1. Justin Portal Welby was born on 6 January 1956 and is an Anglican bishop who served as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 2013 to 2025.
105 Facts About Justin Welby
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Justin Welby served in a number of parish churches before becoming dean of Liverpool in 2007 and bishop of Durham in 2011, serving in the latter role for just over a year before succeeding Rowan Williams as archbishop of Canterbury in February 2013.
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Justin Welby's tenure coincided with the ordination of the Church of England's first female bishop and the blessings for same-sex unions.
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Justin Welby's theology is seen as representing the "open evangelical" tradition within Anglicanism.
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Justin Welby was born at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, London, on 6 January 1956, almost nine months after the marriage of his mother, Jane Gillian Portal, to Gavin Bramhall James Justin Welby.
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For 60 years Justin Welby believed that Gavin Justin Welby was his biological father until a paternity test in 2016 showed that he was Browne's son.
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Justin Welby stood for Parliament as a Conservative candidate in the 1951 and 1955 general elections.
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Gavin and Jane Justin Welby, who were both alcoholics, divorced in 1959 when he was 3 years old, and he was placed in Gavin's custody.
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Williams was the nephew of Elizabeth Laura Gurney, a member of the Gurney family of Norwich who were prominent Quakers and social reformers, and was remembered by Justin Welby as being a supportive step-father.
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In 2024, Justin Welby released a personal statement revealing that, through his biological father, Anthony Montague Browne, he was the great-great-great-grandson of Sir James Fergusson, 4th Baronet, who owned slaves on his plantation in Jamaica and received compensation from the British Government in 1837 following the abolition of slavery.
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Justin Welby was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford, between 1964 and 1968, and later at Eton College.
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Justin Welby continued his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his great-uncle, Rab Butler, was the Master.
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Justin Welby graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and law and, according to custom, was later promoted to Master of Arts by seniority.
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Justin Welby said that from that point onwards he "knew the presence of God".
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Justin Welby has since said that his time at Cambridge was a major moment of self-realisation in his life.
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Justin Welby has said that at the age of 19, he began speaking in tongues.
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Justin Welby worked for eleven years in the oil industry, five of them for the French oil company Elf Aquitaine based in Paris.
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Justin Welby retired from his executive position in 1989 and said that he sensed a calling from God to be ordained.
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In July 2013, following the report of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, Justin Welby explained that senior bank executives avoided being given information about difficult issues to allow them to "plead ignorance".
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Justin Welby said he would possibly have behaved in the same way, and warned against punishing by naming and shaming individual bankers which he compared to the behaviour of a lynch mob.
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Justin Welby was accepted for ordination, with the support of the Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, Sandy Millar.
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From 1989 to 1992, Justin Welby studied theology and trained for the priesthood at Cranmer Hall and St John's College, Durham, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma in Ministry in 1992.
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Justin Welby was ordained a deacon at Petertide 1992 and a priest the next Petertide, both times by Simon Barrington-Ward, Bishop of Coventry, at Coventry Cathedral.
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Justin Welby then became a curate at Chilvers Coton and St Mary the Virgin, Astley from 1992 to 1995.
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Justin Welby then became rector of St James' Church, Southam, and later vicar of St Michael and All Angels, Ufton, Diocese of Coventry, from 1995 to 2002.
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In 2002, Justin Welby was appointed a canon residentiary of Coventry Cathedral and the co-director for international ministry at the International Centre for Reconciliation.
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Justin Welby was appointed Dean of Liverpool in December 2007 and was installed at Liverpool Cathedral on 8 December 2007.
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Justin Welby has said that the Benedictine and Franciscan orders in the Anglican churches, along with Catholic social teaching, have influenced his spiritual formation.
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Justin Welby's election was confirmed at York Minster on 29 September 2011, and he left Liverpool Cathedral on 2 October.
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Justin Welby was consecrated as a bishop at York Minster on 28 October 2011 by John Sentamu, Archbishop of York; and was enthroned in Durham Cathedral on 26 November 2011.
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Justin Welby was introduced to the House of Lords on 12 January 2012, where he sat on the Lords Spiritual bench.
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Justin Welby gave his maiden speech on 16 May 2012.
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Justin Welby was asked to join the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2012.
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Justin Welby emerged as a candidate for Archbishop of Canterbury and his appointment was announced on 9 November 2012.
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In January 2013, Justin Welby said that he initially thought it was "a joke" and "perfectly absurd" for him to be appointed to the role as he had only been a bishop for a short time.
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Justin Welby was enthroned as archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013, the date in the Anglican church calendar that commemorates the life of Thomas Cranmer.
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Justin Welby's schedule included an official visit to the Vatican on 14 June 2013, with visits to senior curial officials, including Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, an official audience with Pope Francis and prayer at the tombs of Saint Peter and Pope John Paul II.
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Justin Welby officiated at a number of notable events, such as the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, the funeral of Elizabeth II in 2022 and the coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023.
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The report criticised Justin Welby for failing to follow up on his subordinates' claims that they had passed on the matter to the police after he was informed of the allegations in 2013, and stated that it was "unlikely" Justin Welby was not aware of concerns being reported about Smyth during the time of the alleged offences, as he had claimed.
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The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who had earlier publicly refused to support Justin Welby, said that he "respects the decision".
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Justin Welby's resignation was followed by calls for other senior clergy involved in the Smyth cover-up to stand down.
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The Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, reiterated that Justin Welby had "done the right thing", but stressed that his resignation alone was "not going to solve the problem" of safeguarding failures in the Church.
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The UK Minister for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, speaking "as an Anglican, not as a Government minister", agreed that Justin Welby should resign but church leaders should not think "one head rolling solves the problem".
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Justin Welby apologised the next day, and later said that he was "profoundly ashamed" of the speech.
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Justin Welby completed official duties on 6 January 2025.
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Justin Welby's resignation became official at midnight on 7 January 2025, as declared by the King-in-Council on 18 December.
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In February 2017, Justin Welby apologised unreservedly after allegations that barrister and evangelical Christian John Smyth beat boys in the late 1970s, mainly pupils at Winchester College, until their wounds bled and left permanent scars.
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Justin Welby's early grounding in Christian doctrine was rooted in the Iwerne camp network founded by Eric Nash.
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Justin Welby was a dormitory officer at the camps from around 1975 to 1978, a period that coincides with that of Smyth's child abuse at the same location.
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Justin Welby "vaguely recalls" receiving a Christmas card from Smyth in the 1990s, but definitively recalls meeting Smyth in Paris in the 1990s.
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In 2012, a victim of Smyth reported the abuse to the Church of England and Justin Welby was informed in 2013.
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Justin Welby maintained that this was the first he heard of Smyth's abuses.
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The New York Times on 14 October 2017 quoted a senior Church of England figure as saying that "all senior members of the trust, including officers like Archbishop Justin Welby, had been made aware of the allegations against Mr Smyth, even those who had been abroad".
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Questions have remained among Smyth's victims as to when Justin Welby first knew, and some have labelled him an "observer", a term denoting a person who knew about abuse but who did not report appropriately.
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Justin Welby said that he was not part of the inner circle of Smyth's friends and that survivors must come first, not the church's own interests.
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Specifically, the report found that Justin Welby had been informed of Smyth's abuse in August 2013, six months after his elevation to Archbishop of Canterbury, but did not personally ensure that the reports were passed on to the police.
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Justin Welby initially stated that he would not resign after the release of the report.
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In March 2025, Justin Welby announced that he had "forgiven" Smyth.
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Justin Welby was criticised for continuing to support Paula Vennells, head of the British Post Office, long after it emerged that the company was prosecuting sub-postmasters for errors caused by the Post Office's Horizon IT system.
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In 2024, Justin Welby said "more questions should have been asked" after the Horizon scandal emerged, and "we will need to reflect on it".
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In February 2018, Justin Welby expressed fears that Brexit was dividing UK society and the United Kingdom government austerity programme was harming vulnerable people.
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Justin Welby has spoken out against "malicious rumour-mongering" relating to the pandemic.
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Justin Welby said he was concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom exacerbated existing inequalities.
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Justin Welby spoke with bereaved families and added tributes to the National Covid Memorial Wall.
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In 2013, Justin Welby disagreed strongly with Lord Freud, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Welfare Reform at the time, because Justin Welby believed the UK government cuts to benefits had caused or contributed to the surge in food banks.
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In December 2014, Justin Welby expressed concern about the increasing need for food banks which he said would have been "unthinkable" a decade before.
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In 2013 Justin Welby expressed concern about rises in energy prices in the UK, saying that energy companies had a responsibility towards customers and should take account of this rather than only maximising their own opportunities.
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In July 2013, Justin Welby spoke out against payday lending sites and met with Errol Damelin, chief executive of Wonga.
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Justin Welby pledged that the Church of England would support credit unions as society needs to "provide an alternative" to the "very, very costly forms of finance" that payday lending services represent.
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Justin Welby noted that he did not want to make legal payday lending illegal as this would leave people with no alternative to using criminal loan sharks.
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Justin Welby said in 2021 that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom had exacerbated existing inequalities, and called for the building of "a new Beveridge".
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Justin Welby's growing political influence led to him being named by the New Statesman as the UK's twenty-seventh most powerful left-wing figure, citing his campaigning for refugee rights, condemnation of austerity, and advocacy against the gig economy.
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In July 2023, Justin Welby attended an interfaith event hosted by the Board of Deputies of British Jews at Bevis Marks Synagogue in London.
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Justin Welby wore a kippah as a mark of respect at the synagogue.
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Justin Welby joined with Pope Francis and leaders of other faiths, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim, in a joint declaration they would work together aiming to end modern slavery by 2020.
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On 2 August 2024, Justin Welby issued a statement in support for the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion of 19 July 2024 by declaring "Israel's presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful and needs to end as rapidly as possible".
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Justin Welby is concerned that Christians are persecuted in some parts of the world, notably in the Middle East, and fears that some risk their lives going to church.
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Justin Welby said that Christians and other religious minorities were made to suffer terribly and were killed in Iraq, which violates article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Justin Welby noted that Christians and other minorities face persecution for their faith in many areas worldwide; he cited Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic among others.
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Justin Welby urged the United Kingdom to open doors to refugees.
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Justin Welby has said that justice of the powerful is not justice at all and judges should decide issues based on truth and the common good rather than class and money.
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Justin Welby has said that insecurity of income is a problem for many people.
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Justin Welby expressed concern that many people cannot save or plan for, for example a holiday because they do not know how much money will be coming in from week to week.
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Justin Welby disagrees with restrictions on child refugees being admitted to the UK.
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In 2016, Justin Welby confirmed he had appointed a bishop, Nicholas Chamberlain, who is in a same-sex relationship, and that he supports clergy who are in celibate same-sex relationships in line with the church's policy.
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In 2023, Justin Welby announced that he supports a proposal by the House of Bishops that maintains that marriage is between one man and a woman but which would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples".
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In November 2023, Justin Welby endorsed an additional proposal to authorise "standalone" blessings for same-sex couples on a trial basis.
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Justin Welby is the first sitting Archbishop of Canterbury to support a proposal to allow blessings for same-sex unions in the Church of England.
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On 15 November 2023, Justin Welby abstained in the General Synod vote to introduce "standalone services for same-sex couples" on a trial basis saying that his abstention was due to his role as a symbol of unity in the whole Anglican Communion; the motion passed.
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Lambeth Palace reiterated that Justin Welby was expressing his personal view, not necessarily the doctrine of the Church of England.
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Justin Welby said in 2018 that social injustice was widespread and entrenched in British society.
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Justin Welby said the gig economy was one of many injustices.
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Justin Welby said in September 2018 that the weakest people got the least secure pensions and the strongest got the most secure pensions, stating:.
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Justin Welby said in December 2017 that tax avoidance was wrong and that many wealthy companies did not pay as much tax as they should.
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In October 2022, Justin Welby criticised the UK government for introducing tax cuts for the wealthy and for pursuing policies that disproportiontely affected the poor.
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Justin Welby has expressed concern that Universal Credit is harming poor people and said in September 2018 that its rollout should be stopped.
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Justin Welby has been a strong supporter of Anglican consecration of women as bishops.
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In November 2013, Justin Welby stated he aimed to ordain women as bishops while allowing space for those who disagree.
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In February 2014, Justin Welby called on Anglicans to avoid fear, prejudice and suspicion and to grasp "cultural change in the life of the church":.
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Justin Welby says he hopes to avoid a zero-sum game where people feel gain for one side inevitably means loss for the other, he sees need for caution, co-operation and unity.
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Justin Welby is married to Caroline Eaton and they have had six children.
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Justin Welby acknowledges his privileged education and upbringing, and has been praised for sending his own children to local state schools.
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Justin Welby speaks French and is an avid Francophile, having lived and worked in France.
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Justin Welby is the author or co-author of several books, including:.
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Justin Welby was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the 2024 New Year Honours for services at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.