VETERAN ARCHBISHOP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 272, 7 February 1928, Page 1

VETERAN ARCHBISHOP

Record For Four Hundred Years By Cable. — Press Association. — Copyright. Received 11.10 a.m. LONDON, Monday THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Randall Davidson, was widely congratulated to-day on the completion of a quarter .of a century’s primateship, which is a record for 400 years. The Archbishop will celebrate his 80th birthday on April 7 and his golden wedding on November 12 of this year. The Archbishop presided at a meeting of the Church Assembly to-day. When he entered the room there was a burst of applause and the whole Assembly rose in greeting. The Archbishop of York spoke of Dr. Davidson's singled-minded, wise and beneficent rule of the Church and of the admiration, trust and affection which the whole Church had toward him. The Archbishop of York announced that a committee had been appointed in order that some special token might be presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury in this outstanding year.—A. and N.Z.-Sun.

The Most Reverend Randall Thomas Davidson, who was born in I<US is the son of .Henry Davidson, of Muirhouse, Edinburgh. In IS7B he married a daughter of Archbishop Campbell Tait, who was Archbishop *2pontprburv from IS6B to 1883, and whose private secretary he was. The See of Canterbury was founded in 597 4„D. by Ethelbert, King of Kent St Augustine being Archbishop for seven years. His successors, for the first few centuries held office for comparatively short periods. William Warham’s term of 30 years as Archbishop .of Canterbury (from 1503 to 1533) gave him the distinction of having held the office longer than any of the 97 occupants of the See. The next longest term was that of Archbishop Cranmer, 23 years, from 1533 to 1556. The See was vacant from 1645 to 1660. The office carries a salary of £15,000 a year.