Keith Prosser


Rt Rev Charles Keith Kipling Prosser was an Anglican clergyman who was the fifth Bishop of Burnley from 1950 until 1954.
Born in Coleshill, Warwickshire, he was the son of grocer Charles Richard Prosser and Annie May Cox, daughter of Rev. William Kipling Cox. Educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, he served during World War I with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He joined as a private in 1916 and was demobilised as a lieutenant in 1920 having earned a Mention in Despatches. He had a motor cycle accident in France in May,1918,which led to his hospitalisation. He served in 99 Siege Battery which suffered heavy casualties in June,1918,when he was still recovering. Later that year,he caught Spanish 'flu and measles and it was not until March,1919,that he regained full fitness.. He studied at Queens' College, Cambridge before ordination in 1923. Successively curate of Bishop Latimer's Church, Birmingham, Rector of Alert Bay, British Columbia and Rural Dean of Leigh he was ordained to the episcopate in 1950. He died in post four years later.