Frank Colquhoun

Frank Colquhoun (28 October 1909 – 3 April 1997) was a British Church of England priest and author.

Life and career Born in 1909 into a clergy family, Frank Colquhoun was educated at Warwick School and Durham University. A member of University College, he graduated LTh (1932), BA (1933), and later received an MA (1937). After his ordination in 1933, he served as curate at St Faith, Maidstone and then Christ Church, New Malden (1935–1939). He became vicar of St Michael and All Angels, Blackheath in 1939, a post he held until 1946. During the Second World War, his church was heavily affected by air raids.

After leaving Blackheath, Colquhoun was appointed as the Editorial Secretary for the National Church League, an evangelical Anglican association that was a forerunner of Church Society. At the journal, he worked alongside an editorial board chaired by Max Warren, Canon of Westminster Abbey. During his tenure, the publication was given the subtitle "A Quarterly Journal of Anglican Theology", a decision taken, in Colquhoun's words, "to secure the services of scholars who were of evangelical spirit but might not want to be labelled Evangelical."

In 1959, while still serving in Wallington, he was made an Honorary Canon of Southwark Cathedral. Two years later, he left Wallington and became Canon Residentiary. During his incumbency, he was involved in the Southwark Ordination Course, a non-residential ministry training programme established by John Robinson. Colquhoun was initially deputy principal, but succeeded Stanley Evans as Principal after his death in a traffic accident in 1966.

In 1973, at the age of 64, he became Canon Residentiary at Norwich Cathedral. He also served as Vice-Dean and Treasurer, as well as a director of ordination training. In an obituary, Alan Webster described his preaching as "fine and memorable", showing a "reverence for the scriptures and his shrewd and kindly commonsense." Colquhoun retired from church ministry in 1978, moving to Bexhill-on-Sea. He continued writing in his retirement.

When his colleague John Robinson published the controversial book, Honest to God in 1963, Colquhoun was challenged by other evangelicals about his relationship with Robinson. Colquhoun later stated, "whatever differences there might have been between us, we had one thing in common: a profound love and reverence of the scriptures."

Personal life Colquhoun married Dora Slater in 1934; the couple had one son and one daughter. Colquhoun married Judy Kenney in 1973. It became a standard work, which found widespread use across the Church of England. Colquhoun later produced additional volumes of prayers, including Contemporary Parish Prayers (1975) and New Parish Prayers (1982), although these were less widely used.