The Very Rev

Very Reverend

The Very Reverend is a style given to certain religious figures.*In the Roman Catholic Church, by custom, priests who hold positions of particular note: e.g...

  Cyril Patrick Hankey was an eminent Anglican priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 in the third quarter of the 20th century.
He was in 1886 and educated at Haileybury

Haileybury and Imperial Service College

Haileybury and Imperial Service College, , is a prestigious British independent school founded in 1862. The school is located at Hertford Heath, near Hertford, from central London, on of parkland occupied until 1858 by the East India College...

 and Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...

. Ordained in 1911, he began his ecclesiastical career with a curacy

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

 at St Augustin, Kilburn. After this he was Vice principal

Principal (academia)

The Principal is the chief executive and the chief academic officer of a university or college in certain parts of the Commonwealth.-Canada:...

  of Dorchester Missionary College. He then held incumbencies

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of St Matthew’s, Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

 and St Mary’s the Less, Cambridge

Church of St Mary the Less, Cambridge

The Church of St Mary the Less is a Church of England church situated on Trumpington Street at the corner of Little St Mary's Lane, in central Cambridge, England, next to Peterhouse...

. Later he was Rural Dean

Rural Dean

In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...

 of Watford

Watford

Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...

 then Bedford

Bedford

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...

. He was appointed Dean of Ely

Dean of Ely

The position of Dean of Ely Cathedral, in East Anglia, England, was created at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The first Dean of Ely had been the last Benedictine prior of Ely.-List of Deans:*1541-1557 Robert Steward or Welles...

in November 1950, a post he held for over 18 years. An eminent author, he died on 9 December 1973.