Leonard Fisher

Leonard Noel Fisher (14 December 1881 – 4 July 1963) was an Anglican bishop in the second quarter of the twentieth century. After parish work in England and military service in the First World War, he served as bishop in two African dioceses, Lebomo and Natal, before retiring in 1951.

Life and career

Fisher was born at the rectory, Higham on the Hill, Leicestershire, the fifth of six sons of the Rev Henry Fisher and his wife Katherine, née Richmond. A Fisher had served as rector of Higham since 1772: Henry Fisher's father and grandfather had preceded him and Leonard's eldest brother, Legh, later held the post. Leonard's younger brother, Geoffrey, became Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 until 1961. After graduation in 1903 he went on to Wells Theological College and was ordained priest in 1905.

Fisher's first post was as a curate at St Paul's, Hull after which he was Sub-Warden of St Paul's Theological College, Grahamstown, South Africa. He served for three months in Plymouth and then spent almost a year in Egypt.

After the war, Fisher was appointed vicar of St Matthew Grangetown. In 1921 he was elevated to the episcopate as Bishop of Lebombo in Mozambique. According to The Times, in that position he showed "great energy and resource in dealing with the special problems of Anglican work in Portuguese East Africa" and "conspicuous qualities of tact and far-sighted administrative judgment". In the same year he married Mabel Callund of Rochester, Kent. In 1949 he almost became the second archbishop in the family when he was narrowly defeated in the election for Archbishop of Cape Town by Geoffrey Clayton.

Ill health caused Fisher's retirement in 1951. Three years later he became an honorary canon of Grahamstown. He died, aged 81, at Brookshaw Home, Grahamstown on 4 July 1963.