Clifford William Dugmore (9 May 1909 – 25 October 1990) was a British ecclesiastical historian who contributed to the development of the study of church history in Britain. [1]
He was the son of a parson and educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied the Hebrew language. [1] Dugmore was ordained in 1935 and was appointed vicar of Ward End, rural dean of East Birmingham and installed as honorary canon in St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham. [1] [2] In 1937 Dugmore was assistant curate of Holy Trinity, Formby, in the diocese of Liverpool and sub-warden of St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden. [3] The following year Lord Shrewsbury made Dugmore his private chaplain and gave him the rectory of Ingestre-with-Tixall in the diocese of Lichfield. [4] In 1943 Dugmore was appointed chaplain of Alleyn's College of God's Gift in Dulwich. [5] In January 1945 he was made rector of Bredfield-with-Boulge in Suffolk, [6] and in October he was appointed director of religious education for the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. [7]
In 1946 Dugmore was appointed senior lecturer in ecclesiastical history at Manchester University and in 1958 he was made chair of ecclesiastical history at King's College London. [1] [8]
He founded The Journal of Ecclesiastical History in 1950 and was its editor until 1979. [9] He also co-founded the Ecclesiastical History Society. [1]
Dugmore had a daughter with his first wife, Ruth, who died in 1977. He subsequently remarried. [1]