Lucy Winkett

Lucy Clare Winkett (born 8 January 1968) is a British Anglican priest. Since 2010, she has been the Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly. Her early ordained ministry was spent at St Paul's Cathedral, London, where she was a Minor Canon and chaplain from 1997 to 2003, and the Canon Precentor from 2003 to 2010. She was the first female priest to join the clergy of St Paul's Cathedral.

Winkett was born on 8 January 1968 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, to Bryan and Cecilia Winkett. She was educated at Dr Challoner's High School, an all-girls grammar school in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire. She won a choral scholarship to Selwyn College, Cambridge where she studied modern history. Her contemporaries at Cambridge included the comedian Alexander Armstrong with whom she starred in a production of Guys and Dolls. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1990; as per tradition, this was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA (Cantab)) degree in 1994. She then entered the Royal College of Music to train as a singer and completed the ARCM qualification in 1992.

Having trained as a singer, she changed career path and began training for ordained ministry at Queen's College, Edgbaston. During her training, she also studied theology at the University of Birmingham and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree in 1994. While she was an ordinand, she was part of the BBC documentary The Calling.

Winkett was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1995 and as a priest in 1996. She served her curacy at St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford, London in the Diocese of Chelmsford. In 1997, she was appointed a minor canon and a chaplain of St Paul's Cathedral. When her appointment was announced in February 1997, it was criticised by the cathedral's chancellor John Halliburton, who was against the ordination of women priests. She was also reportedly spat at by members of the clergy at St Paul's. In 2003, she was appointed precentor and a canon residentiary of St Paul's. She returned to parish ministry when she was appointed Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly in October 2010.

Winkett writes, speaks and debates on a wide range of issues reflecting on culture, gender and religion. She was a contributor to the best-selling Why I Am Still an Anglican (Continuum 2006) and to Seven Words for Three Hours (DLT 2005). She is author of Our Sound Is Our Wound (Continuum 2010), which was the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book, and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's "Thought for the Day". She is a founding advisor to Theos, a think tank launched in 2006. She serves as Chair of Governors of St Mary Magdalene Academy, Islington and of an NGO, the Amos Trust.

In her second year of university, Winkett's boyfriend Andrew Stillwell had an accident whilst climbing and was left in a coma. She flew out to him in Switzerland and was with him when he died. This had a lasting effect on her and contributed to her pursuing ordination.

• Winkett, Lucy (2005). Newell, Edmund, ed. Seven words for three hours: a Good Friday meditation. London: Darton Longman & Todd. ISBN 978-0232526455. 
• Winkett, Lucy (2006). "Signposts in society: cathedral ministry and being a woman priest in the Church of England". In Chartres, Caroline. Why I am still an Anglican: essays and conversations. London: Continuum. pp. 145–156. ISBN 978-0826483126. 
• Winkett, Lucy (2010). Our sound is our wound: contemplative listening to a noisy world. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-0826439215. 
• Guite, Malcolm; Quash, Ben; Ward, Frances; Winkett, Lucy; Wells, Samuel (2014). Reflections for Lent 2015. Church House Publishing. ISBN 978-0715144602.