Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Cosmo Gordon Lang
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|British archbishop (1864β1945)}} {{pp-move-indef}} {{Use British English|date=April 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = bishop | honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|MRevd|&RHPC}} | name = Cosmo Lang | honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCVO|GCStJ|PC}} | title = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] | image = Archb. York LCCN2014716215.jpg | caption = Archbishop Lang in 1920 | province = [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]] | diocese = [[Diocese of Canterbury|Canterbury]] | see = | enthroned = {{start date|1928|12|4|df=y}} | ended = {{end date|1942|05|31|df=y}} | predecessor = [[Randall Davidson]] | successor = [[William Temple (bishop)|William Temple]] | other_post = | previous_post = {{ubl|[[Archbishop of York]] (1909β1928) | [[Bishop of Stepney]] (1901β1909)}} <!---------- Orders ----------> | ordination = {{ubl|1890 (deacon) | 24 May 1891 (priest)}} | ordained_by = | consecration = 1 May 1901 | consecrated_by = [[Frederick Temple]] <!---------- Personal details ----------> | birth_name = William Cosmo Gordon Lang | birth_date = {{Birth date|1864|10|31|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Fyvie|Fyvie Manse]], Aberdeenshire, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age |1945|12|05 |1864|10|31 |df=yes}} | death_place = [[Municipal Borough of Richmond (Surrey)|Richmond]], Surrey, England | buried = Chapel of St Stephen Martyr, [[Canterbury Cathedral]] | nationality = | religion = [[Anglican]] | residence = [[Lambeth Palace]] (while in office) | parents = | spouse = | children = | occupation = | profession = | alma_mater = {{ubl|[[University of Glasgow]]|[[Balliol College, Oxford]]}} | signature = Cosmo Gordon Lang Signature.svg }} '''William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|GCVO|GCStJ|PC|size=100%|sep=,}} (31 October 1864 β 5 December 1945) was a Scottish [[Church of England|Anglican]] [[prelate]] who served as [[Archbishop of York]] (1908β1928) and [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] (1928β1942). His elevation to Archbishop of York, within 18 years of his [[ordination]], was the most rapid in modern [[Church of England]] history. As Archbishop of Canterbury during the [[abdication crisis]] of 1936, he took a strong moral stance, his comments in a subsequent broadcast being widely condemned as uncharitable towards the departed king. The son of a Scots [[Church of Scotland|Presbyterian]] minister, Lang abandoned the prospect of a legal and political career to train for the [[Anglican ministry|Anglican priesthood]]. Beginning in 1890, his early ministry was served in slum parishes in [[Leeds]] and [[Portsmouth]], except for brief service as Vicar of the [[University Church of St Mary the Virgin]] in Oxford. In 1901 he was appointed [[suffragan]] [[Bishop of Stepney]] in London, where he continued his work among the poor. He also served as a [[Canon (priest)|canon]] of [[St Paul's Cathedral]], London. In 1908 Lang was nominated as Archbishop of York, despite his relatively junior status as a suffragan rather than a [[diocesan bishop]]. His religious stance was broadly [[Anglo-Catholic]], tempered by the [[liberal Anglo-Catholicism]] advocated in the ''[[Lux Mundi (book)|Lux Mundi]]'' essays. He consequently entered the [[House of Lords]] as a [[Lord Spiritual]] and caused consternation in traditionalist circles by speaking and voting against the Lords' proposal to reject [[David Lloyd George]]'s 1909 "[[People's Budget]]". This radicalism was not maintained in subsequent years. At the start of the First World War, Lang was heavily criticised for a speech in which he spoke sympathetically of the [[Wilhelm II|German Emperor]]. This troubled him greatly and may have contributed to the rapid ageing which affected his appearance during the war years. After the war he began to promote church unity and at the 1920 [[Lambeth Conference]] was responsible for the Church's Appeal to All Christian People. As Archbishop of York he supported controversial proposals for the [[1928 Prayer Book|1928 revision]] of the [[Book of Common Prayer]] but, after acceding to Canterbury, he took no practical steps to resolve this issue. Lang became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1928. He presided over the [[1930 Lambeth Conference]], which gave limited church approval to the use of [[contraception]]. After denouncing the [[Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935]] and strongly condemning [[European antisemitism]], Lang later supported the [[Appeasement#Conduct of appeasement, 1937β1939|appeasement]] policies of the British government. In May 1937 he presided over the [[coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth]]. On retirement in 1942 Lang was raised to the peerage as Baron Lang of Lambeth and continued to attend and speak in House of Lords debates until his death in 1945. Lang himself believed that he had not lived up to his own high standards. Others have praised his qualities of industry, his efficiency and his commitment to his calling.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)