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GEOFFREY FRANCIS FISHER - ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

The office of Archbishop of Canterbury is the highest attainable in the Church of England. Here Peter Seddon presents a brief biography of Geoffrey Francis Fisher (1887-1972), the former Headmaster of Repton School who was Head of the Church of England from 1945 to 1961.

A portrait of Geoffrey Francis Fisher as Archbishop of Canterbury - it was painted by Anthony Devas, a pupil at Repton School when Fisher was Headmaster there

The marriage on 20 November 1947 of HRH Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten - the ceremony in Westminster Abbey was conducted by Geoffrey Fisher, former Headmaster of Repton School

Geoffrey Francis Fisher was born on 5 May 1887 at Higham-on-the Hill, Leicestereshire. He was educated at Marlborough College and Exeter College Oxford, where he was considered a brilliant scholar.

On graduating from Oxford he took up a teaching post at Marlborough College and was an Assistant Master there when he decided to be ordained. He became a priest in 1913.

In 1914 when aged 27 - considered very young for the position - he was appointed Headmaster of Repton School, Derbyshire, and remained in that post until 1932, steering the school through one of its most fruitful periods.

In 1917 he married Rosamond Forman, the second daughter of the Repton master the Reverend A. F. E. Forman - a former Derbyshire cricketer - who is also featured in our Famous Residents category. Rosamond was grand-daughter of Dr. S. A. Pears, a former Repton Head - all very 'close to home'! The couple's six sons were born at Repton.

Geoffrey Fisher resigned his post at the school after being appointed Bishop of Chester in 1932. In 1939 he became Bishop of London, and in 1945 was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

As Head of the Church of England he presided over two of the twentieth century's most important ceremonies - the wedding of HRH Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and her Coronation as Queen in 1953.

When he retired in 1961 Fisher was made a Life Peer, taking the title Baron Fisher of Lambeth. He died on 15 September 1972 and is buried in the crypt in St. Andrew's, Trent, Dorset.

It would not be considered commonplace for any man to progress from a Derbyshire school to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury, so it is remarkable that both Fisher's predecessor and his successor were also Repton men.

Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942-44 was William Temple, who was headmaster at Repton from 1910-14 - indeed it was his resignation as Head that brought Fisher to the school as his replacement.

Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961-74 was Arthur 'Michael' Ramsey, who had been a pupil at Repton during the period of Fisher's Headship.

That three Archbishops of Canterbury in a row should all have spent formative years at Repton School must certainly be considered a 'feather in the cap' for Derbyshire's best-known public school.

Short articles about William Temple and Michael Ramsey also appear in our Famous Residents section.

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County:  Derbyshire

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