Hand was born in 1918 in Clermont, Queensland, Australia, where his English father, the Reverend William Thomas Hand, was the rector of Clermont. He had two older brothers, Peter and Eustace, both of whom also became priests. When he was four, the family returned to England, with his father taking up a country parish in Tatterford, Norfolk. Hand grew up there and was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, where he was an organ scholar, from 1932 to 1937, and then at Oriel College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1941, where he received a BA degree in history. An Anglo-Catholic, he then trained for ordination into the Church of England at Cuddesdon, from 1941 to 1942.
Career
Ordained a deacon in 1942, Hand became a curate at Heckmondwike in Yorkshire in the north of England and was ordained a priest in 1943. He stayed at Heckmondwike until 1946, when he decided to move to Papua New Guinea, inspired by the life and death of the Reverend Vivian Redlich, a missionary killed there during World War II. Hand arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1946 and spent sixty of his eighty-seven years there. When was consecrated bishop on 29 June 1950 at Dogura Cathedral, he was the youngest bishop in the Anglican Communion, aged 32. Known as Percy to friends, Hand never married, remaining a celibate missionary in the tradition of the Oxford Movement, like Trevor Huddleston. He was usually seen as an eccentric, whose usual outfit consisted of a loose shirt, shorts, "sensible shoes" and a wooden cross. He told an Australian journalist in 1972 that "The secret of life in the tropics is Johnson's Baby Powder, lots of it." He could dress more grandly for solemn occasions. During a visit to Papua New Guinea, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh took him for a Roman Catholic bishop. Hand said that he was "Church of England", but Philip asked: "Are you sure?" Hand was one of the few bishops of the modern world who had walked through equatorial jungle and climbed mountains to find people who had never before had contact with the outside world. In pursuit of publicity to gain support for his diocese, he employed a press officer, Susan Young, who smoked cheroots and flew a plane.
Independence
When Papua New Guinea became independent in September 1975, Hand was the first European to apply for citizenship. In 1977 he became the first Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea. He received several honours, including a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, the highest rank in Papua New Guinea's Order of the Logohu and the title of Chief of the Orokaiva people. Hand ended his time as archbishop in 1983 at the retirement age of 65 and was succeeded by George Ambo. He then spent two years as the parish priest of his childhood village of Tatterford in Norfolk, where he was still remembered. However, he missed Papua New Guinea and returned, settling in Port Moresby where he wrote his memoirs and headed the local censorship board. When he died in Port Moresby in 2006, he was buried at the Cathedral of the Resurrection, Popondetta. His funeral was delayed, as his coffin was found to be too big for his grave.
