The son of an Anglican clergyman, Fr. Edward Tomlinson was born in Wigan before moving to Santiago, Chile as a baby where his father worked as a missionary with SAMS. He returned to England in time for schooling and spent those formative years in Norfolk attending the Cathedral school. He then moved to Homerton College, Cambridge before working as a primary school teacher in Colchester, Essex.
It was here that the boy raised as an Evangelical (for which he gives thanks) encountered Anglo Catholic devotion for the first time. This soon led him to Westcott House in Cambridge to train for the priesthood. At Westcott the joy of encountering Anglo-Catholicism was dampened however by the horror of encountering liberal theology! The reason for his calling came into sharp focus as he avowed to stand up for the orthodox faith with every fibre of his being.
A happy curacy at S. Thomas of Canterbury church in Brentwood prepared him for his current post as vicar of S. Barnabas’, Royal Tunbridge Wells.
He writes a regular column for New Directions, the magazine of Forward in Faith and is also editor of the The Church Observer, a Church Union journal. In addition he writes a daily blog which, much to his surprise, continues to gain a loyal following. He is married to Hayley, a painting conservator at the National Gallery, and has two young children Jemima and Benedict.
I am honored to announce that Fr. Tomlinson has accepted our invitation to join the staff of The Anglo-Catholic. Please join me in welcoming him to the site!
Be sure to follow our Moderator at Eccentric Bliss, his personal blog!