Launcelot Fleming

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The Right Reverend

Launcelot Fleming
Bishop of Norwich
ChurchChurch of England
DioceseDiocese of Norwich
In office1960 to 1971
PredecessorPercy Herbert
SuccessorMaurice Wood
Other post(s)Dean of Windsor (1971–1976)
Bishop of Portsmouth (1949–1960)
Orders
Ordination1933 (deacon)
1934 (priest)
Consecration18 October 1949
by Geoffrey Fisher
Personal details
Born
William Launcelot Scott Fleming

7 August 1906
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died30 July 1990(1990-07-30) (aged 83)
Sherborne, Dorset, England
NationalityBritish
EducationRugby School
Alma mater
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch
Second World War
Memorial, Norwich Cathedral

William Launcelot Scott Fleming, KCVO (7 August 1906 – 30 July 1990) was a British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Portsmouth and later the Bishop of Norwich. He was also noted as a geologist and explorer.

Childhood

Fleming was born in

FRSE (a surgeon in Edinburgh) and Eleanor Mary, the daughter of the Rev William Lyall Holland, rector of Cornhill-on-Tweed. The family lived at 10 Chester Street in Edinburgh's West End.[2] He was educated at Rugby School.[1]

Early adult life

Fleming went up to

Commonwealth Fund Fellowship and used it to study at Yale University from 1929 to 1931:[3] he graduated with a Master of Science (MS) degree in geology.[1][4]

On his return to Britain, he studied theology and trained for

British Graham Land Expedition, and was a member of the sledging party that traversed the newly discovered King George VI Sound.[1] He was awarded the Polar Medal in 1937.[6]

Later life

Fleming pursued an academic career, acting as an examining chaplain to a number of bishops while retaining a base at Trinity Hall, eventually becoming its dean in 1937 and an honorary fellow in 1956.[7]

At the outbreak of the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR).[8] He was commissioned in the RNVR as a temporary chaplain in November 1940 with seniority from 9 July 1940.[9] He served three years on the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth,[3][8] including when it was posted to the Mediterranean from 1941 to 1942.[3] In 1944, he was appointed director of service ordination candidates.[3] Later, on 4 May 1950, he made an honorary chaplain to the RNVR.[10]

After the war, he resumed his fellowship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was part-time director of the Scott Polar Research Institute from 1946 to 1949.[1]

In 1965 he married Jane Agutter, a widow.[11]

In 1971 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Lord Balerno, Douglas Guthrie, Norman Feather and Anthony Elliot Ritchie.[12]

Episcopate and parliament

In July 1949, Fleming's name was put forward for the position of

St Luke's day (18 October) at Southwark Cathedral[14] by Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury.[15] He did not take his place in the House of Lords for another seven years.[16]

In 1959, he was translated to the vacant Episcopal see of Norwich,[17][18] becoming the first bishop to use the ancient throne in Norwich Cathedral for 400 years. Although he became a bishop without parochial experience or any great gift for preaching, his unassuming friendliness and humility won over both clergy and laity. Portsmouth became an exceptionally well-run diocese, with more than its share of young clergy and ordinands. Norwich, with 650 churches and a shortage of clergy, presented greater problems; he tackled them resolutely and imaginatively, developing rural group ministries and again attracting good clergy. He also played a significant part in planning the University of East Anglia, which has its own university chapel. A remarkable rapport with young people led to his being made chairman of the Church of England Youth Council (1950–61). Struck by a rare spinal disorder, which seriously affected both legs, he resigned the see in 1971.

An eternally enthusiastic man, in 1960 he realised a lifetime's ambition to ride on the footplate of a locomotive,[19] and in 1965, at the comparatively advanced age of 58, he married Jane Agutter,[20] the widow of Anthony Agutter and daughter of Henry Machen. It was a happy marriage which lasted for twenty-five years but produced no children.

In 1967, unusually for a bishop, Fleming piloted a bill (subsequently the

glaciologist of repute), he constantly urged responsible stewardship of the world (his maiden speech in the House of Lords was about cruelty to whales), and the need for international co-operation. He became vice-chairman (1969–71) of the parliamentary group for world government, and a member of the government Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1970–73).[22] At Windsor, he consolidated the reputation of St George's House
. His influence on church policy would have been greater but for synodical government – off-the-cuff debate was not his forte.

Later career

On resigning his

former Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor).[23] In 1976 he was created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of East Anglia for his work with young people.[24] He retired to Dorset and died in Sherborne on 30 July 1990. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in the churchyard of All Saints' Church in Poyntington in Dorset
.

Publications

  • Foreword to William of Gloucester: Pioneer Prince, edited by Giles St. Aubyn (London: 1977)[25]
  • Fleming, Launcelot; Walton, Kevin; et al. (1983). Portrait of Antarctica. Philip's.
    ISBN 978-0540010752
    .

References
  1. ^ a b c d e f "William Launcelot Scott Fleming collection". Archives Hub. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  2. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office directory 1905-6
  3. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39998. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  4. ^ a b c d "✠ The Rt Revd William Launcelot Scott FLEMING KCVO (deceased)". Crockford's Clerical Directory (online ed.). Church House Publishing. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  5. ISBN 0-7136-1140-5
  6. ISBN 0-7136-1140-5
  7. ^ Who's Who (ibid)
  8. ^
    ISBN 9781786074416
  9. ^ "No. 35003". The London Gazette. 29 November 1940. p. 6811.
  10. ^ "No. 38949". The London Gazette. 20 June 1950. p. 3189.
  11. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X
    .
  12. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X
    .
  13. ^ The Times, 23 July 1949, p4.
  14. ISSN 0009-658X
    . Retrieved 12 April 2017 – via UK Press Online archives.
  15. ISSN 0009-658X
    . Retrieved 12 April 2017 – via UK Press Online archives.
  16. ^ The Times, 25 October 1956, p. 4.
  17. ^ The Times, 12 October 1959, p. 10.
  18. ^ The Times, 29 January 1960, p. 9.
  19. ^ The Times, 30 September 1960, p. 5.
  20. ^ The Times, 6 January 1965, p. 12.
  21. ^ House of Lords Official Report 1 May 1967.
  22. ^ "No. 45999". The London Gazette. 7 June 1973. p. 7081.
  23. ^ The Times, 5 June 1972, p2
  24. The Prince's Trust
    Who’s Who (Ibid)
  25. ^ "Introduction". 3 October 2018. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.

Further reading

External links
Church of England titles
Preceded by
William Louis Anderson
 Bishop of Portsmouth
1949–1960 		Succeeded by
John Henry Lawrence Phillips
Preceded by
Percy Mark Herbert
 Bishop of Norwich
1960–1971 		Succeeded by
Maurice Arthur Ponsonby Wood
Preceded by Dean of Windsor
1971–1976 		Succeeded by
Michael Mann
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