HOLTBY, Robert Tinsley 1921-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born February 25, 1921, in Thornton-le-Dale, England; died March 13, 2003, in Malton, North Yorkshire, England. Priest and author. Holtby was a former director of education for the Church of England and Dean of Chichester cathedral. He earned M.A. degrees from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and King's College, Cambridge, in 1946 and 1948 respectively, followed by a B.D. in 1957. Ordained a minister in the Church of England in 1946, he was a curate in Pocklington for two years before becoming a chaplain in the British Armed Forces, serving with the 14/20 Hussars at Catterick, and later in Singapore. Returning to England, he became a chaplain and assistant master of private boys' secondary schools in Malvern and Oxford during the 1950s. From 1959 to 1967 he was canon residentiary and diocesan director of education in Carlisle. This was followed by a decade with the Church of England's Board of Education, for which he was general secretary of the National Society for Promoting Religious Education, beginning in 1967, and secretary of the General Synod Board of Education, beginning in 1974. By the time he became dean of Chichester in 1977, his concern for and experience in education had been well established. While at Chichester, Holtby did much to improve and revive programs in education there, while also raising funds to repair the cathedral's organ and collapsing spire, and increased community awareness of the cathedral in general. He retired as dean emeritus in 1989. Holtby was the author of several books, including Carlisle Cathedral (1971), Chichester Cathedral (1980), Robert Wright Stopford (1988), Bishop William Otter (1989), Eric Milner-White, Dean of York (1991), and The Minister School, York (1994).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Writers Directory, 18th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), April 9, 2003, p. 16. Times (London, England), March 20, 2003.