The Archdeacon of Malmesbury is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Bristol. As such she or he is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within its four rural deaneries: Chippenham, Kingswood and South Gloucestershire, North Wiltshire and Swindon. The current incumbent is The Ven Christine Froude, who has also been Acting Archdeacon of Bristol since December 2012.
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History
The Archdeaconry of North Wilts was created from the Archdeaconry of Bristol in the Diocese of Bristol by Order-in-Council on 12 August 1904 and renamed the Archdeaconry of Swindon on 30 May 1919, due to the bishop's concern over confusion with the similarly-named Archdeaconry of Wilts in Salisbury diocese. In 1999, Alan Hawker, the last recorded Archdeacon of Swindon became the first recorded Archdeacon of Malmesbury; the current Malmesbury archdeaconry covers a very similar area to the 1904 North Wilts archdeaconry.
John Sherman (d. 1671) was said (once, in 1814) to have succeeded Joshua Childrey as "Archdeacon of North Wiltshire" while serving as chaplain to Seth Ward, Bishop of Salisbury; it is well-recorded that Sharman succeeded Childrey as Archdeacon of Salisbury in 1670.