Angela Berners-Wilson

Angela Veronica Isabel Berners-Wilson (born 1954) is a Church of England priest and chaplain. She is considered to be the first woman to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England. She was chaplain at the University of Bath from 2004 to 2016, and was a rector of a multi-church benefice. She retired in 2023 and now lives in Bristol.

Early life and education Berners-Wilson was born in 1954. She studied divinity at the University of St Andrews, graduating with a Master of Theology (MTheol) degree in 1976. Although its name suggests otherwise, the MTheol from St Andrews is an undergraduate degree. In 1977, she entered Cranmer Hall, Durham, an Anglican theological college in the Open Evangelical tradition, to train for ministry. The officiating bishop speculated that it would be 10 years before the first woman was appointed as a bishop.

Berners-Wilson was appointed chaplain to the University of Bath in May 2004. In February 2009 she was appointed a prebendary of Wells Cathedral. Sponsored by the Diocese of Bath and Wells, the University of Bath and the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, she had a month's sabbatical in China in June 2008. In 2016, she left the University of Bath, having been appointed rector of the Quantock Towers benefice. She married solicitor Andrew Sillett on 19 May 1984.