Cuthbert Thicknesse

The Very Rev Cuthbert Carroll Thicknesse[1] (19 November 1887 – 2 June 1971) was Dean of St Albans[2] from 1936[3] until his retirement in 1955.

Born into an ecclesiastical family of Lancashire landed gentry,[4] the son of Ven. Francis Norman Thicknesse,[5] and educated at Marlborough and Keble College, Oxford, he was ordained in 1913.[6] He was firstly a Curate of St John-at-Hackney[7] and then a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces, during which time he married Rhoda Oonah Marjorie Madan Pratt.[8] He was wounded at Ypres and became Rector of Badsworth,[9] after which he was Rector of Wigan Parish Church[10] and an Honorary Chaplain to the King before his elevation to the Deanery. A fierce opponent of nuclear weapons,[11] he refused to hold a service of celebration in St Albans Cathedral at the cessation of the war with Japan in August 1945.[12] He was described in his obituary as “a high church man and convinced Anglican”.[13]

References

1. NPG details
2. National Archives details
3. New Dean Of St. Albans Appointment Of Canon Thicknesse The Times Thursday, Mar 05, 1936; pg. 14; Issue 47315; col G
4. Burke's Landed Gentry, 1871, vol. II, pg 1370
5. Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1969, Kelly's Directories, pg 1925
6. Burke’s Peerage
7. "Parish web site". Archived from the original on 2009-03-30. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
8. Peerage News
9. Crockford's Clerical Directory1940-41 Oxford, OUP,1941
10. Wigan Parish Church Incumbents
11. Opposition to nuclear weapons
12. Obituary Dean Thicknesse The Times Thursday, Jun 03, 1971; pg. 17; Issue 58189; col G
13. Times Obituary (ibid)

Church of England titles
Preceded by Edward Lowry Henderson	Dean of St Albans 1936 –1955	Succeeded by Arthur Kenneth Mathews