Derek Pattinson
Sir William Derek Pattinson (31 March 1930 – 10 October 2006) was secretary-general of the General Synod of the Church of England from 1972 until 1990.
Early life
Pattinson was born at
Career
Civil service
He entered
General Synod
In 1970 Gerald Ellison, then Bishop of Chester, suggested that he should apply for the position of Associate Secretary-General of the General Synod of the Church of England,[2] with the intention that, if appointed, he should succeed as Secretary-General on the retirement of Sir John Scott. He was appointed to the Associate's position and he was Secretary-General from 1972 until 1990. It is said that he enjoyed better relations with the Anglo-Catholic archbishops Michael Ramsey and Robert Runcie than he did with the evangelical Donald Coggan, for reasons of both Churchmanship and administrative style.[2][3]
He was not enthusiastic about the ordination of women but regarded it as inevitable and was quite happy with women priests when they were eventually ordained. He was a keen promoter of black and other ethnic minority members of the synod. He was also a key figure in the establishment of the
He was first touched by scandal in 1987 in connection with the Preface to Crockford's Clerical Directory, written anonymously by his friend the Revd Canon Gareth Bennett, Dean of Divinity of New College, Oxford, who committed suicide as a result of the controversy it caused. Pattinson was responsible for commissioning the Preface and was thought to have failed to predict the outcome of publishing it. The Standing Committee of the General Synod decided that he was without blame in the incident.[4]
Shortly before his retirement in 1990 he was appointed
A less formal honour marking his retirement was the singing, in the General Synod, of a variation on the Major-General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance with the line, "He was the very model of a Secretary-General".[3]
Ordination
Despite not having attended a bishops' selection conference, he was accepted for ordination.
Private life
On 30 November 1992
On 4 December 1992, The Independent claimed that Sir Derek had been living with Barnaby Miln.[8]
Barnaby Miln returned in September 2000 to live with and care for Sir Derek whose health had deteriorated. In the last edition of Who's Who published before Sir Derek's death Barnaby Miln was named as his partner,[3] and was the executor of his estate.
Pattinson was a Freemason, initiated in 1960 in the Kaisar-i-Hind Lodge (London), and became a Royal Arch Mason in 1962 in the Oxford & Cambridge University Chapter (London). He was an officer of the United Grand Lodge of England from 1979.[9] He was a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Savile Club.[1] He became a Freeman of the City of London in 1973 and was a member of the Woolmen's Company and of the Parish Clerks' Company, of which he was Master 1986/7.
Death and legacy
Sir Derek was diagnosed with hydrocephalus in 2000. He died in London on 10 October 2006 and his ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey.[10] He had held numerous other appointments including membership of the Archbishops' Commission on Church and State (1966–70) and the British Council of Churches (1972–90), the vice-chairmanship of the Grosvenor Chapel Committee (1973–81), the chairmanship of Liddon Trustees (1972–2001), the William Temple Association, and of the English Friends of the Anglican Centre in Rome (1985–2001), and the principalship of the Society of the Faith (1992–2001). He was Churchwarden of St Michael's, Cornhill and Parish Clerk of St Luke's, Old Street.
References
- ^ a b c d Michael De-la-Noy "The Rev Sir Derek Pattinson" Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine', The Independent, 17 October 2006.
- ^ a b c d Duggan, Margaret (15 October 2006). "Obituary: The Rev Sir Derek Pattinson". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
- ^ a b c 'The Rev Sir Derek Pattinson', The Telegraph, 14 October 2006
- ^ For details of the Crockford Affair see obituaries, passim, and Michael De-la-Moy, The Church of England: A Portrait (London: Simon & Schuster, 1993), pp. 240-1, as well as the article on Gareth Bennett.
- ^ "No. 52173". The London Gazette. 15 June 1990. p. 2.
- ^ "No. 52543". The London Gazette. 28 May 1991. p. 8207.
- ^ Michael De-la-Moy, The Church of England: A Portrait (London: Simon & Schuster, 1993), p. 331
- ^ Barnaby Miln "BARNABY MILN Seedsman and Plant Breeder Gay Rights Campaigner within the Christian Church worldwide the first openly gay Magistrate in the United Kingdom Christian Development Issues Campaigner Pioneer Gay Businessman Family Historian 'AN INTERESTING AND WIDE-RANGING LIFE' QX Magazine, London, 28 September 2005". Archived from the original on 14 August 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ "Grand Officers Alphabetically Arranged". United Grand Lodge of England: Masonic Year Book (edition 1989-1990) (1989-1990 ed.). London: UGLE. 1989.
- ^ "The Rev Sir Derek Pattinson". The Independent. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
Further reading
- Debrett's People of Today (12th edn, London: Debrett's Peerage, 1999), pp. 1516–17
- Crockford's Clerical Directory (97th edn, London: Church House Publishing, 2001), p. 576
- Michael De-la-Moy, The Church of England: A Portrait (London: Simon & Schuster, 1993)
External links
- 'The Rev Sir Derek Pattinson', The Times, 14 October 2006
- 'The Revd Sir Derek Pattinson RIP Archived 17 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine', The Church of England, 13 October 2006
- Jennifer Gold, 'Church of England Mourns Death of Sir Derek Pattinson', Christian Today, 14 October 2006