Arthur Kenneth Mathews
OBE
DSC was
Dean of St Albans from 1955
[1] until 1963.
[2]
He was born into an ecclesiastical family
[3] on 11 May 1906 and educated at
Monkton Combe School
[4] and
Balliol College, Oxford, where he met his future brother-in-law
Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor through the Balliol Boys' Club, of which they were successively president. He was
ordained in 1933. His first post was as a
Curate at
Penistone after which he was
Padre to the
Tanker Fleet of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and then
Vicar of
Forest Row. When
World War II came he enlisted as a
Chaplain in the
RNVR during which he served on HMS Norfolk and was decorated twice for gallantry - in successful engagements against the German battleships
Bismarck (in 1941) and
Scharnhorst (in 1943). When peace returned he was
Vicar of
Rogate (1946–54) and
Rural Dean of
Midhurst (1950–54) before his elevation to the
Deanery. After this he was
Rector of St Peter’s,
Peebles
[5] (1963–68) and Vicar of Thursley (1968-1976) before retiring in 1976.
[6] "A sailor's padre to the end",
[7] he died on 18 December 1992.
He was married twice: in 1936 to Agnes Elisabeth (Betty) Butler (who died in 1981) and in 1987 to Diana Goschen (who survived him). [8] He had no children.
Arthur Kenneth Mathews
OBE
DSC was
Dean of St Albans from 1955
[1] until 1963.
[2]
He was born into an ecclesiastical family
[3] on 11 May 1906 and educated at
Monkton Combe School
[4] and
Balliol College, Oxford, where he met his future brother-in-law
Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor through the Balliol Boys' Club, of which they were successively president. He was
ordained in 1933. His first post was as a
Curate at
Penistone after which he was
Padre to the
Tanker Fleet of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and then
Vicar of
Forest Row. When
World War II came he enlisted as a
Chaplain in the
RNVR during which he served on HMS Norfolk and was decorated twice for gallantry - in successful engagements against the German battleships
Bismarck (in 1941) and
Scharnhorst (in 1943). When peace returned he was
Vicar of
Rogate (1946–54) and
Rural Dean of
Midhurst (1950–54) before his elevation to the
Deanery. After this he was
Rector of St Peter’s,
Peebles
[5] (1963–68) and Vicar of Thursley (1968-1976) before retiring in 1976.
[6] "A sailor's padre to the end",
[7] he died on 18 December 1992.
He was married twice: in 1936 to Agnes Elisabeth (Betty) Butler (who died in 1981) and in 1987 to Diana Goschen (who survived him). [8] He had no children.