TheArchdeacon of Malmesbury is a seniorecclesiastical officer within the EnglishDiocese of Bristol. This officer holds responsibility for disciplinary supervision of theclergy within its fourrural deaneries:Chippenham,Kingswood andSouth Gloucestershire,North Wiltshire andSwindon.Christopher Bryan has been the incumbent since 2019.

TheArchdeaconry of North Wilts was created from theArchdeaconry of Bristol in theDiocese of Bristol by Order-in-Council on 12 August 1904^[1] and renamed theArchdeaconry of Swindon on 30 May 1919, due to the bishop's concern over confusion with the similarly namedArchdeaconry of Wilts inSalisbury diocese.^[2] In 1999,Alan Hawker, the last recorded Archdeacon of Swindon, became the first recorded Archdeacon of Malmesbury;^[3][4] the current Malmesbury archdeaconry covers a very similar area to the 1904 North Wilts archdeaconry.

John Sherman (d. 1671) was said (once, in 1814) to have succeededJoshua Childrey as "Archdeacon of North Wiltshire" while serving as chaplain toSeth Ward,Bishop of Salisbury; it is well-recorded that Sharman succeeded Childrey asArchdeacon of Salisbury in 1670.^[5]

At its creation, the archdeaconry was called North Wilts.

• 1904–1909 (res.):Hemming Robeson^[6][7]
• 1910–1919 (ret.):Ravenscroft Stewart^[8][9]

From 30 May 1919, the archdeaconry was renamed Swindon.

• 1919–1928 (res.):Reginald Talbot^[10]
• 1928–1947 (ret.):Ronald Ramsay (alsoBishop suffragan of Malmesbury, 1927–1946)^[11]
• 1947–1963 (ret.):Leonard Cornwell (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)^[12]
• 1963–1969 (res.):Cyril Bowles^[13]
• 1970–1973 (res.):Freddy Temple^[14]
• 1974–1982 (ret.):Jeffrey Maples (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)^[15]
• 1982–1992 (ret.):Kenneth Clark^[16]
• 1992–1997 (res.):Michael Middleton^[17]
• 1998–1999:Alan Hawker (became Archdeacon of Malmesbury)^[18]

Since 1999, the archdeaconry has been called Malmesbury.

• 1999 – 1 November 2010 (ret.): Alan Hawker (previously Archdeacon of Swindon; afterwards archdeacon emeritus)^[18]
• 1 November 2010 – 2011 (Acting): Hedley Ringrose^[19]
• 2011 – 30 September 2018 (ret.):Christine Froude^[20] (also ActingArchdeacon of Bristol from December 2012)^[21]
  • from January 2013 until 1 April 2015, Derek Chedzey was part-time Assistant Archdeacon for the diocese^[22][23]
• 4 October 2018 – 2019: Graham Archer (Acting)^[24]
• 7 May 2019 – present:Christopher Bryan^[25]

• Lists of Anglicans
• Archdeacons of Malmesbury
• Diocese of Bristol
• Lists of English people

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from October 2016
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• CS1: long volume value
• Webarchive template archiveis links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022