The first Executive Officer was Bishop Stephen Bayne, from the United States He was succeeded by Bishop Ralph Dean from Canada John Howe took over the position in 1969. Part of his brief was to reshape the post to become that of Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council and to act as midwife to the new body. It was vitally important that the world-wide Anglican Communion should find a new structure which fitted the mood of the secular politics which had seen the British Empire become the Commonwealth.Howe's previous history equipped him ideally for the task. He knew the Church overseas from his time as Chaplain of Adisadel College, Diocese of Accra in Ghana, and as a diocesan in the Scottish Episcopal Church he understood the pitfalls as well as the strengths of the English establishment.In the 1970s major issues were looming on the horizon which could threaten the cohesion of the Communion. Not only were there divergencies of belief but also of practice amongst the Provinces. These were given greater prominence than ever before because of the speed of communication and travel. What was taught or said in America affected church life in Africa.

If women were ordained in one country they could not be safely quarantined there; within 48 hours they could be in any other part of the globe! In a world where everyone interacted, who had the authority to determine doctrine or practice amongst the various provinces? What mechanisms could be devised for consultation and the resolution of differences?Against this background Howe worked to construct the Anglican Consultative Council. He travelled indefatigably, bringing together all the diverse Provinces of which it was to be composed as well as thinking through its constitutional structures. When the necessary majority of votes had been secured for its inauguration, the first meeting of the ACC was called in 1971 at Limuru in Kenya.Part of the innovation was that its membership included bishops, priests and laity, with an equal voice. With hindsight it may be that this was the most important factor in introducing the ordination of women, something that might have been beyond the courage of the Bishops of the Communion meeting on their own in a Lambeth Conference. Howe survived the gruelling schedule of travel and negotiation for 11 more years.Monsignor Ronald Knox, son of a Bishop of Manchester who found his way into the Roman obedience, once observed of the Vatican machinery, "On the barque of Peter, those with queasy stomachs should keep clear of the engine room." The same is true of any system of church government. Politics sour the air.Howe's disciplined life of prayer, his charity and his optimism sustained him through many difficult times.

The confusions of dementia that troubled his last few years and were so hard for his friends and family to bear may have spared him some personally agonising involvement, as precisely the issues of authority have aroused bitter controversy in the Anglican world since the 1998 Lambeth Conference.If the new generation can inherit some of his strength and his courtesy as a legacy, perhaps they will look back with deeper gratitude for a rich, imaginative and devoted career of someone who saw in its widest dimensions the vocation of a bishop in the Church.+ Michael Hare Duke. Henry Leoline Thornhill Lumley-Savile, businessman: born London 2 October 1923; married 1946 Presiley Inchbald (one son; marriage dissolved 1951), 1961 Caroline Clive (died 1970; one son deceased), 1972 Margaret Bruce (n?Phillips; three sons); died Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire 28 March 2001. Henry Leoline Thornhill Lumley-Savile, businessman: born London 2 October 1923; married 1946 Presiley Inchbald (one son; marriage dissolved 1951), 1961 Caroline Clive (died 1970; one son deceased), 1972 Margaret Bruce (n?Phillips; three sons); died Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire 28 March 2001. Henry Lumley-Savile might have been a great pianist but for the Second World War, when he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Monte Cassino. Instead he became a man about town, a popular escort for such celebrities as Jackie Kennedy, and at one time Evelyn Waugh's travel agent.Henry Leoline Thornhill Lumley-Savile was heir presumptive to his brother George, the third Baron Savile. He grew up at Rufford Abbey, the former Cistercian monastery in Nottinghamshire that came into the Savile family in 1618.