The Bishop of Portsmouth is the Ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...

 of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 Diocese of Portsmouth

Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth

The Diocese of Portsmouth is an administrative division of the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese covers south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight...

 in the Province of Canterbury

Province of Canterbury

The Province of Canterbury, also called the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England...

.

The diocese covers south-east Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

 and the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

 and has its see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

 in the City of Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

, where the seat

Cathedra

A cathedra or bishop's throne is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran churches...

 is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury

Portsmouth Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Portsmouth, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is the Church of England cathedral of the City of Portsmouth, England and is located in the heart of Old Portsmouth...

 which was elevated to cathedral status in 1927.

The office of bishop was created in 1927 when the new diocese was formed from part of the Diocese of Winchester

Diocese of Winchester

The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England.Founded in 676, it is one of the oldest and largest of the dioceses in England.The area of the diocese incorporates:...

. The current bishop is the Right Reverend Christopher Foster

Christopher Foster (bishop)

Christopher Richard James Foster is an Anglican bishop. He is the current Bishop of Portsmouth in the Church of England.Foster was educated at Durham University where he held the position of Chapel Clerk at University College....

, the 9th Bishop of Portsmouth, who signs + Christopher Portsmouth. Previously Suffragan Bishop of Hertford

Bishop of Hertford

The Bishop of Hertford is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of St Albans, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire...

, his nomination as Bishop of Portsmouth was announced by Downing Street

10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

 on 9 February 2010. He was installed and enthroned in a service at Portsmouth Cathedral

Portsmouth Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Portsmouth, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is the Church of England cathedral of the City of Portsmouth, England and is located in the heart of Old Portsmouth...

 on 18 September 2010.

The bishop's residence is Bishopsgrove, Fareham

Fareham

The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England.

List of Anglican Bishops of Portsmouth

Anglican Bishops of Portsmouth
No.	Incumbent	Period of office		Notes
		From	Until
1	Neville Lovett Neville Lovett Ernest Neville Lovett CBE served as the Bishop of Portsmouth in the Church of England from 1927 to 1936 and as the Bishop of Salisbury from 1936 to 1946.-Life:...	1927	1936	Nominated on 7 June and consecrated Consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...  on 25 July 1927; translated Translation (ecclesiastical) Translation is the technical term when a Bishop is transferred from one diocese to another.This can be* From Suffragan Bishop status to Diocesan Bishop*From Coadjutor bishop to Diocesan Bishop*From one country's Episcopate to another...  to Salisbury Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...  on 23 April 1936
2	Frank Partridge Frank Partridge (bishop) Frank Partridge was the second Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth.-Early life:Partridge was born, the son of a Canadian, on the 31st of December 1877. He was educated privately before taking Holy Orders at Cuddesdon College, his first curacy being at Hawarden...	1936	1941	Nominated on 12 May and consecrated on 24 June 1936; died in office on 1 October 1941
3	William Anderson	1942	1949	Translated Translation (ecclesiastical) Translation is the technical term when a Bishop is transferred from one diocese to another.This can be* From Suffragan Bishop status to Diocesan Bishop*From Coadjutor bishop to Diocesan Bishop*From one country's Episcopate to another...  from Croydon Bishop of Croydon The Bishop of Croydon is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark, in the Province of Canterbury, England.... ; nominated 12 February and confirmed on 19 March 1942; translated to Salisbury Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...  on 14 June 1949
4	Launcelot Fleming	1949	1959	Nominated on 13 September and consecrated on 18 October 1949; translated to Norwich Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...  on 18 December 1959
5	John Phillips	1960	1975	Nominated on 29 January and consecrated on 25 March 1960; resigned on 31 July 1975; died on 1 November 1985
6	Ronald Gordon	1975	1984	Nominated on 5 August and consecrated on 23 September 1975; resigned on 31 May 1984; he subsequently became Bishop at Lambeth Bishop at Lambeth The Bishop at Lambeth is a position within the hierarchy of the Church of England. It is a non-diocesan appointment in which an experienced bishop acts as head of staff to the Archbishop of Canterbury.-Past and present bishops:-References:...  (1984–1991) and Bishop to the Forces Bishop to the Forces The Anglican church in the British Armed Forces falls under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, however for all practical purposes the function is performed by the Bishop to the Forces. His full title is "The Archbishop of Canterbury's Episcopal Representative to the Armed Forces"...  (1985–1990)
7	Timothy Bavin	1984	1995	Translated Translation (ecclesiastical) Translation is the technical term when a Bishop is transferred from one diocese to another.This can be* From Suffragan Bishop status to Diocesan Bishop*From Coadjutor bishop to Diocesan Bishop*From one country's Episcopate to another...  from Johannesburg Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg The Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg is part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It was formed in 1922 from the southern part of the Diocese of Pretoria, and at that time included the whole of the southern Transvaal... ; nominated on 2 November 1984 and confirmed on 7 January 1985; retired in 1995
8	Kenneth Stevenson	1995	2009	Nominated and consecrated in 1995; retired in September 2009.
9	Christopher Foster Christopher Foster (bishop) Christopher Richard James Foster is an Anglican bishop. He is the current Bishop of Portsmouth in the Church of England.Foster was educated at Durham University where he held the position of Chapel Clerk at University College....	2010	present	Translated Translation (ecclesiastical) Translation is the technical term when a Bishop is transferred from one diocese to another.This can be* From Suffragan Bishop status to Diocesan Bishop*From Coadjutor bishop to Diocesan Bishop*From one country's Episcopate to another...  from Hertford Bishop of Hertford The Bishop of Hertford is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of St Albans, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire... ; nominated on 9 February, and installed and enthroned at Portsmouth Cathedral Portsmouth Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Portsmouth, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is the Church of England cathedral of the City of Portsmouth, England and is located in the heart of Old Portsmouth... on 18 September 2010.