Archbishop of Birmingham
# Archbishop of Birmingham

The Archbishop of Birmingham heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in England. As such he is the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Birmingham. The archdiocese covers an area of 8,735 $km^2$ (3,400 sq mi) and spans of the counties of Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. The see in the City of Birmingham where the archbishop's seat is located at the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Saint Chad.

With the gradual abolition of the legal restrictions on the activities of Catholics in England and Wales in the early 19th century, Rome decided to proceed to bridge the gap of the centuries from Queen Elizabeth I by instituting Catholic dioceses on the regular historical pattern. Thus Pope Pius IX issued the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae of 29 September 1850 by which thirteen new dioceses which did not formally claim any continuity with the pre-Elizabethan English dioceses were created. One of these was the diocese of Birmingham. This has its origins in the Vicariates Apostolic of England, of the Midland District and lastly of the Central District. The last Vicar Apostolic of the Central District, from 28 July 1848, was Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne, O.S.B., who on 29 September 1850 became the first bishop of Birmingham.

In the early period from 1850 the diocese was a suffragan of the Metropolitan See of Westminster, but a further development was the creation under Pope Pius X, on 28 October 1911, of a new Province of Birmingham.

The current archbishop is The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, who was appointed the ninth archbishop of Birmingham on 1 October 2009 and installed at the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Saint Chad on 8 December 2009, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and one of the patronal feasts of the archdiocese, St Chad being the other.

## List of bishops and archbishops

### Bishop of Birmingham

Bishops of Birmingham :

| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1850 | 1888 | William Bernard Ullathorne, O.S.B. | Previously Vicar Apostolic of the Central District (1848–1850). Appointed Bishop of Birmingham on 29 September 1850. Resigned on 27 April 1888 and appointed Titular Archbishop of Cabasa. Died on 21 March 1889. |
| 1888 | 1911 | Edward Ilsley | Formerly an auxiliary bishop of Birmingham (1879–1888). Appointed Bishop of Birmingham on 17 February 1888. Elevated from bishop to archbishop of Birmingham on 27 November 1911. |
| In 1911, the diocese was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese. ||||

### Archbishop of Birmingham

Archbishop of Birmingham :

| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1911 | 1921 | Edward Ilsley | Elevated from bishop to archbishop of Birmingham on 27 November 1911. Retired on 13 June 1921 and appointed Titular Archbishop of Macra. Died on 1 December 1926. |
| 1921 | 1928 | John McIntyre | Previously an Official of the Roman Curia and Titular Archbishop of Oxyrynchus (1917–1921). Appointed Archbishop of Birmingham on 16 June 1921 and installed on 5 July 1921. Resigned on 17 November 1928 and appointed Titular Archbishop of Odessus. Died on 21 November 1935. |
| 1929 | 1946 | Thomas Leighton Williams | Appointed archbishop on 25 July 1929 and consecrated on 25 July 1929. Died in office on 1 April 1946. |
| 1947 | 1953 | Joseph Masterson | Appointed archbishop on 8 February 1947 and consecrated on 19 March 1947. Died in office on 30 November 1953. |
| 1954 | 1965 | Francis Joseph Grimshaw | Previously Bishop of Plymouth (1947–1954). Appointed Archbishop of Birmingham on 11 May 1954. Died in office on 22 March 1965. |
| 1965 | 1981 | George Dwyer | Previously Bishop of Leeds (1957–1965). Appointed Archbishop of Birmingham on 5 October 1965. Retired on 1 September 1981 and died on 17 September 1987. |
| 1982 | 1999 | Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville | Appointed archbishop on 22 January 1982 and consecrated on 25 March 1982. Resigned on 12 June 1999 and died on 3 November 2007. |
| 2000 | 2009 | Vincent Gerard Nichols | Previously an auxiliary bishop of Westminster (1991–2000). Appointed Archbishop of Birmingham on 15 February 2000. Translated to the archbishopric of Westminster on 21 May 2009. |
| 2009 | present | Bernard Longley | Previously an Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster (2003–2009). Appointed Archbishop of Birmingham on 1 October 2009 and installed on 8 December 2009. |
