Bishop James Jones

Bishop James Jones is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (having chaired the Independent Panel on Forestry) and a Fellow of WWF, the Society of the Environment and the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management. He is a Vice-President of the Town and Country Planning Association. He is a Patron of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) and Patron of the Densholme Care Farm in East Yorkshire. In 1981 he trained for the Church of England ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and was appointed as Curate to Christ Church Clifton, Bristol where he later became Associate Vicar. From 1990 to 1994 he was Vicar of Emmanuel Church in South Croydon. Aged 46 he was appointed to be Bishop of Hull (1994 - 1998), becoming Bishop of Liverpool four years later (1998 - 2013). He is married to Sarah (Nee Marrow) and they have three adult daughters Harriet, Jemima and Tabitha and two grandchildren, Ben and Sophie. In Hull and Liverpool Bishop James was involved in the regeneration of the cities, in particular chairing the Kensington New Deal for Communities in Liverpool. Working with the people of Kensington they opened the St Francis of Assisi City Academy which took the environment as its specialism. The diocese together with the Catholic Diocese of Liverpool sponsored three City Academies. Together with the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool Bishop James was Co- President of Liverpool Hope University, the only joint Anglican and Catholic University in Europe. He was a member of the House of Lords from 2003 - 2013 speaking on criminal and restorative justice issues, the environment and urban regeneration. He served on the House of Lords Communications Committee. In 2009 the Bishop was appointed by the Home Secretary to chair the Hillsborough Independent Panel examining all the documentation concerning the death of 96 (now 97) Liverpool football fans at the 1989 FA Cup Semi-final. The Panel reported in September 2012 and this led to the quashing of the original inquests.