Royal Navy Chaplaincy Service

Last updated

Royal Navy Chaplain insignia British Royal Navy Chaplain.svg
Royal Navy Chaplain insignia

The Royal Navy Chaplaincy Service provides chaplains to the Royal Navy. The chaplains are commissioned by the Sovereign but do not hold military rank other than that of "Chaplain Royal Navy". They are usually addressed as Padre, Reverend or more informally Bish. The majority of Chaplains are recruited from a number of Christian denominations, however to better reflect the changing demographics of the United Kingdom and HM forces, as already established in the NHS, HM Prisons and UK Universities, the Ministry of Defence announced in November 2023 it would begin recruiting Non-Religious Pastoral Support Officers in 2024.

Contents

The senior chaplain in the Royal Navy is the Chaplain of the Fleet, the current post holder being The Venerable Andrew Hillier KHC, an Anglican priest, who is also the Archdeacon for the Royal Navy.

Training

Chaplains join the Royal Navy as experienced clergy of their denomination. They undergo naval training at Britannia Royal Naval College alongside other Royal Navy officer cadets. Those serving with the Royal Marines may be selected to attempt commando training: if successful they become Royal Navy Commandos and wear the Commando green beret and, on No 1 uniform, the Commando Dagger badge. Those who serve with the Submarine Service may earn their submarine service "Dolphins".

Chaplains of the Fleet

The role of Chaplain of the Fleet, being Head of the Naval Chaplains, was established on 13 May 1859, and was originally attached to the role of Senior Chaplain at Greenwich Hospital [1] and was also the Inspector of Naval Schools. An Order in Council issued by King Edward VII in August 1902 granted the ecclesiastical dignity of archdeacon on the Chaplain of the Fleet. [2]

Thomas Ken was appointed Chaplain of the Fleet by King Charles II in 1683. [3]
Divine service as it is usually performed on board a British frigate at sea (circa 1836). Service divin sur une fregate anglaise vers 1836.jpg
Divine service as it is usually performed on board a British frigate at sea (circa 1836).
Service on the cruiser HMS Cumberland, November 1942 On Board the cruiser HMS Cumberland, November 1942 TR305.jpg
Service on the cruiser HMS Cumberland, November 1942

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)</span> Highest rank of the British Royal Navy

Admiral of the Fleet is a five-star naval officer rank and the highest rank of the Royal Navy, formally established in 1688. The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10, equivalent to a field marshal in the British Army or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Apart from honorary appointments, no new admirals of the fleet have been named since 1995, and no honorary appointments have been made since 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Army Chaplains' Department</span> Military unit

The Royal Army Chaplains' Department (RAChD) is an all-officer department that provides ordained clergy to minister to the British Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Edmund Commerell</span> Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet (1829–1901)

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Edmund Commerell, was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he was present at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in November 1845 during the Uruguayan Civil War. He also took part in operations in Sea of Azov during the Crimean War and went ashore with the quartermaster and a seaman, to destroy large quantities of enemy forage on the shore. After a difficult and dangerous journey they reached their objective – a magazine of corn – and managed to ignite the stacks, but the guards were alerted and immediately opened fire and gave chase. The men had difficulty in escaping, but they finally reached their ship and the lookouts later reported that the forage store had burned to the ground. He and his colleague, Quartermaster William Thomas Rickard, were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedworth Meux</span> English naval officer (1856–1929)

Admiral of the Fleet The Honourable Sir Hedworth Meux was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he was present at the bombardment of Alexandria during the Anglo-Egyptian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somerset Gough-Calthorpe</span>

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe, sometimes known as Sir Somerset Calthorpe, was a Royal Navy officer and a member of the Gough-Calthorpe family. After serving as a junior officer during the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War, he became naval attaché observing the actions of the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War and then went on to command an armoured cruiser and then a battleship during the early years of the 20th century.

John Green, is a Church of England priest and former Royal Navy chaplain. He was Chaplain of the Fleet, Director General of the Naval Chaplaincy Service and Archdeacon for the Royal Navy from 2006 to 2010. He was Archdeacon Pastor in the Diocese of Coventry from 2012 until his retirement in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William May (Royal Navy officer)</span> Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet (1849-1930)

Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Henry May was a Royal Navy Officer. As a junior officer he took part an expedition to rescue Commander Albert Markham who had got into difficulty trying to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound, the sea passage between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Charles Dickens</span> Admiral in the Royal Navy and grandson of Charles Dickens

Admiral Sir Gerald Louis Charles Dickens was a senior Royal Navy officer and the grandson of Victorian novelist Charles Dickens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch</span> Military unit

The Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch provides military chaplains for the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom.

Raymond Harcourt Roberts was a Welsh Anglican priest and Royal Navy chaplain. He served as Chaplain of the Fleet and Archdeacon of the Royal Navy from 1980 to 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Brown (Royal Navy chaplain)</span>

Scott James Brown,, is a Church of Scotland minister and former Royal Navy chaplain. From 2010 to 2014, he served as Chaplain of the Fleet and was therefore the senior military chaplain in the Royal Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Chaffey</span> British Church of England priest

Jonathan Paul Michael Chaffey is a British Church of England priest and former military chaplain, who served with the Royal Air Force. He serves as Archdeacon of Oxford in the same diocese; from 2014 to 2018 he served as the Chaplain-in-Chief and head of the Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch. He previously served as Deputy Chaplain-in-Chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Wheatley</span> British Anglican priest and former Royal Navy officer

Ian James Wheatley, is a British Anglican priest and former Royal Navy officer. From 2014 to 2018, he has served as Chaplain of the Fleet, the senior military chaplain of the Royal Navy: he had also served as Deputy Chaplain of the Fleet and Principal Anglican Chaplain from 2012 to 2014.

Martin George Poll, is a British Church of England priest and former Royal Navy chaplain. Since 2012, he has been the Canon Chaplain of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and Domestic Chaplain to the Queen. From 2010 to 2012, he was Archdeacon for the Royal Navy and Principal Anglican Chaplain of the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Services.

The most senior Anglican chaplain in each branch of the British Armed Forces is made an archdeacon in the Church of England. Respectively they are titled the Archdeacon for the Royal Navy, the Archdeacon for the Army, and the Archdeacon for the Royal Air Force. As an archdeacon, they are styled The Venerable.

Michael William Bucks was a Church of England priest who served as Royal Navy chaplain. He was Chaplain of the Fleet, Director General of the Naval Chaplaincy Service and Archdeacon for the Royal Navy from 1993 until shortly before his death.

John Cox Cox-Edwards (1839–1926) was a Church of England priest and chaplain in the Royal Navy who rose to be Chaplain of the Fleet from 1888 to 1899.

Charles John Eyre Peshall, CBE, DSO, KHC (1881–1957) was a Church of England priest and former Royal Navy chaplain. He was Chaplain of the Fleet, director general of the Naval Chaplaincy Service and archdeacon for the Royal Navy from 1933 to 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ellis (chaplain)</span> British Anglican priest and former police officer

Air Vice-Marshal John Raymond Ellis, is a British Anglican priest and former police officer. Between July 2018 and July 2022 he served as Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch and Archdeacon for the Royal Air Force. He had worked as a police officer and then in parish ministry in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich from 1997, before joining the Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martyn Gough</span> British priest (1966–2023)

Martyn John Gough was a British Anglican priest, who served as a military chaplain and was Chaplain of the Fleet and Archdeacon for the Royal Navy from 2018 until his retirement in 2021. At the time of his death he held the voluntary position of National Chaplain to the Royal British Legion.

References

  1. ↑ "No. 22268". The London Gazette . 27 May 1859. p. 2107.
  2. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36904. London. 21 October 1902. p. 5.
  3. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ken, Thomas"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 726–727.
  4. ↑ "Malta Family History – Army, Navy and Air Force Chaplains 1800–1960". Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "No. 24386". The London Gazette. 24 November 1876. p. 6301.
  6. ↑ The Times, 7 March 1900, page 6
  7. ↑ "No. 25777". The London Gazette. 14 January 1888. p. 420.
  8. ↑ "No. 26720". The London Gazette. 10 March 1896. p. 1612.
  9. ↑ "No. 27047". The London Gazette. 31 January 1899. p. 603.
  10. ↑ "No. 27291". The London Gazette. 15 March 1901. p. 1578.
  11. ↑ "No. 27956". The London Gazette. 9 October 1906. p. 6790.
  12. ↑ "No. 28316". The London Gazette. 10 December 1909. p. 9414.
  13. ↑ "No. 30417". The London Gazette. 7 December 1917. p. 12812.
  14. ↑ "No. 32846". The London Gazette. 20 July 1923. p. 4988.
  15. ↑ "No. 33166". The London Gazette. 28 May 1926. p. 3455.
  16. ↑ "No. 33506". The London Gazette. 14 June 1929. p. 3943.
  17. ↑ "No. 34043". The London Gazette. 20 April 1934. p. 2545.
  18. ↑ "No. 34279". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 April 1936. p. 2767.
  19. ↑ "No. 34560". The London Gazette. 11 October 1938. p. 6338.
  20. ↑ "No. 34814". The London Gazette. 19 March 1940. p. 1629.
  21. ↑ "No. 38189". The London Gazette. 27 January 1948. p. 662.
  22. ↑ "No. 39606". The London Gazette. 25 July 1952. p. 3999.
  23. 1 2 "No. 42972". The London Gazette. 19 April 1963. p. 3378.
  24. 1 2 "No. 43836". The London Gazette. 10 December 1965. p. 11545.
  25. ↑ "No. 44805". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 March 1969. p. 2629.
  26. ↑ "No. 44754". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1968. p. 13908.
  27. ↑ "No. 45626". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 March 1972. p. 3439.
  28. ↑ "No. 45510". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 November 1971. p. 11849.
  29. ↑ "No. 46747". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 November 1975. p. 14941.
  30. ↑ "No. 48130". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 March 1980. p. 4155.
  31. ↑ "No. 49800". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 July 1984. p. 9431.
  32. 1 2 ‘GOLDING, Ven. Simon Jefferies’, Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2011 accessed 25 November 2012
  33. 1 2 "No. 59593". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 November 2010. p. 21037.
  34. ↑ Royal Navy – Chaplain of the Fleet (Retrieved 7 June 2012)
  35. ↑ "No. 61084". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 December 2014. p. 24746.
  36. ↑ "Court Circular". The Royal Family. 21 June 2021. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  37. ↑ Naval Chaplaincy Service [@of_fleet] (16 July 2021). "Today saw the departure of Ven Martyn Gough as Chaplain of the Fleet & succeeded by Rev Andrew Hillier" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 July 2021– via Twitter.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.