Name De Batty Role Rector | Died April 3, 1961 | |
Books Francis de Witt Batty, the Bishop, the Leader, the Man: Memoirs and Extracts from His Writings Education Balliol College, St Paul's School, London | ||
Francis de Witt Batty (known as De Witt; 10 January 1879 – 3 April 1961) was the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle (Australia) from 1931 until his retirement in 1958.
De Witt Batty was educated at St Paul's School, London and Balliol College, Oxford He was ordained in 1903 and his first position was as a curate at Hornsey where he was asked a year later by the outgoing rector, St Clair Donaldson, to accompany him as his chaplain when Donaldson was appointed Archbishop of Brisbane. In 1915 he was appointed a residential canon at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and in 1925 the cathedral's dean. He was ordained to the episcopate in 1930. He once called his see "the most enviable diocese in Australia".
In his obituary in The Times, he was described as being "one of the most outstanding Englishmen ever to dedicate his life to public service in Australia".