Glyn Simon

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William Glyn Hughes Simon (14 April 1903 – 14 June 1972) was the Anglican Archbishop of Wales from 1968 to 1971.^[1]

Simon was born in Swansea, where his father was curate at St Gabriel's church. He was baptised by David Lewis Prosser, later to become the third Archbishop of Wales.

Educated at Christ College, Brecon from 1913, Simon went to Jesus College, Oxford in 1922, where he studied Greats. He trained for the priesthood at St Stephen's House, Oxford and was ordained deacon in Chester Cathedral in 1928, being appointed to the parish of St Paul's, Crewe.

In 1931 he became warden of the Church Hostel at Bangor; the poet R. S. Thomas was a resident student there in 1932.

In 1939 he was appointed warden of St Michael's College, Llandaff and in 1948 became Dean of Llandaff, a position which carries with it the role of vicar of (the parish of) Llandaff, since Llandaff Cathedral doubles as a parish church.

As the Dean of Llandaff, Simon was largely responsible for the reconstruction of the war-damaged nave of the cathedral, commissioning Epstein's Majestas or statue of Christ in Majesty.

Becoming Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 1953, Simon developed a sympathy for the Welsh language and for the architecture of the Welsh countryside. Translated to Llandaff in 1957, he represented a moderate form of Anglo-Catholicism, notably proceeding to the appointment of women deacons.^{[citation needed]}. Amongst other initiatives he created an industrial chaplaincy at the Port Talbot steelworks.

Elected Archbishop of Wales in 1968, he held the post only until 1971, when he retired, suffering from Parkinson's disease.

Simon's public interventions include his vigorous stance at the time of the Aberfan disaster (1966). His interview with the BBC reporter Vincent Kane was notable ^[2]) as was his visit to the imprisoned language campaigner Dafydd Iwan (1970). Another television debate engaged Simon in eirenic debate with Sir Bernard Lovell of the Jodrell Bank observatory. Key issues which engaged his attention included apartheid (there was a notable altercation with the Glamorgan captain Wilf Wooller over a visiting South African cricket team) and nuclear disarmament.

Simon accepted several public positions, for periods holding the post of President of the Ecclesiological Society and that of the Cambrian Archaeological Association.

Simon's remarks concerning the way bishops were elected in the Church in Wales earned him criticism from Carl Witton-Davies and a satire in the Western Mail in 1961 by the writer and broadcaster Aneurin Talfan Davies. Relations became tense with the then archbishop, Edwin Morris. At an earlier date Simon had criticised the ceremonial attached to the Gorsedd of Bards.

Pastorally Simon had excellent communication skills with children but was somewhat less at ease with adolescents.His forthright expression commended itself however to university students and gained him considerable popularity.(see Rowan Williams in "Sources").

Paradoxically Simon comes across as a brilliant bishop of Llandaff but less successful as Archbishop of Wales, a post which he held concomitantly in the late sixties and in which he merged into the "Welsh Establishment", playing a prominent role at the investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales (1969).(Politically he can nevertheless be said to have enhanced the role of the archbishopric paving the way to his successor's effective opposition to Mrs.Thatcher over the question of funding a Welsh television channel).

Simon married Sheila Roberts, a native Welsh speaker, in 1941. They had four children, one of whom died young. One of his sons is the art historian and critic Robin Simon. Sheila died in 1963.

Simon remarried in 1970 and retired to Goathurst, Somerset. He died in hospital at Taunton in 1972.

References

↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
↑ Jones, Owain W. "Glyn Simon, His Life and Opinions", Gower Press, 1981, pp. 97-99

Sources

Williams, Rowan, "Simon, (William) Glyn Hughes", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press), 2004–2012
O. W. Jones, Glyn Simon, His Life and Opinions (Gower Press, 1981)
P. Ferris, The Church of England (Penguin, 1964)

Works

The Origins of the Church in Wales, and her History up to the Reformation (Welsh Church Congress),1953.
Torch Commentary I Corinthians, 1959.
Then and Now (primary visitation),1961.
The Landmark,1962.
Feeding the Flock, 1964.
A Time of Change (second visitation),1966.
transl. of J. Danielou, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, 1961.
ed. Bishops, 1961

Church in Wales titles
Preceded by Edward William Williamson	Bishop of Swansea and Brecon 1953–1957	Succeeded by John James Absalom Thomas
Preceded by John Morgan	Bishop of Llandaff 1957–1971	Succeeded by Eryl Thomas
Preceded by Edwin Morris	Archbishop of Wales 1968–1971	Succeeded by Gwilym Williams

v t e Bishops of Swansea and Brecon

Edward Bevan John Morgan Edward Williamson Glyn Simon John Thomas Benjamin Vaughan Dewi Bridges Anthony Pierce John Davies

v t e Bishops of Llandaff

High Medieval	Joseph Herewald Urban Uhtred Nicholas ap Gwrgant William de Saltmarsh Henry de Abergavenny William de Goldcliff Elias de Radnor William de Christchurch William de Burgh John de la Ware William de Radnor William de Braose Philip de Staunton

Late Medieval	John de Monmouth Alexander de Monmouth John de Egglescliffe John Paschal Rodger Cradock Thomas Rushhook William Bottlesham Edmund Bromfeld Robert Tideman of Winchcombe Andrew Barret John Burghill Thomas Peverel John de la Zouche John Wells Nicholas Ashby John Hunden John Smith John Marshall John Ingleby

Early modern	Miles Salley George de Athequa Robert Holgate Anthony Kitchin Hugh Jones William Blethyn Gervase Babington William Morgan Francis Godwin George Carleton Theophilus Feild William Murray Morgan Owen Hugh Lloyd Francis Davies William Lloyd William Beaw John Tyler Robert Clavering John Harris Matthias Mawson John Gilbert Edward Cresset Richard Newcome John Ewer Jonathan Shipley Hon Shute Barrington Richard Watson

Late modern	Herbert Marsh William Van Mildert Charles Sumner Edward Copleston Alfred Ollivant Richard Lewis Pritchard Hughes Timothy Rees John Morgan (Archbishop of Wales) Glyn Simon (Archbishop of Wales) Eryl Thomas John Poole-Hughes Roy Davies Barry Morgan (Archbishop of Wales)

Archbishops of Wales

Alfred Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph
Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor
David Prosser, Bishop of St David's
John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff
Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth
Glyn Simon, Bishop of Llandaff
Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor
Derrick Childs, Bishop of Monmouth
George Noakes, Bishop of St David's
Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph
Rowan Williams, Bishop of Monmouth
Barry Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff

Authority control	VIAF: 70087226

Persondata
Name	Simon, Glyn
Alternative names
Short description	British bishop
Date of birth	1903
Place of birth
Date of death	1972
Place of death

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