Elizabeth Jane Holden ('Libby') Lane

Sitterback to top

• Elizabeth Jane Holden ('Libby') Lane (1966-), Bishop Suffragan of Stockport. Sitter in 1 portrait.

Artistback to top

• Peter Kindersley (1978-), Photographer. Artist or producer of 1 portrait.

Linked publicationsback to top

• 100 Pioneering Women, p. 169 Read entry

  Elizabeth Jane Holden ‘Libby’ Lane (b.1966) was the first woman to be appointed a bishop by the Church of England, after a vote in the General Synod in July 2014 paved the way. She was consecrated as Bishop of Stockport at York Minster on 26 January 2015 and installed at Chester Cathedral on International Women’s Day (8 March) in 2015. Her appointment, more than twenty years after women were first admitted to the Church of England as priests, was seen as an important step towards greater equality in the Church’s senior ranks, but her consecration was briefly interrupted by Anglo-Catholic priest Paul Williamson, who considered Lane’s appointment contrary to the teachings of the Bible and her being a woman an ‘absolute impediment’. Before becoming a bishop, she was elected as one of eight clergywomen from the Church as participant observers in the House of Bishops, of which she is now a full member.

Placesback to top

• Place made and portrayed: United Kingdom: England, Cheshire (Chester Cathedral)

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Buildings and architecture
• Hats and head attire
• Jewellery - Rings
• Religion, faith and spirituality

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