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Joseph Wellington Hunkin OBE MC (25 September 1887 – 28 October 1950) was the eighth Bishop of Truro from 1935 to 1950.

He was born on 25 September 1887 at Truro and educated at Truro College, the Leys School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Made deacon on St Matthew's Day 1913 (21 September) and ordained priest at Michaelmas 1914 (27 September) — both times by Archibald Robertson, Bishop of Exeter, at Exeter Cathedral, he began his career with a curacy at St Andrew's, Plymouth. He was then a chaplain in the British Armed Forces during World War I and after that Dean of Chapel at Caius (his undergraduate college). From 1927 until his ascension to the episcopate he was Archdeacon of Coventry and an Honorary Chaplain to the King. He was consecrated a bishop by Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, at St Paul's Cathedral on Whit Tuesday 1935 (11 June). In 1938 he volunteered to be chaplain to the British Legion Volunteer Police Force.

He died on 28 October 1950. He was a strong Evangelical and noted for his pastoral work. He was the chair of a commission to produce a new English translation of the Bible from 1948 to 1950. Hunkin used as his pastoral staff a shepherd's crook of iron with a wooden shaft bound with a silver band inscribed "Un para, un bugel" (Cornish for "One flock, one shepherd") and enlisted in the Home Guard during the Second World War. A keen gardener, he was commemorated by a garden in the cathedral close and a shrub donated to every parish. He had become a Doctor of Divinity (DD).

Writings

Among his published works,

• Is it Reasonable to Believe? (1935) London: Hodder & Stoughton.
• From a Cornish Bishop's Garden (2001), Penzance: Alison Hodge – a collection of newspaper articles from The Guardian, (an Anglican weekly newspaper) edited and introduced by Douglas Pett.

References

1. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.493
2. Portraits of Joseph Hunkin at the National Portrait Gallery, London
3. London Gazette
4. Bishop of Truro: Archdeacon Hunkin Appointed The Times Monday, 1 April 1935; p. 14; Issue 47027; col F
5. "Hunkin, Joseph Wellington". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6. Wood, Joanna (2005), High on the Hill, pp. 184–185. Blue Hill Publishing, ISBN 0-9549005-1-0.
7. "Ordinations". Church Times. No. 2644. 26 September 1913. p. 400. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 4 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
8. "Ordinations". Church Times. No. 2697. 2 October 1914. p. 350. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 4 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
9. Church web-site
10. Dunstan, A. & Peart-Binns, J. S. (1977) Cornish Bishop. London: Epworth ISBN 0716202824/ ISBN 978-0-7162-0282-0
11. Crockford's Clerical Directory1940–41 Oxford, OUP,1941
12. "Consecration of the Bishops of Truro and Bedford". Church Times. No. 3777. 14 June 1935. p. 711. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 4 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
13. "British Legion volunteers". The Times. 7 October 1938. p. 8.
14. Bishop of Truro: a Great Pastoral Leader The Times Monday, 30 October 1950; p. 6; Issue 51835; col E
15. "Joseph Hunkin in New York". Time Inc. 14 February 1938. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
16. Brown, H. Miles (1976) A Century for Cornwall. Truro: Blackford; pp. 102–116
17. Hunkin, J. W. "From a Cornish bishop's garden". Copac. Retrieved 23 April 2010.

• 1887 births
• 1950 deaths
• 20th-century Church of England bishops
• Archdeacons of Coventry
• Bishops of Truro
• Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
• Honorary chaplains to the King
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire
• People educated at The Leys School
• Recipients of the Military Cross
• Royal Army Chaplains' Department officers
• World War I chaplains
• Clergy from Cornwall