Leslie Wilfrid Brown (10 June 1912Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975–76 London: Oxford University Press, 1976 – 27 December 1999Independent obituary) was Bishop of Uganda then Bishop of Namirembe and Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi,First Archbishop of Uganda Dr. L. W. Brown Elected The Times Tuesday, 8 November 1960; pg. 10; Issue 54923; col ENational Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives before returning to the UK and later serving as Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.The Times, Thursday, 7 April 1966; pg. 14; Issue 56600; col B New Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
Education and early career Brown was educated at Enfield Grammar SchoolWho's Who 1992 London, A & C Black, 1991 before studying for ordination at the London College of Divinity. After a curacy at St James, Milton, Portsmouth he went out to the Diocese of Travancore and Cochin on the Malabar coast of India in January 1938, working there for the Church Missionary Society, and eventually becoming Principal of the Kerala United Theological Seminary."Three worlds, one word: account of a mission” Brown, L: Michigan, Collings,1981
Episcopal ministry In 1952 Brown accepted the post of Bishop of Uganda, despite having doubts because of his support for indigenisation.Church Times obituary 14 January 2000 He was to serve as a bishop in total for 25 years, first as Bishop of Uganda (diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Uganda) until 1960, bridging the period of Ugandan independence, then as Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, until his retirement effective 21 November 1965.
Upon the division of Uganda into separate dioceses in 1960, Brown remained in post, becoming diocesan bishop of a smaller diocese: the Bishop of Namirembe. On 7 November 1960, he was elected Archbishop of the new province, which was initially named the Province of Uganda and Rwanda-Urundi, but soon renamed the Province of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi; he was installed archbishop at the province's inauguration service on 16 April 1961 at Namirembe Cathedral. The three national churches were later to become three separate provinces, but remained a single provincial unit throughout Brown's tenure.
On his return to England, Brown became first an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Oxford, and then in 1966 the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. He retired in 1978, and lived in retirement in Halesworth, serving as an honorary assistant priest in the local parish church.
Academic interests His lasting contribution is reckoned to be in the field of liturgy, first as a member of the liturgy committee of the Church of South India, which in 1950 produced the influential CSI Liturgy, then working on A Liturgy for Africa, produced in 1964, and also corresponding with the Church of England's Liturgical Commission.Church Times obituary 14 January 2000 He further assisted in the development of A United Liturgy for East Africa, published in 1966. A noted author, his history The Indian Christians of St Thomas, was described at the time of his death as "a classic textbook".Church Times obituary 14 January 2000"The Indian Christians of St Thomas", 195682; Among other books he wrote "God as Christians see Him", 1961; and "The King and the Kingdom", 1988 > British Library web-site accessed Thursday 7 May 2009 19:04 GMT
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