Flora Winfield

The Right Reverend Flora Winfield DL
Bishop of Selby
Winfield (left) in 2024
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of York
In office	October 2024 to present
Other post(s)	Third Church Estates Commissioner (2022–2024)
Orders
Ordination	1989 (deacon) 1994 (priest)
Consecration	10 October 2024 by Stephen Cottrell
Personal details
Born	Flora Jane Louise Winfield 1964 (age 59–60)
Denomination	Anglicanism
Spouse	Jonathan Gough ​ (before 1985)​
Alma mater	St David's University College, Lampeter Ripon College Cuddesdon

Flora Jane Louise Winfield, DL (born 1964) is a British Anglican priest, military chaplain, diplomat, and author. Since 2022, she has been the Third Church Estates Commissioner. She has worked in parish ministry, including as priest-in-charge of St Mary-at-Hill, City of London (2008–2014), and in academia as chaplain and tutor at Mansfield College, Oxford (1994–1997). Before taking up her current appointment, she held a number of diplomatic posts including Anglican Communion Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2014–2017) and as Archbishop of Canterbury's Special Representative to the Commonwealth (2017–2019), and was then Archbishop of Canterbury's Advisor for Reconciliation (2019–2022).

Early life and education

Winfield was born in 1964. She was educated at Portsmouth High School, an all-girls independent school in Southsea, Portsmouth. She studied at St David's University College, Lampeter, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1985.

Career

From 1986 to 1987, Winfield was a lay worker at Christchurch Abbeydale in Gloucester. She then trained for ordination at Ripon College Cuddesdon between 1987 and 1989. She was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1989. She was then parish deacon at Christ Church, Stantonbury in the Diocese of Oxford for the next three years. From 1992 to 1994, she was "County Ecumenical Officer" for the county of Gloucestershire, supporting local ecumenism as part of Churches Together in England.

In 1994, Winfield was ordained as a priest. She was then chaplain and tutor of Mansfield College, Oxford, before becoming National Ecumenical Officer for the Church of England in 1997. She was installed as a residentiary canon of Winchester Cathedral in September 2002, serving the cathedral for the next three years as its canon pastor.

In 2005, Winfield moved to New York, United States, having been appointed assistant secretary general of Religions for Peace. She then returned to the United Kingdom and held a number of concurrent appointments: she was secretary for international affairs for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (2006–2009), Archbishop of Canterbury's secretary for Anglican relations (2007–2014), and a parish post as priest-in-charge of St Mary-at-Hill in Diocese of London (2008–2014).

Since 2019, Winfield has held permission to officiate in the Diocese of Leeds. From 2019 to 2022, she was the Archbishop of Canterbury's Adviser on Reconciliation. On 1 February 2022, she became the Third Church Estates Commissioner.

Since March 2011, she has been a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) to the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London.

Military service

On 22 July 1997, Winfield was commissioned in the British Army as a chaplain to the forces 4th class (equivalent in rank to captain) in the Royal Army Chaplains' Department, Territorial Army. She was promoted to chaplain to the forces 3rd class (equivalent to major) on 15 November 2005, and to chaplain to the forces 2nd class (equivalent to lieutenant colonel) on 5 October 2015. She attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in 2016.

Episcopal ministry

Winfield on the day of conscration, 2024

On 31 July 2024, Winfield was announced as the next Bishop of Selby, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of York. She was formally nominated in September 2024. On 10 October 2024, she was consecrated as a bishop by Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, during a service at York Minster.

Personal life

Since 1985, she has been married to Jonathan Gough.