Bishop of Sherborne

{{Short description|Episcopal title}} {{about|the modern suffragan bishops|the ancient diocesan bishops|Bishop of Salisbury}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} The '''Bishop of Sherborne''' is an episcopal title which takes its name from the market town of Sherborne in Dorset, England. The see of Sherborne was established in around 705 by St Aldhelm, the Abbot of Malmesbury. This see was the mother diocese of the greater part of southwestern England in Saxon times, but after the Norman Conquest was incorporated into the new Diocese of Salisbury. The title Bishop of Sherborne is now used by the Church of England for a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Salisbury.<ref name="Gorham" />

The title Bishop of Sherborne was revived by the Church of England as a suffragan bishopric in the Diocese of Salisbury; that See was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by Order in Council dated 6 February 1925.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33019 |page=942 |date=10 February 1925 }}</ref> From 1981 to 2009, the suffragan Bishop of Sherborne was responsible as area bishop for those parishes in Dorset and Devon belonging to the diocese.<ref name=salisburybishops>{{cite web |url=http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/whos-who/bishops/ |title=Bishops |work=Diocese of Salisbury |access-date=8 July 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/resources-library/whos-who/synods/Synod%202009.11%20Minutes.pdf Salisbury Diocesan Synod minutes – 99th session, 7 November 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424041052/http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/resources-library/whos-who/synods/Synod%202009.11%20Minutes.pdf |date=24 April 2014 }} p. 3 (Accessed 23 April 2014)</ref> Since 2009, the suffragan Bishop of Sherborne, along with the suffragan Bishop of Ramsbury, has assisted the diocesan Bishop of Salisbury in overseeing the whole of the diocese.<ref name=salisburybishops/>

The post became vacant in 2015 on the resignation of Graham Kings, who had been consecrated in a special service at Westminster Abbey on 24 June 2009 by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/whos-who/bishops/the-bishop-of-sherborne/biography-of-the-bishop-of-sherborne |title=Biography of the Bishop of Sherborne |work=Diocese of Salisbury |access-date=8 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502025940/http://salisbury.anglican.org/whos-who/bishops/the-bishop-of-sherborne/biography-of-the-bishop-of-sherborne |archive-date=2 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/worship/special-services/past-special-services/2009/june/consecration-of-the-bishop-of-sherborne |title=Consecration of The Bishop of Sherborne |work=Westminster Abbey |access-date=15 July 2012}}</ref>

The present incumbent is the Right Reverend Karen Gorham, the first woman to have held the position. She was born in 1964 and was educated at Mayflower High School, a state school in Billericay, Essex.<ref name="Who's Who 2016">{{cite web|title=GORHAM, Ven. Karen Marisa|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U246215|website=Who's Who 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=24 August 2016|date=November 2015}}</ref> She holds a B.A. degree from the University of Bristol and did her theological training for the ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. Before being ordained she held administrative posts with the Business and Technology Education Council and with the Royal Society of Arts. From 1995 to 1999 she served as a curate in the parish of Northallerton with Kirby Sigston in the Diocese of York, and was ordained priest in 1996. In 1999 she became Priest-in-Charge of St Paul's Church, Maidstone, in the Diocese of Canterbury. She was the Archdeacon of Buckingham from 2007 onwards, stepping down as archdeacon on 19 January 2016 in preparation for her consecration as bishop.<ref name="Diocese of Oxford - Karen to be Bishop">{{cite web|title=Archdeacon Karen to be Bishop of Sherborne|url=http://www.oxford.anglican.org/archdeacon-karen-to-be-bishop-of-sherborne/|website=Diocese of Oxford|access-date=24 August 2016 |date=24 November 2015}}</ref> She has served on the General Synod of the Church of England for twelve years.<ref name=Gorham/>

Karen Gorham was consecrated as bishop on 24 February 2016 at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and officially welcomed to the diocese on 6 March 2016 at Sherborne Abbey.<ref name=Gorham>{{cite web |url=http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/whos-who/bishops/the-bishop-of-sherborne |title=The Bishop of Sherborne |publisher=Diocese of Salisbury |access-date=24 August 2016 |archive-date=4 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204181648/http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/whos-who/bishops/the-bishop-of-sherborne |url-status=dead }}</ref> Welcoming her, the Very Revd June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury, stated: ''"The last year has been a significant year for women in the ministry of the Church of England and this is a historic moment for the Diocese of Salisbury as its welcomes its first woman bishop."''<ref>{{cite news |title=Bishop of Sherborne the Ven Karen Gorham consecrated at Westminster Abbey |url=http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/14307610.Sherborne_s_first_female_bishop_consecrated_at_Westminster_Abbey/?ref=rss |newspaper=Dorset Echo |date=28 February 2016 |access-date=24 August 2016}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" ! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;"|Bishops of Sherborne |- ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="12%"|From ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="12%"|Until ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="28%"|Incumbent ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="43%"|Notes

|-valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2" |align="center"| 2009 |align="center"| 15 July 2015 |'''Graham Kings''' | Last area bishop (until end 2009). Became Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion.<ref>[https://twitter.com/GrahamRKings/status/612348067283644416 Twitter — Graham Kings] (Accessed 3 July 2015)</ref>

|-valign=top bgcolor="white" |align="center"| 2016 |align="center"| present |'''Karen Gorham''' | Consecrated 24 February 2016.<ref name="gorham">[http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/news/karen-gorham-to-be-new-bishop-of-sherborne Diocese of Salisbury — Karen Gorham to be New Bishop of Sherborne] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127002629/http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/news/karen-gorham-to-be-new-bishop-of-sherborne |date=27 November 2015 }} (Accessed 26 November 2015)</ref>

|-valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2" |align=center colspan="4"| Source(s):<ref name=crockfordspage948>{{cite book |title=Crockford's Clerical Directory |edition=100th |location=London |publisher=Church House Publishing |year=2007 |page=948 |isbn=978-0-7151-1030-0}}</ref> |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Bishops of Sherborne Sherborne Category:Religion in Dorset