The Right Reverend Peter Dawes, who has died aged 94, was Bishop of Derby from 1988 to 1995, the fifth occupant of the see since the diocese was created in 1927; tough and hard-working, he was nevertheless regarded as kind, caring and approachable.
Dawes felt especially committed to helping his diocese prepare for and work through the first ordinations and appointments of women priests. He had himself chaired the Revision Committee of the General Synod of England as it scrutinised and, where necessary, amended the proposed Measure to enable the ordination of women to the priesthood. This included provision for the episcopal care and pastoral oversight of those who could not accept their ministry.
That the Measure was approved, and the first ordinations of women priests in the Church of England eventually took place in 1994, owes much to Dawes’s skill and diplomacy.
A leading Evangelical, he was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England for 25 years, being first elected in 1970 when he was a parish priest in Romford, Essex.
Astringent and witty, he was one of the most adroit experts on the Synod’s procedures, practice and politics, and he joined its Standing Committee in 1975. For five years until 1986, he chaired the Business Committee with the task of steering the Synod through a particularly busy quinquennium of debates, including those that led to the decision in 1985 to allow women to be ordained as deacons.
Peter Spencer Dawes was born on February 5 1928. Following education at Aldenham school and National Service, he went up to Hatfield College, Durham, where he gained a First in Theology. He trained for Holy Orders at Tyndale Hall, Bristol, and was ordained in 1954 to a curacy in London at St Andrew’s, Whitehall Park.
Three years later he went to serve a second curacy at the evangelical stronghold of St. Ebbe’s, Oxford, before being appointed in 1960 as a tutor at Clifton Theological College. There he developed a reputation as a lively teacher and gifted communicator.
In 1965 Dawes became Vicar of the church of The Good Shepherd, Romford, where he served for 15 years, building up a substantial congregation. During this time, he acted as Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Chelmsford and also as a Church of England Commissary to the Bishops of Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Fortunately, the proximity of Romford to London, if not to the Andes, enabled Dawes to fulfil his extra-parochial duties without impinging on his very faithful, godly and productive ministry as a parish priest.
He was appointed Archdeacon of West Ham, Director of Ordinands for the diocese of Chelmsford and Honorary Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral in 1980. He also served on the Advisory Council for the Church’s Ministry which had oversight of the encouragement, selection and training of candidates for ordination.
Dawes was consecrated Bishop of Derby by Archbishop Runcie in 1988. In common with his predecessor, Bishop Cyril Bowles, he was particularly interested in exploring and developing ecumenical ministry. Although firmly rooted in the evangelical tradition, as an archdeacon and as a bishop Dawes related happily to those of other persuasions. He was able to swing a thurible of incense with the panache of the highest of Anglo-Catholics.
His capacity for juggling several tasks at once did not diminish with the weight of episcopal office. He did, however, become a cropper when trying to change a light bulb while standing on a chair atop his kitchen table. The consequent fall resulted in a broken pelvis and a spell in hospital, whence he would send for his secretary so that he could continue working.
He remained a strong advocate for synodical reform. From his long experience of the synodical agenda, he believed that too much time was taken up by the receiving of reports which could be debated at other levels. He also proposed that costs could be cut and more lay people enabled to stand for election if the residential five-day meetings were held just once rather than twice a year, with the addition of two concise weekend meetings, focussed solely on deciding legislative matters rather than holding general debates. He may have been disappointed but not totally surprised that the Synod still maintains two residential meetings a year.
Dawes was equally enthusiastic for electoral reform. A passionate proponent of the single transferable vote, not only in the General Synod but much more widely, he was invited to be a vice-president of the Electoral Reform Society.
A talented hockey player in his youth, Dawes enjoyed following sport and was a keen supporter of the Kent County cricket team. He retired to Cambridgeshire in 1995 and served as Honorary Assistant Bishop in the diocese of Ely until this year.
His wife, Ethel, whom he married in 1954, predeceased him. He is survived by their two sons and two daughters.
The Right Reverend Peter Dawes, born February 2 1928, died November 10 2022
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