Hunkin, Joseph William
1887-1950

Bishop of Truro 1935-1950. Brought up a strict Wesleyan in Truro, he became, like his father, a local preacher in the Truro Circuit. He was educated at Truro School, The Leys School and Caius College, Cambridge. Accepted for the ministry in 1910, he spent one year at Headingley College and another in circuit before withdrawing in favour of the Anglican priesthood, for which he trained at Ridley Hall. After distinguished wartime service as an army chaplain, he returned to Cambridge. In 1935 he was consecrated Bishop of Truro, proving a controversial, but largely popular leader. He remained friendly towards Methodism and on Whit Monday 1936 was the first non-Methodist to preach at Gwennap Pit. His Penguin Special The Gospel for Tomorrow (1941) anticipated some features of the ??? ]]proposals of the 1960s, but (perhaps predictably) provoked an adverse response from Cornish Methodists.

Sources
  • Times, 31 Oct & 10 Nov 1950
  • Alan Dunstan & John S. Peart-Binns, Cornish Bishop (1977)