Richard Third

Richard Henry McPhail Third (29 September 1927 – 5 May 2016) was an Anglican bishop in the Church of England.

Third was educated at Reigate Grammar School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (he gained a Cambridge Master of Arts {MA Cantab}) before studying for ordination at Lincoln Theological College. He was made a deacon on Trinity Sunday 1952 (8 June) and ordained a priest (31 May 1953), both times by Bertram Simpson, Bishop of Southwark, at Southwark Cathedral. He began his ordained ministry as a curate at St Andrew's Mottingham. He was Vicar of SheernessHe was then the Rural Dean ofOrpington before his ordination to the episcopate as the Bishop of Maidstone in 1976. He was translated to be the Bishop of Dover in 1980 (after July) to assist Robert Runcie, the then Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the first to act as pseudo-diocesan bishop of the Diocese. He retired in 1992 to the west of England, but had moved to Edinburgh by the time of his death, and he died there on 5 May 2016.

Third was made a deacon on Trinity Sunday 1952 (8 June) and ordained a priest the following Trinity Sunday (31 May 1953), both times by Bertram Simpson, Bishop of Southwark, at Southwark Cathedral. He was consecrated a bishop on 30 November 1976, by Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Canterbury Cathedral.