Henry Knox Sherrill

Henry Knox Sherrill (November 6, 1890 – May 11, 1980) was an Episcopal bishop. He was the 20th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1947 to 1958, having previously served as Bishop of Massachusetts (1930–1947).

Biography Henry Knox Sherrill was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Henry Williams and Maria (Prue) Knox Mills Sherrill. His father died when he was ten-years-old, and his mother raised him to be religiously observant. He graduated from Brooklyn's Polytechnic Preparatory School in 1906, after which he attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, for a year. While a student at Yale, he taught Sunday school at St. Paul's Church in New Haven and experienced a call to the ordained ministry. One of his greatest mentors at Yale was Henry Sloane Coffin, a Presbyterian theologian and educator.

On Oct. 14, 1930, Sherrill was consecrated the ninth Bishop of Massachusetts. He served in that position until June 1, 1947, when he resigned to become Presiding Bishop. He served on the President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 for President Harry Truman. From Jan. 1, 1947, until Nov. 14, 1958, he was Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. At the General Convention of 1943, a canon was passed which required the Presiding Bishop to tender to the House of Bishops the resignation of his previous jurisdiction to take effect on the date of assuming the office of Presiding Bishop or no later than six months thereafter.

Sherrill was the first Presiding Bishop chosen after this canon was passed. While Presiding Bishop he led in the organization of the Episcopal Church Foundation and the establishment of the Seabury Press. He decided to move the 1955 General Convention from Houston to Honolulu, due to the former city's segregation. Sherrill was the founding President of the National Council of Churches from 1950 to 1952, and one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches from 1954 until 1961. He resigned as Presiding Bishop in 1958 for reasons of health.

In 1953, Sherrill delivered the benediction at the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1959, he led the consecration of his son, Edmund Knox Sherrill, as an Anglican bishop in Brazil.

Death Sherrill died in Boxford, Massachusetts, and is buried at Cone Hill Cemetery in Richmond, Massachusetts.

Legacy Sherrill House, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Jamaica Plain, Boston, is named in his honor.

Sherrill Hall, a freshman dormitory at Hobart College, is also named in his honor.

The American operatic baritone Sherrill Milnes was named after him (see Milnes' memoirs, American Aria).