Rodney Eden


George Rodney Eden was an Anglican bishop, Bishop of Dover and then Bishop of Wakefield.

Background

He was born in Sunderland, the son of John Patrick Eden, Rector of Sedgefield and an honorary canon of Durham Cathedral; they were descended from Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet. He was educated at Reading School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. His daughter Dorothy — herself mentioned in dispatches during World War I — married a clergyman, Clement Ricketts, who became Bishop of Dunwich. Eden died at Harpenden and was buried at Great Haseley.

Career

He began his ecclesiastical career as Chaplain to Joseph Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham. After being Vicar at Bishop Auckland — in latter years he was also Rural Dean — he began what his Times obituary described as "nearly forty years of quiet but efficient service to the episcopate".
While serving as Bishop suffragan of Dover in the Diocese of Canterbury, he was also Archdeacon of Canterbury and a canon residentiary of Canterbury Cathedral; he was translated to Wakefield in 1897, where he was the diocesan bishop until his retirement in 1928. He served as Chair of the Education Committee of the Church of England National Assembly.