Rowell was born on 13 February 1943 in Alton, Hampshire, England. He was the eldest son of Cecil Victor Rowell (1908–1997), an engineer, and Kate Rowell (née Hunter; 1905–1995), a teacher of sick children. Having passed the eleven-plus, he was educated at Eggar's Grammar School, the stategrammar school in Alton. He was then awarded a Hampshire County Council scholarship and finished his schooling at Winchester College, then an all-boys independentboarding school.[4]
In 1972, Rowell was appointed fellow, chaplain, and tutor at Keble College, Oxford: he would stay at the college for the next 22 years.[4] He revised his doctorate into his first book Hell and the Victorians, published in 1974.[4] He was additionally appointed a university lecturer in 1977.[4] His research focused on the Oxford Movement, and he taught undergraduate paper on John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement.[4] He was appointed Wiccamical Prebendary (an honorary post) at Chichester Cathedral in 1980.[5]
Rowell opposed the ordination of women: "Although his opposition was expressed in terms of its effects on ecumenical relations, his Tractarian ideal of the church based on close male friendships meant there was little space for women in leadership."[4] At the November 2012 meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England, he was one of the three members of the House of Bishops who voted against the consecration of women as bishops.[9]
Rowell was part of the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England.[10]
Turkish controversies
In 2004, Rowell disagreed publicly with parishioners in Turkey over his plans to lease a historic and recently renovated church building for use as a nightclub. The plan was defeated after popular complaints.[11]
In January 2007, Rowell suspended the chaplain of Istanbul, Ian Sherwood, and the entire chaplaincy council.[12] By 2008 the disagreement between Rowell and the Anglican chaplaincies in Turkey had intensified, as the bishop insisted on ordaining a Turkish convert from Islam despite complaints from local Anglican clergy and laity that the ordination would place them in serious physical danger. When the bishop arrived to carry out the ordination he found himself locked out of all six Anglican churches and was forced to administer the ordination in a borrowed Calvinist chapel. The secretary of the Istanbul chaplaincy council described Rowell as a "rogue bishop",[11] whilst the senior chaplain in Turkey accused Rowell of causing suffering to ordinary people because the bishop's life had been largely "in the shelter of Oxford University".[11]
Rowell was extensively published in the field of Anglo-Catholic church history. He was the founding president of the Anglo Catholic History Society. He authored or co-authored the following:
^The Rt Rev Geoffrey Rowell "Anglican bishop to Europe who wore purple wellies and told the Pope he prayed for him as his parishioner" The Times 27 June 2017 p57
^ abcSmith, Helena (14 January 2008). "Bishop locked out of churches over Turkish priest". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2017. In 2004, he backed controversial Foreign Office plans to lease a historic chapel in the grounds of the British Consulate – attacked by suicide bombers months earlier – to a Turkish hotelier intent on handing it over to belly dancers.
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