Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs

Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs (2 February 1845 - 14 April 1922) was an influential ["The Efficiency and Inefficiency of a Diocese" Yeatman-Biggs, H.W:London,SPCK,1909] Anglican clergyman who served as the 113th Bishop of Worcester and, latterly, as the inaugural bishop of the restored see of Coventry in the modern era. Born at Manston House, Dorset and educated at Winchester College [ “Who was Who” 1897-1990 London, A & C Black, 1991 ISBN 071363457X] and Emmanuel College, Cambridge [ Where he was a Dixie Scholar “Who was Who” (Ibid); and eventually (1904) a Fellow ] he was ordained in 1869 and after a curacy in Salisbury became chaplain to the bishop in 1875. That same year he married Barbara, 4th daughter of the 4th Earl of Dartmouth [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p24485.htm Wife’s progency] ] . He was successively vicar of Netherbury and Sydenham before becoming Suffragan Bishop of Rochester in 1891, a post he was to hold for 14 years before elevation to the Bishopric of Worcester [The Times, Wednesday, Dec 14, 1904; pg. 9; Issue 37577; col E New Bishops.(of Worcester) Category: Official Appointments and Notices] in 1905. During his years there Yeatman-Biggs forged very close links with the American Episcopal church [”American addresses” Yeatman-Biggs, H.W: London, Longmans,1916] . In 1918 he took on the task of reviving the Coventry diocese, during which time he came to national prominence when an unscrupulous adventurer accused him of influencing a vulnerable pensioner into leaving him her assets [The Times, Thursday, Oct 27, 1921; pg. 4; Issue 42862; col F Probate, Divorce, And Admiralty Division. Charges Of Undue Influence Against A Bishop Withdrawn., In The Estate Of Amy Mary Wheeley Lea, Deceased-Jacomb V. Biggs] . Not only were the charges completely unfounded, the much smaller sum he had received was quite properly re-distributed to worthy Anglican causes. A bronze statue of Yeatman-Biggs was commissioned after his death [ [http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/other/fi/0000002c.htm Statue of Y-B] ] , and was the only artefact to survive the terrible bombing of the old cathedral [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p24485.htm Old Cathedral] ] in 1942.

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