Frances Whitehead
British secretary and personal assistant to John Stott (1925 – 2019)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frances Whitehead (27 March 1925 – 1 June 2019) was a British secretary and personal assistant who was the "right hand" of John Stott, the influential Evangelical Anglican clergyman, for 55 years.
Frances Whitehead | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 March 1925 |
| Died | 1 June 2019 (aged 94) |
| Education | Malvern Girls' College |
| Known for | "Right hand" of John Stott |
Biography
Whitehead was born on 27 March 1925 in Bovey Tracey, Devon, England.[1] Her family had once been very wealthy, with the Whitehead family owning much of Chelsea, London.[2] She was educated at prep school, during which her mother left the family and she was then raised by her father, Captain Claude Whitehead,[1] a decorated World War One veteran.[3] She was then educated at Malvern Girls' College, an all-girls independent boarding school in Great Malvern, Worcestershire.[2] She served as head girl of her school house (Summerside House).[2]
During the Second World War, after leaving school at 18 in 1943, Whitehead worked as a mathematician at the Radar Research and Development Establishment.[4][1][5] Her role was as a human computer, working through equations with different variables to calculate how to hide allied aircraft from the enemy during missions.[5] Following the war, she spent time abroad, working in Switzerland and then South Africa.[4] Returning to England, she worked at the BBC under the producer Mary Treadgold from 1951 to 1955.[4][2] She also assisted at Billy Graham's "Crusades" in London at Harringay Arena in 1954.[4]
Whitehead "came to personal faith in Christ" at a service at All Souls Church, Langham Place, which is adjacent to the BBC's Broadcasting House, on New Year's Day 1953.[4][6] She joined the staff of All Souls' Church in 1955, and in 1956 was appointed as parish secretary by John Stott, the church's rector.[4] Despite its name, this role was effectively secretary and personal assistant to Stott.[4][2] As Stott's ministry expanded, Whitehead's role expanded with him. She typed up his handwritten manuscripts, organised his extensive international travel, managed his correspondence and diary, and oversaw each of his endeavours.[4][2][7] As one obituary put it, "John Stott and Frances [Whitehead] ran global endeavours on a shoestring".[1] Another began with the simple statement: "John Stott would never have achieved everything he achieved in his 90-year life were it not for one person: Frances Whitehead.".[8] Stott died in 2011, and Whitehead was executor of his will.[2] Having organised his papers and then deposited them in the Lambeth Palace archive, she was finally able to retire in 2012, aged 87.[4]
In 2001, Whitehead was granted a Master of Arts (MA) Lambeth degree by George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[2] In 2006, a seminary library in San Salvador, El Salvador, was named in her honour.[1]
Whitehead died on 1 June 2019 of heart failure; she was aged 94.[2] Her memorial service was held at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London, on 21 June 2019.[9]