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Geoffrey Rowell

Bishop in Europe; Bishop of Basingstoke; British Anglican bishop

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ437005
Source-derived summary

Douglas Geoffrey Rowell (; 13 February 1943 – 11 June 2017) was an Anglican bishop and historian. He served as Bishop of Basingstoke and then as the third Bishop in Europe until his retirement on 8 November 2013. Following his retirement he ministered as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Chichester (from 2013) and in the Diocese of Portsmouth (from 2015). He died in the early morning of Trinity Sunday, 11 June 2017.

Early life and education

Rowell was born on 13 February 1943 in Alton, Hampshire, England. He was the eldest son of Cecil Victor Rowell (1908–1997), an engineer, and Kate Rowell (née Hunter; 1905–1995), a teacher of sick children. Having passed the eleven-plus, he was educated at Eggar's Grammar School, the state grammar school in Alton. He was then awarded a Hampshire County Council scholarship and finished his schooling at Winchester College, then an all-boys independent boarding school.

Rowell was educated at Eggar's Grammar School, a state grammar school, and then, having received a Hampshire County Council scholarship, at Winchester College, then an all-boys independent boarding school. He studied theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1964: as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree in 1968.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Geoffrey Rowell” as bishop in Europe; Bishop of Basingstoke; British Anglican bishop. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1943, 2017, 2013, 2015—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1943-02-13. The account is most persuasive where Geoffrey, Rowell and Bishop can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as bishop in Europe; Bishop of Basingstoke; British Anglican bishop. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q437005. VIAF identifies the subject as 9862176. The Library of Congress control number is n83074036. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 2017, 2013 and 2015.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Geoffrey Rowell”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Geoffrey Rowell primary sources, Geoffrey Rowell archive and Geoffrey research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Geoffrey Rowell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.