View source for Eric James (priest)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Eric Arthur James''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FKC|AKC}} (14 April 1925&nbsp;– 1 May 2012) was an Anglican priest, [[Chaplain Extraordinary]] to [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|HM the Queen]], and for many years a regular participant in the "[[Thought for the Day]]" feature of [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]'' programme.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9241680/Canon-Eric-James.html Obituary: Canon Eric James], ''Daily Telegraph'', 2 May 2012</ref> He was associated with [[St Albans Cathedral]] for some years.
==Early life==
James was born in Essex. He left [[The Sydney Russell School|Dagenham County High School]] in [[Dagenham]], [[Essex]], at fourteen, when the [[World War II|Second World War]] broke out, and worked for seven years at a riverside wharf on the [[Thames]] where the [[Globe Theatre]] now stands. After the war, he was accepted as a student by [[King's College London]], where he studied theology, gaining [[Master of Arts]] and [[Bachelor of Divinity]] degrees.
==Career==
After he was ordained he became Assistant Curate of St Stephen with St John, Westminster, from 1951 to 1955.
He was Chaplain of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] from 1955 to 1959, and thereby became associated with some of the best known clerics of his generation: [[Mervyn Stockwood]], [[John Robinson (bishop of Woolwich)|John Robinson]] (author of the bestseller ''[[Honest to God]]''), [[Robert Runcie]], and [[Trevor Huddleston]]. He was [[Select Preacher]] from 1959–60 to the [[University of Cambridge]].
From 1959 to 1964 he was Vicar of St George, Camberwell, and Warden of Trinity College Mission. From 1964 to 1969 he was Director of [http://www.parishandpeople.org.uk Parish and People]. From 1964 to 1972 he was also [[Proctor]] in Convocation.
James was made Chaplain to the Queen in 1984 and was Preacher to [[Gray's Inn]] from 1978 to 1997, as well as Director of [[Christian Action]] from 1979 to 1990 and one of the people who inspired the 1985 ''[[Faith in the City]]'' report.<!-- acknowledged in the Preface on page iv of the Report and as a representative of one of the "Resource Bodies and Advisers" --> He was Select Preacher from 1991 to 1992 to the [[University of Oxford]], and was awarded the [[Lambeth degree]] of DD in 1993.
He was also the biographer of [[John Robinson (bishop of Woolwich)|John Robinson]], Bishop of Woolwich.
==Personal life==
He lived in the [[London Charterhouse]]. He died on 1 May 2012.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070812044120/http://www.upso.co.uk/authors/ericjames.asp Eric James's biography on UPSO]
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[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:British chaplains]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Associates of King's College London]]
[[Category:Fellows of King's College London]]
[[Category:20th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:English radio personalities]]
[[Category:English biographers]]
[[Category:People from Essex]]