An Assistant Chaplain General in the British Army has been named as a new Archdeacon for the Anglican Diocese of Leeds.
Canon Jonathan Gough, who served in Afghanistan, will be the next Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven, based in the Ripon Episcopal Area and working with clergy and parishes across the Dales and beyond, it was announced today.
Jonathan grew up in rural Devon and trained for ordination at Lampeter and Oxford.
He was a curate in North Devon and in Gloucester, before joining the Royal Army Chaplains Department in 1989.
He served as an Army chaplain in garrisons and training units in the UK and in Germany, and deployed with soldiers on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo.
His service included tours of duty as Senior Chaplain to Catterick Garrison, and to the Army Foundation College, Harrogate.
In 2001 he left the Regular Army to become Ecumenical Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, working for both Dr George Carey and Dr Rowan Williams.
At the end of this time he was appointed an Honorary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Nicosia.
In 2005 he returned to regular military service, deploying to Iraq, and later to Afghanistan as the Senior Chaplain to the British Forces. He returned to northern England as the regional senior chaplain for Yorkshire and the North East in 2011-14.
He is presently an Assistant Chaplain General at Headquarters Regional Command, based in Aldershot.
He is married to Canon Flora Winfield, who is the present Archbishop of Canterbury's Representative to the Commonwealth and an Army Reserve chaplain.
The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines welcomed Jonathan to his new role:
“I am delighted that Jonathan Gough is coming to serve with us as the next Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven.
“He brings wide and deep experience of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. His experience of Army Chaplaincy is second to none.
“I look forward to welcoming Jonathan and Flora to Yorkshire in the Spring next year’.
Jonathan is looking forward to making his home in North Yorkshire, and to getting to know the clergy and parishes of the archdeaconry.
He is deeply committed to supporting the Church of England's ministry in rural areas, and hopes to enable and support the development of mission in local settings.
Jonathan's interests include the countryside, history, ecumenism (and the history of ecumenism), classical and baroque music, and fly-fishing.
Note:
The Church of England Diocese of Leeds is composed of five Episcopal Areas, Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Ripon and Wakefield.
A bishop and an archdeacon oversee and nurture the work of the church in each EA and the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines is the head of the diocese.