John Kempthorne (bishop)
John Augustine Kempthorne was an Anglican Bishop in the first half of the twentieth century.
John Augustine Kempthorne was the son of the Rev. John Kempthorne, Vicar of Trumpington. He was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College, Cambridge. His first post after ordination was as a curate at St Aidan’s, Gateshead. He then held incumbencies at Rochdale, Sunderland, Liverpool and Hessle before elevation to the Episcopate in March 1910 as Bishop of Hull, a Suffragan to the Archbishop of York. He was appointed Bishop of Lichfield in May 1913, and retired in 1937.
A Christian pacifist, Kempthorne believed war was inconsistent with Christianity. The weekend before the start of the First World War he had attended a conference in Kinstanz, Germany, as part of a world alliance for promoting friendship through churches. Whilst he was prepared to work for peace, his pacifism did not extend to rejection of the war, given the UK's obligations to Belgium. He did, however, preach several times about the need to avoid reprisals.
He died on 24 February 1946.
