On Tuesday 3 March, the Bishop of Dorking, The Rt Reverend Paul Davies, announced the death of The Rt Revd Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford. He died peacefully, surrounded by his family.
The news comes less than a month after Bishop Andrew announced that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. On sharing his bleak prognosis with the wider diocese, he reassured them that he was “cheerfully persisting towards a good death”, and that his “faith in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, had only grown stronger”.
Bishop Julian Henderson, President, Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), said:
“CEEC is deeply saddened by the news of Bishop Andrew Watson’s death.
“We give thanks for the life and ministry of our dear brother, Bishop Andrew, whose faithful service to the life of the Church of England, and to those he ministered to and shepherded, will leave a lasting mark. His leadership was marked by humility, wisdom, and a wholehearted commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“We pray for Beverly, their children, their friends and the whole diocese as they grieve his loss. We pray that the grace of God may prove sufficient for this time of grief and transition.”
Bishop Andrew was born in 1961 and grew up in Buckinghamshire and Hampshire. Andrew read law at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, returning in 1984 where he took a second degree in Theology whilst training for ordained ministry at Ridley Hall. He was ordained in the Diocese of Worcester in 1987 and served his curacy in Redditch. He subsequently moved to the Diocese of London, serving first in Notting Hill and then as vicar of St Stephen’s Twickenham.
In 2008, Andrew was appointed as Suffragan Bishop of Aston in the Diocese of Birmingham before his translation to Diocesan Bishop of Guildford in 2014.
In recent years, he has been a member of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC).
Bishop Andrew is survived by his wife Beverly, four children and three grandchildren, as well as his mother and three siblings.
You can read the announcement on the Diocese of Guildford website and you can sign an online condolence book here.
