Jonathan Bailey - Episcopal Career

Episcopal Career

In 1992 he was appointed Bishop of Dunwich. From then until 2001 he chaired the Finance Committee of the Advisory Board of Ministry with responsibility for raising a budget and the funding of ordination colleges, courses and students.

In 1995 he was appointed Bishop of Derby serving the territory of the City and County until retirement in 2005. Throughout that decade he was a director of the Derby City Partnership and a member of the Governing Council of Derby University, where he was also chairman of the Multi-Faith Centre. In 2006 the University awarded him an honorary doctorate. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1999. From 2002 he chaired the Churches Main Committee bringing together the mainstream churches and denominations as a liaison body between them and the machinery of government.

From 1997 until his retirement in 2005 he served as Clerk of the Closet to the Royal Household, an ancient title applied to the senior domestic chaplain to the British monarch. Although a largely honorary post (the Deputy Clerk to the Closet carries out the actual duties of domestic chaplaincy), the post does involve presenting new Bishops to the monarch, and recommending names for possible appointment as royal chaplains and priests-in-ordinary.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 2005 for his services as Clerk of the Closet.

In retirement he served as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Gloucester, an independent member of the Gloucestershire Police Authority and an honorary foundation fellow of the University of Gloucestershire.