David Stancliffe
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David Staffurth Stancliffe is the Anglican Bishop of Salisbury.
The Rt Revd David Staffurth Stancliffe was consecrated as the 77th Bishop of Salisbury at Westminster Abbey on 30 November 1993 and enthroned in Salisbury Cathedral on 9 December 1993, having previously been Provost of Portsmouth for 11 years. He is the third generation of his family to serve the ordained ministry.
Son of the former Dean of Winchester, the Very Revd Michael Stancliffe, who was himself ordained at Salisbury Cathedral, David was born in 1942 in Devizes, Wiltshire, where his father was Curate of St. James', Southbroom, later serving at Ramsbury and Cirencester before becoming Chaplain to Westminster School. It was from Westminster School that David went to Trinity College, Oxford, to study classics and philosophy, and where he was Organ Scholar. At Oxford he met Sarah Smith, a member of the same small choir, and they were married in Westminster Abbey in July 1965.
While at university, David abandoned thoughts of a musical career in favour of ordination and instead went on to theological training at Cuddesdon in October 1965, while Sarah taught at Headington School.
Ordained deacon in 1967 and priest the following year in the Diocese of Ripon, David served as Curate of the Leeds parish of St. Bartholomew's, Armley. Three years later he returned to the West Country as Chaplain to Clifton College, Bristol between 1977 and 1982.
In 1977, he was appointed Canon Residentiary of Portsmouth Cathedral and Diocesan Director of Ordinands and, subsequently, Lay Ministerial Adviser. For a time he also undertook the role of Precentor in a combination of duties which recognised his special interests in the areas of liturgy, church architecture and music, while also involving him in clergy formation and training, and in the work of the parishes in the Diocese.
He was appointed Provost of Portsmouth in 1982, and his major work from then until 1993 was the completion and re-ordering of Portsmouth Cathedral, shaping its life and work to fulfil its primary function of supporting the Bishop of Portsmouth in his ministry.
Alongside other duties in the Diocese of Portsmouth, he was Vice-Chairman of the Governors of Portsmouth Grammar School and a Governor of Chichester Theological College, a member of the governing bodies of the Southern Dioceses Ministerial Training Scheme and of Salisbury & Wells Theological College, and was Chairman of the Southern Regional Institute.
In July 1993, David succeeded the Bishop of Winchester as Chairman of the Church of England's Liturgical Commission, a position which he held until 2005. He has served on the Commission since 1986. Work with the Commission has involved the publication of The Promise of His Glory and the preparation and publication of the Common Worship liturgies. This significant contribution to the life of the Church was recognised by the award by the Archbishop of Canterbury of a Lambeth Doctorate in Divinity in 2004. David has also been a member of the Council for the Care of Churches, is the President of Affirming Catholicism and Vice-President of the Royal School of Church Music.
