A. Nutter Thomas

Arthur Nutter Thomas (11 December 1869 – 10 April 1954), commonly referred to as Dr Nutter Thomas or A. Nutter Thomas, was the Anglican Bishop of Adelaide, South Australia, from 1906 to 1940.^[1]

Early life

Nutter Thomas was born in Hackney, London, to Charles James Thomas and his wife Mary Matilda Thomas, née Nutter.^[2] He was educated at Pembroke College of the University of Cambridge and was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1893, a master's degree in 1895 and a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1906.^[3] He was made deacon on 20 May 1894, by Walsham How, Bishop of Wakefield, at Wakefield Cathedral;^[4] ordained priest the following year;^[5] and consecrated a bishop on Candlemas 1906 (2 February) at Westminster Abbey, by Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury.^[6] He arrived in South Australia two months later with his wife. On retirement he had spent over 34 years as a bishop, the longest for an Anglican bishop in Australia at that time.^[2]

Thomas's episcopacy as Bishop of Adelaide was contemporaneous with the 40-year incumbency at St George's Church, Goodwood of Canon Percy Wise, with whom he had a long and frosty relationship, Thomas being a traditional Anglican, a follower of the Book of Common Prayer, and Wise being radically Anglo-Catholic.

Family

Nutter Thomas married Mary Theodora Lewis before leaving England. They had two daughters and a son, all born at Bishop's Court, North Adelaide.

• Ursula Nutter Thomas (10 January 1908 – ) married the Rev. William C. S. Johnson^[7] on 20 April 1937
• M(ary) Katherine Nutter Thomas (16 August 1910 – ) married the Rt Rev. Hubert Baddeley on 13 November 1935. He was Bishop of Melanesia from 1932 to 1947.^[8]
• Christopher Nutter Thomas^[9] (11 July 1912 – ) was appointed curate to the Rev. F. E. Thornton, at Holy Trinity Church, Kew, Victoria, in 1946.^[10]

References

1. Reed, Thomas T (1969). A history of the cathedral church of St. Peter Adelaide. Adelaide: Lutheran Press. p. 55.
2. Lionel E. W. Renfrey (1990). Australian Dictionary of Biography: Thomas, Arthur Nutter (1869–1954). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
3. "Thomas, Arthur Nutter (THMS888AN)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. "Ordinations on Sunday Last". Church Times. No. 1635. 25 May 1894. p. 565. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 9 March 2020 – via UK Press Online archives.
5. Malden Richard (ed) (1920). Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1920 (51st edn). London: The Field Press. p. 1.
6. "Consecration of bishops". Church Times. No. 2246. 9 February 1906. p. 167. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 9 March 2020 – via UK Press Online archives.
7. "Rev. W. C. S. Johnson Retires". Victor Harbour Times. Vol. 60, no. 2, 648. South Australia. 12 January 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "New Church Appointment". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 89, no. 27523. South Australia. 21 December 1946. p. 10. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "Sons of Prominent Adelaide Men". The News (Adelaide). Vol. XIV, no. 2, 036. South Australia. 24 January 1930. p. 8. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
10. "About People". The Age. No. 28524. Victoria, Australia. 25 September 1946. p. 2. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.

Further reading

• Renfrey, L. E. W. (1988). Arthur Nutter Thomas, Bishop of Adelaide, 1906-1940. Adelaide: The Author. ISBN 0731650077.

Anglican Communion titles
Preceded by John Harmer	Bishop of Adelaide 1906–1940	Succeeded by Bryan Robin

External links

  Media related to A. Nutter Thomas at Wikimedia Commons