Raymond Renowden

Charles Raymond Renowden (known as Raymond; 27 October 1923 – 15 May 2000)[1] was a Welsh Anglican priest[2] and author[3] in the mid-20th century.

Renowden was born into an ecclesiastical family.[4] Raymond went to school at Llandyssul Grammar School.[5] He was educated at St David's College Lampeter and then Selwyn College, and Ridley College, Cambridge. At Lampeter, he took a first in theology.[5] He recollected that when he first came to Lampeter many of the facilities were reserved for schoolboys who had been evacuated from Wycliffe College School in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire and were therefore out of bounds for undergraduates.[5] During his time as an undergraduate, he also served in the Home Guard.[6] In 1944 he joined the Army Intelligence Corps; he was posted to India, where he became fluent in Japanese.[6] He was posted to Japan late in 1945 and even accompanied Emperor Hirohito on a visit to see the ruins of Hiroshima.[6] Renowden was ordained in 1952,[7] and began his career with a curacy at Hubberston.[8] He returned to Lampeter to lecture in Philosophy and Theology from 1955 to 1971.[9] He became head of his department in 1957.[1] Generations of students remembered his meticulously prepared, systematic lectures.[6] His wife, Ruth Cecil Mary Renowden, was a part-time lecturer in mathematics.[5] In 1971, he was appointed Dean of St Asaph,[10] a post he held for 21 years. For 17 of those years, he was also vicar of St Asaph's parish church and of two nearby villages.[1]

References

1. Telegraph Obituary
2. Deans of Asaph
3. Amongst others he wrote "The Idea of Unity", 1965; "New Patterns of Ministry", 1973; "The Rôle of a Cathedral Today and Tomorrow", 1974; and "A Genial Kind Divine, Watkin Herbert Williams" 1845–1944", 1998 > British Library web site accessed 8:43 GMT Monday 12 April 2009
4. His father was the Revd Charles Renowden, sometime Vicar of Dafen, Carmarthenshire> “Who was Who” 1897-2007 London, A & C Black, 2007 ISBN 978-0-19-954087-7 and his brother the Ven Glyndwr Renowden, RAF Chaplain-in-Chief
5. Evans, Pushka (March 2016). "The Very Reverend Raymond Renowden and the 70th anniversary VJ day commemorations" (PDF). The Link. 69: 6.
6. Bissa, Errietta. "Lampeter and the Atomic Bomb – UWTSD Humanities Blog". Retrieved 23 March 2020.
7. "Crockford's clerical directory, 1995" (Lambeth,Church House ISBN 0-7151-8088-6)
8. "Who's Who 1992 "(London, A & C Black ISBN 0-7136-3514-2)
9. "Debrett's People of Today 1992" (London, Debrett's) ISBN 1-870520-09-2)
10. The Times, Thursday, 4 February 1971; pg. 16; Issue 58090; col D Church news