Former Bishop of Brechin, Neville Chamberlain, aged 77

Former Bishop of Brechin Neville Chamberlain, has died aged 77.

He was born in Salford in October 1939 and was Bishop of Brechin from 1997-2005.

In 2001 Mr Chamberlain launched the Brechin Lectures to highlight global injustices. He committed himself unreservedly to causes like the civil rights movement in the USA during the 1960s, anti-apartheid, CND, peace in the Middle East and support for those less fortunate.

Ordained in the Church of England in 1964, Mr Chamberlain’s ministry led him to work in an inner-city area of Birmingham with another priest, Malcolm Goldsmith, who was to become his lifelong friend.

Sharing a small salary and a dilapidated house, it was here that Mr Chamberlain developed his ideas on inclusivity and egalitarianism and met his future wife, Diana Brabban. They married shortly after and were together for 45 years until her premature death in 2009.

In 1967 the couple moved to a parish in Maryland, USA, with their newborn son. It was a racially-charged time and Mr Chamberlain embraced the civil rights movement marching alongside the likes of Dr Ralph Abernathy, the Rev Jesse Jackson and Dr Andrew Young.

On returning to England he built a new church, St Michael’s, in Hall Green, Birmingham.

Then, seeking new challenges, he moved his young family to Louth, Lincolnshire.

Without a parish he became a probation officer before becoming head of social responsibility in the Diocese of Lincoln.

Having been made a canon of Lincoln Cathedral he embarked on and delivered many pioneering initiatives. He worked part-time as chaplain in Lincoln Prison, and founded a halfway house for ex-prisoners, hostels for female victims of domestic violence, shelters for the homeless and the first hospice in Lincolnshire.

In 1982 Mr Chamberlain became rector of St John’s Episcopal Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh, and in 1997 he was elected Bishop of Brechin.

Towards the end of his time in Scotland, Mr Chamberlain was invited to lead the Scottish Parliament in its Time for Reflection.

His message was short and succinct, and reflected his own standing: “Mercy has a higher value than justice.” This was also the philosophy conveyed to him personally by his old acquaintance, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

After a three-year battle with Alzheimer’s, Neville Chamberlain died peacefully in his Bruton home with his four children beside him on October 8.

Former Bishop Chamberlain