Archbishop Alan Knight, Anglican Senior Primate, Dies
Episcopal News Service. December 13, 1979 [79389]
GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- The Most Rev. Alan John Knight, for 29 years archbishop of the sprawling Anglican Province of the West Indies, died recently. He was the senior bishop of the 440 in attendance at the 1978 Lambeth Conference and the only one who had attended four of the approximately decennial meetings. He was 78.
Archbishop Knight took degrees in history and law from Cambridge University before studying for the priesthood. He was ordained in 1926 and served for ten years as a missionary and teacher in West Africa. He was consecrated bishop of what is now Guyana in 1937 and elected archbishop and metropolitan of the Church of the Province of the West Indies in 1950.
Archbishop Knight was consecrated a bishop by the Most Rev. Cosmo G. Lang, 97th Archbishop of Canterbury, and his death was announced by the Most Rev. Donald Coggan, the 101st. His episcopacy spanned a time when Anglicanism more than doubled in regional or national churches and changed from a largely English-oriented community to a worldwide body of 65 million persons.
The archbishop attended the Lambeth Conferences of 1948, 1958, 1968 and 1978 and, in an interview at his last Lambeth, reflected on some of the changes.
Comparing previous Conferences with 1978, Dr. Knight felt the latter may have been better planned in that not as much was on the agenda. Previous Conferences were longer, he said, sometimes lasting six weeks. He felt three weeks was enough.
"There were so many social events in the past we couldn't possibly take them all in," he said. Deliberations and meetings of each day ended promptly at 5 p. m., and the bishops then dispersed to hotels or homes of friends, meeting wives, attending parties, going to the theater.
"This residential method has advantages," he said. "Living together as we are means we meet more bishops and get to know them. "
The leadership style differed too. Back in 1948, Dr. Knight recalled, the Anglican leader was Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher, who had spent much of his life as a schoolmaster, and gave the assembled bishops a taste of his system. One morning, according to Archbishop Knight, there were some seats empty as the bishops gathered. Said Dr. Fisher: "I notice 12 seats empty and 12 bishops came late. If it happens again, I shall call the names."