John Gibbs (15 March 1917 – 20 December 2007) was an Anglicanbishop. He was the Bishop of Coventry in the Church of England from 1976 until 1985. He was the first Church of England bishop in modern times to have started his ministry in the nonconformist tradition.[1]
Born in Heywood, Lancashire in 1917, he left school to begin work before entering Western College, Bristol[2] for training as a Congregational Minister. He was ordained in 1943, the year of his marriage, and served as minister of Sarisbury Green Congregational Church, Hampshire, and Garstang Road Congregational Church, Preston, Lancashire.
One of his proudest achievements was founding Myton Hamlet Hospice and when he retired to Minchinhampton near Stroud, Gloucestershire[13] he was a leading figure in helping to start the Cotswold Care Hospice. In July 2006, while visiting his daughter near Cambridge he became completely paralysed from mid chest downwards. He found a new home in the Hope Nursing Home in Cambridge where he died on 20 December 2007 aged 90.
^"Crockford's Clerical Directory" (Lambeth Palace, Church House) 1982 ISBN0-19-200010-1
^Influence discussed in article Education and Schooling by Francis,L.J in "The Church of England Today and Tomorrow:an agenda for the future" Hannaford, R(Ed): Leominster, Gracewing, 1998 ISBN0-85244-300-5
^"The Church Teacher" Gibbs,J London, Children's Council Church House, 1970 ISBN1-873576-14-5
^Diocese of Chelmsford, suffragan bishopric of Bradwell, Essex Who's Who (Ibid)