http://www.derby.anglican.org/about/facts_n_stats.php|url-status=dead|title=Derby Bishops|archivedate=20 November 2008}} and from then on an [honorary assistant bishop](/source/honorary_assistant_bishop) within the [Diocese of Oxford](/source/Diocese_of_Oxford). Toward the end of [WWII](/source/WWII) Verney worked as an undercover political operative in occupied [Crete](/source/Crete). == Biography == Verney was the son of the Liberal MP [Sir Harry Verney, 4th Baronet](/source/Sir_Harry_Verney%2C_4th_Baronet), and grandson of a Viceroy of India. His eldest brother was [Sir Ralph Verney, 5th Baronet](/source/Sir_Ralph_Verney%2C_5th_Baronet). Another brother was the judge [Sir Lawrence Verney](/source/Lawrence_Verney). He was educated at [Harrow](/source/Harrow_School){{Cite web |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/ |title=Unknown }}{{Dead link | date=September 2024 | fix-attempted=yes}} and [Balliol College, Oxford](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford). At the beginning of the Second World War as a conscientious objector, he served with a Friends Ambulance unit but later became a Royal Army Service Corps private in Cairo. Here as an Oxford classicist he was recruited into the Political Operations Executive and sent into occupied Crete in August 1944, working undercover from Chania, with the objective of lowering German morale. His role principally involved identifying and approaching dissatisfied German soldiers. With the assistance of a German sergeant major, in love with a Cretan Woman, he printed and distributed ''“Kreta Post”'' a subtle propaganda paper, in German, from a cave outside Chania. Following the fall of Mussolini he slipped into the camp of an Italian battalion forced by the Germans to fight on and negotiated with the Colonel the surrender of the entire battalion. Following the German surrender of Crete he set up an exhibition of photographs received from recently liberated concentration camps. These were not believed by the still armed German soldiers and a grenade was left under his car. He was appointed a [Member of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Member_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1945. In 1947 he married Priscilla Schwerdt;[The Times](/source/The_Times), Wednesday, 15 October 1947; pg. 7; Issue 50892; col C ''Marriages Mr SE Verney and Miss PAS Schwerdt'' he was made [deacon](/source/deacon) at [Michaelmas](/source/Michaelmas) 1950 (1 October), by [Russell Barry](/source/Russell_Barry), [Bishop of Southwell](/source/Bishop_of_Southwell), at [Southwell Minster](/source/Southwell_Minster),{{Church Times | title = Ordinations at Michaelmas | archive = 1950_10_06_742 | issue = 4574 | date = 6 October 1950 | page = 742 | accessed = 17 June 2019 }} and [ordained](/source/ordained) [priest](/source/priest) (presumably the next Michaelmas). He began his career with a [curacy](/source/Curate) at [Gedling](/source/Gedling){{Crockford | forenames = Stephen Edmund | surname = Verney | id = 37258 | accessed = 17 June 2019 }} after which he was: [Priest in charge](/source/Priest_in_charge) of St Francis [Clifton, Nottingham](/source/Clifton%2C_Nottingham); [Vicar](/source/Vicar) of [Leamington Hastings](/source/Leamington_Hastings); ''Diocesan Missioner'' for the [Diocese of Coventry](/source/Diocese_of_Coventry) then finally, before his appointment to the [episcopate](/source/episcopate), a [canon residentiary](/source/Canon_(priest)) at [Windsor](/source/St_George's_Chapel_at_Windsor_Castle). His first wife died in 1974 and seven years later Verney became the first [bishop](/source/bishop) to marry a [divorce](/source/divorce)d woman.[The Times](/source/The_Times), Wednesday, 10 June 1981; pg. 5; Issue 60950; col G ''Bishop and divorcee marry'' He was consecrated a bishop on 31 March 1977, by [Donald Coggan](/source/Donald_Coggan), [Archbishop of Canterbury](/source/Archbishop_of_Canterbury) at [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey).{{Church Times | title = picture caption | archive = 1977_04_07_003 | issue = 5956 | date = 7 April 1977 | page = 3 | accessed = 22 May 2019 }} After 8 years as the [suffragan bishop](/source/suffragan_bishop) in the [Diocese of Derby](/source/Diocese_of_Derby), he retired to [Blewbury](/source/Blewbury) in 1985. Verney was active in an organisation called [The New Era Centre](/source/The_New_Era_Centre), which was founded by Dr [Fred Blum](/source/Fred_Blum) in 1967. In 1969, Blum met Verney at a conference in [Coventry](/source/Coventry) where Verney was doing [reconciliation](/source/reconciliation_(theology)) work. They became friends, "like brothers", and Verney became a [trustee](/source/trustee) and significant supporter and contributor to the creation and work of The New Era Centre, which became a [registered charity](/source/charitable_organization) on 20 December 1979. Verney was a well-connected individual, and frequently communicated with the politician [Roy Jenkins](/source/Roy_Jenkins). The residential community of The New Era Centre in [The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay](/source/The_Abbey%2C_Sutton_Courtenay), which was purchased in 1980, was dedicated on 4 October 1981 as a space to explore and work towards the synthesis of [Christianity](/source/Christianity) and more contemporary understandings of societal transformation. In 1984, after The Abbey was improved to a habitable state, the first two resident community members moved in. Stephen Verney extensively discussed, and believed in, the role Buddhist practice and philosophy could play in increasing connectivity with a Christian deity, and it was this belief which led many of The New Era Centre's early pursuits.[The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay](/source/The_Abbey%2C_Sutton_Courtenay) archives. ==Works== *''Fire in Coventry'' (Hodder & Stoughton 1964, new edition published by The Diocese of Coventry 2010) *''Water into Wine'' (London: Fount Paperbacks, 1985) ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100601034808/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6911505.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2 Stephen Edmund Verney's obituary] *[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/23/right-rev-stephen-verney-obituary The Right Rev Stephen Verney obituary] {{S-start}} {{S-rel|en}} {{S-bef|before= [Warren Hunt](/source/Warren_Hunt_(bishop)) }} {{S-ttl|title=[Bishop of Repton](/source/Bishop_of_Repton)|years=1977–1985}} {{S-aft|after=[Henry Richmond](/source/Henry_Richmond_(bishop))}} {{S-end}} {{Bishops of Repton}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Verney, Stephen Edmund}} Category:1919 births Category:2009 deaths Category:Royal Army Service Corps soldiers Stephen Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Bishops of Repton Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:20th-century Church of England bishops Category:Younger sons of baronets Category:Intelligence Corps officers Category:Church of England canons of Windsor Category:People from Blewbury Category:Military personnel from Anglesey --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stephen Verney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Verney) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Verney?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.