Arthur Parham
Arthur Groom Parham was an English Anglican bishop who was bishop of Reading from 1942 until 1954.Family and education
Son of Edmund and Ann, Parham was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford then Exeter College, Oxford. He trained for the ministry at Leeds Clergy School and was ordained a deacon on Trinity Sunday 1909 by John Harmer, Bishop of Rochester, at Rochester Cathedral and a priest in 1910.Ministry pre-war
Beginning his ministry with a curacy at Bromley, Kent, he was then appointed chaplain and precentor of Christ Church Cathedral and chaplain of Magdalen College, Oxford ; that period was interrupted with World War I service as a temporary chaplain to the Forces during which he was twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross.When peace returned, he became rector of Easthampstead, then vicar of St Mary's, Reading, and additionally rural dean of Reading ; during this period his became an honorary canon of Christ Church and was first elected a proctor in convocation. Remaining, to start with, vicar of Reading, he became also archdeacon of Berkshire and bishop of Reading, both from 1942–1954. He was ordained and consecrated a bishop by Cosmo Lang, archbishop of Canterbury, at St Paul's Cathedral, on Candlemas 1942. In 1946, he both married Margaret Elizabeth Montagu, with whom he had two daughters, and resigned his vicarage. He retired in 1954 and continued to serve the Church as an assistant bishop within the Diocese of Oxford; at his death, he lived in Little Wittenham, Berkshire, where he died at home.
