Dean of the Chapel Royal

Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's Chapel Royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the Royal Household and ministers to it.

England

In England, the Dean of the Chapel Royal was appointed by royal warrant and appointed its officers and staff. The office of dean (dating from 1312) has been by custom held by the Bishop of London since 1748. In practice, the chapel, its choir, and the various chapel buildings associated with it come under the oversight of the Sub-Dean, who is the Queen's residential chaplain.

Office-holders

• c.1412: Richard Kingston (Archdeacon of Hereford, c.1380–1405)
• 1502: William Atwater
• c.1570: William Day
• 1617: Lancelot Andrewes (Bishop of Ely, 1609–1619)
• 1626: William Laud (Bishop of St David's, 1621–1627 and Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1626–1628)
• 1643–?1651: Richard Steward (Provost of Eton and Dean of St Paul's (but not installed), 1642–1651))
• 1660: Gilbert Sheldon (Bishop of London, 1660–1663)
• 1663: George Morley (Bishop of Winchester, 1662–1684)
• 1668: Herbert Croft (Bishop of Hereford, 1661–1691)
• 1669: Walter Blandford (Bishop of Oxford, 1665–1671 and Bishop of Worcester, 1671–1675)
• 1675: Hon. Henry Compton (Bishop of London, 1675–1713)
• 1685: Hon. Nathaniel Crew (Bishop of Durham 1674–1721)
• 1689: Hon. Henry Compton (Bishop of London, 1675–1713)
• 1713: John Robinson (Bishop of London, 1713–1723)
• 1718: William Talbot (Bishop of Salisbury, 1715–1722)
• 1721–1748: Edmund Gibson (Bishop of London, 1723–1748)

• For deans after 1748 see Bishop of London

Scotland

In Scotland, the title first appears in the fifteenth century, when it may have referred to a prebend in the church of St Mary on the Rock, St Andrews. In 1501 James IV founded a new Chapel Royal in Stirling Castle, but from 1504 onwards the deanery was held by successive Bishops of Galloway with the title of Bishop of the Chapel Royal and authority over all the royal palaces within Scotland. The deanery was annexed to the bishopric of Dunblane in 1621, and the Chapel Royal was removed to Holyrood.

The office of Dean was suppressed with the abolition of prelacy in 1689, and the revenues of the Chapel Royal reverted to the Crown. Grants from these revenues were made to individual Church of Scotland ministers and from 1727 onwards part was allocated to three royal chaplains, known collectively as the Deans of the Chapel Royal. Replacement of these chaplains by professors of the Divinity Faculties in the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, Edinburgh University and the University of St Andrews took place between 1860 and 1868. In 1886 the office of Dean was revived and united by royal warrant to that of Dean of the Thistle, eventually being separated in 1969.

Office-holders since revival

• 1887-1910: The Very Revd James Cameron Lees
• 1910-1926: The Rt Revd Andrew Wallace Williamson
• 1926-1969: The Very Revd Charles Laing Warr
• 1969-1973: The Very Revd James Boyd Longmuir
• 1974-1981: The Very Revd Hugh Osborne Douglas
• 1981-1991: The Very Revd Robert Alexander Stewart Barbour
• 1991-1996: The Very Revd William James Morris
• 1996-2006: The Very Revd James Harkness, KCVO CB OBE
• 2006–present: The Very Revd John B. Cairns

Ireland

The Chapel Royal (Irish: Séipéal Ríoga) in Dublin Castle was the official Church of Ireland chapel of the Household of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1814 until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The chaplain of the Lord Lieutenant is styled Dean of the Chapel Royal.

Office holders

• 1819–? Hugh Usher Tighe
• 1862–? Charles Graves
• 1866-1868 William Connor Magee
• 1868–? Hercules Henry Dickinson
• 1905–1913 Reginald Godfrey Michael Webster
• Charles William O’Hara Mease

See also

• Religion in the United Kingdom
• Chapel Royal
• Clerk of the Closet
• Ecclesiastical Household