The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. Up to 26 of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual. The Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, and the Anglican churches in Wales and in Northern Ireland, which are no longer established churches, are not represented. The Lords Spiritual are distinct from the Lords Temporal, their secular counterparts who also sit in the House of Lords.
A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests". The system by which such bishops oversee certain churches is referred to as alternative episcopal oversight (AEO).
Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally is a British Anglican bishop, Lord Spiritual and former nurse. She has been Bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold the position. From 1999 to 2004, she was Chief Nursing Officer for England and the National Health Service's director of patient experience for England; from 2015 to 2018, she was Bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Exeter.
The Bishop of Gloucester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.
Ivor Stanley Watkins was an Anglican bishop who served in two posts between 1946 and his death.
Michael Francis Perham was a British Anglican bishop. From 2004 to 2014, he served as the Bishop of Gloucester in the Church of England.
Clifford Salisbury Woodward MC was Bishop of Bristol from 1933 to 1946 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1946 to 1953.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
Martyn James Snow is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2016, he has been the Bishop of Leicester. He previously served as Bishop of Tewkesbury from 2013 to 2016, and as Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham from 2010 to 2013.
The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England.
Rachel Treweek is an English Anglican bishop who sits in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual.
Christine Elizabeth Hardman is a retired British Anglican bishop and former Lord Spiritual. She served as Archdeacon of Lewisham, 2001–2008; Archdeacon of Lewisham & Greenwich, 2008–2012; and Bishop of Newcastle, 2015–2021.
Elizabeth Jane Holden Lane is a British Anglican bishop and Lord Spiritual. Since February 2019, she has served as Bishop of Derby in the Church of England, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Derby. From January 2015 to 2019, she was the Bishop of Stockport, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chester. She was the first woman to be appointed as a bishop by the Church of England, after its general synod voted in July 2014 to allow women to become bishops. Her consecration took place on 26 January 2015 at York Minster.
Robert Wilfrid Springett is a British Anglican bishop. He has served as the Bishop of Tewkesbury since his consecration as a bishop on 30 November 2016. He previously served as the Archdeacon of Cheltenham in the same diocese from 2010.
Gulnar Eleanor "Guli" Francis-Dehqani is an Iranian-born British Anglican bishop who has been Bishop of Chelmsford since 2021. She served as the first Bishop of Loughborough, the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Leicester from 2017 to 2021.
The first women in the House of Lords took their seats in 1958, forty years after women were granted the right to stand as MPs in the House of Commons. These were life peeresses appointed by the Prime Minister, although countesses had appeared in mediaeval times.
The House of Bishops is the upper house of the tricameral Church of England General Synod legislature. It consists of all 42 Diocesan Bishops of the Church of England's Provinces of Canterbury and York as well as nine elected suffragan bishops. This is not to be confused with the Lords Spiritual, the most senior bishops in the Church of England sitting in the House of Lords ex officio.
