The Right Reverend Ronald Owen Hall CMG MC & Bar |
|
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Province | Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui |
Diocese |
Victoria (1932-51) Hong Kong and Macau |
Installed | 30 December 1932 |
Predecessor |
Charles Ridley Duppuy (Diocese of Victoria) |
Successor |
Gilbert Baker (Diocese of Hong Kong and Macau) |
Orders | |
Ordination | 1925 |
Consecration | 1932 |
Personal details | |
Born |
Newcastle upon Tyne |
22 July 1895
Died | 22 April 1975 Lewknor, Oxfordshire |
(aged 79)
Buried | St Margaret's Lewknor, Oxfordshire |
Nationality | British |
Ronald Owen Hall, CMG MC & Bar (Chinese: 何明華; pinyin: He Minghua; Cantonese: Ho Ming Wah; 22 July 1895 in Newcastle upon Tyne – 22 April 1975 in Lewknor, Oxfordshire) was an Anglican missionary bishop in Hong Kong and China in the mid 20th century. As an emergency measure during the Second World War, with China under Japanese occupation, he ordained Li Tim-Oi as the first woman priest in the Anglican Communion.
Hall had just finished his schooling when the First World War broke out, during which he served as an infantry and staff officer. He was decorated with the Military Cross and Bar, and rose to the rank of major. After the war he took a shortened degree course at the University of Oxford, and made his first visit to China for a student Christian conference in 1922. After a period as a parish priest in his native Newcastle, he became Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong in 1932, remaining in Hong Kong until his retirement in 1966. He and his wife then settled in Oxfordshire.
Hall was born on 22 July 1895 in Newcastle, England, the second child (and eldest son) of an Anglican clergyman, Cecil Gallopine Hall, who was then Curate of St Andrew's Newcastle, and his wife Constance Gertrude (née Upcher, herself the daughter of another clergyman). Hall was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, and Bromsgrove School.