Press release from 10 Downing Street. Further information from Winchester diocese.
Appointment of Suffragan Bishop of Southampton: 13 September 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Rhiannon King, Archdeacon of Ipswich and Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, as Suffragan Bishop of Southampton, in the Diocese of Winchester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 13 September 2024The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Rhiannon King, Archdeacon of Ipswich and Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, as Suffragan Bishop of Southampton, in the Diocese of Winchester, in succession to The Right Reverend Deborah Sellin, following her translation to Bishop of Peterborough.
Background
Rhiannon was educated at Exeter University, has two Master’s degrees and trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. She served her title in the Huntingdon Team Ministry in the Diocese of Ely and in 2001 she was ordained priest. From 2004, Rhiannon served as Rector of Fulbourn and the Wilbrahams, a rural multi-parish benefice outside Cambridge, during which time she was elected to General Synod. In 2010 she was appointed Transforming Church Co-ordinator/Diocesan Mission Enabler in the Diocese of Birmingham and, from 2014, she served as the Director of Mission.
In 2019, Rhiannon took up her current roles as Archdeacon of Ipswich and Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.
Three former Bishops of Southampton had previously been diocesans overseas, Macarthur at Bombay, Boutflower at Tokyo and Karney at Johannesburg. Interestingly in the light of the recent appointment of Rhiannon King, in 1906 George Fisher was translated from the suffragan see of Ipswich to the suffragan see of Southampton. There has not, of course, been a Suffragan Bishop of Ipswich since the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich came into being.
Bps of Southampton have, in recent years, moved on to Diocesan posts – Jonathan Gledhill to Lichfield, Paul Butler to Southwell then Durham, Jonathan Frost to Portsmouth (via York Minster),Debbie Sellin to Peterborough
What an absolutely brilliant appointment. I came across Rhiannon when she was in Birmingham and was so impressed by what a wise and joyful priest she was and how perceptive she is. She is one impressive person and I am sure she will be brilliant in Winchester Diocese. Whilst there is low trust in episcopacy in the church at present, I think that people like Rhiannon will be part of rebuilding that through the quality of her ministry.