Hugo de Waal


Hugo Ferdinand de Waal was Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge from 1978 to 1991 and the suffragan Bishop of Thetford from 1992 until 2000.
He was born at Jember on East Java and educated at Tonbridge School and Pembroke College, Cambridge before embarking on an ecclesiastical career with a curacy at St Martin in the Bull Ring after which he was Chaplain at his old college then Rector of Dry Drayton. Following this he was Vicar of St John the Evangelist, Blackpool and then Principal of Ridley Hall theological college in Cambridge.
He was made a deacon on Trinity Sunday 1960 at St James' Church, Handsworth and ordained a priest the Trinity Sunday following at St Augustine's Church, Edgbaston — both times by Leonard Wilson, Bishop of Birmingham; he was consecrated a bishop on 17 January 1992 at Westminster Abbey.
In retirement he continued to serve the Church as an honorary assistant bishop within the Diocese in Europe until his death.