First black female Bishop to speak at 2024 Harold Wilson Lecture

The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, is to speak at the 2024 Harold Wilson Lecture at the University of Huddersfield about the importance of creating a cohesive community.

Entitled And who is my neighbour the one-hour lecture will be delivered by Bishop Rose, who in 2019 became the first black female Bishop in the Church of England.

She will speak about the need for an intentional focus around advocacy, reconciliation and the necessity of people being interdependent.

The annual lecture series is named in honour of the Huddersfield-born former Prime Minister who won four General Elections, spending around eight years at 10 Downing Street in total.

Wilson is the only post-war leader of any party to serve as Prime Minister on two separate occasions.

Bishop Rose was born and raised in Jamaica and educated there, later completing a Bachelor of Philosophy in Education degree at a UK University.

She was first ordained a deacon in 1991 and then to the priesthood three years later, followed by appointment in 2007 as a Chaplain to Her Late Majesty the Queen. In 2010 she became the first female appointed to the position of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

In 2019 she became the first black female Bishop in the Church of England having been installed as the Bishop of Dover.

Bishop Rose was one of three female bishops to make history by playing a part in the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023. She was later awarded the King’s Coronation Medal in recognition of her role.

The lecture is free to attend and takes place on Wednesday 20 November starting at 6.30pm in the Oastler Building on the University’s Queensgate Campus.

Tickets can be reserved via Eventbrite.