The Stationers’ Company has appointed its first master to have attended Stationers’ Company’s School, and its first clergyman - and former Bishop of Wakefield - the Right Reverend Dr Stephen Platten.
Platten takes on his new role as the Stationers’ Company prepares to undertake a major refurbishment of its hall to improve its accessibility and comfort and increase its income - plans that have been delayed by the Covid-19 crisis but which will now see building work start in the autumn of 2021 or the start of 2022.
His other goals include strengthening the Stationers’ Company links with the Crown Woods Academy. He and his wife, a special needs teacher, have visited the school to discuss ways to strengthen the bonds between the two.
Platten Platten, who’s home is in Berwick-on-Tweed, is also keen to make the Stationers’ Company less London-centric and more international. He is also eager to do more in terms of ethnic diversity.
Stationers’ Company’s School was founded in the 19th century for the children of poor Stationers and was based originally in Bolt Court, near Fleet Street in London and adjacent to the home of Dr Johnson. By the time Platten attended it had become a voluntary aided grammar school in Hornsey.
He himself did not become a Stationer until 2005, urged to join by liverymen who knew of his publishing work (he was a director of theological publisher SCM Press and was instrumental in its acquisition by Hymns Ancient and Modern whose Board he chaired until this year). His wife Rosslie thought it would be a good way for him to meet up with others who had attended Stationers’ Company’s School (which closed in 1983).
After a stint with Shell International Platten took a degree in education and on completion went to Cuddesdon Theological College and was ordained, taking his first post as a curate in nearby Oxford. At Lincoln Theological College he trained clergy for the ministry before transferring to Portsmouth where he was part of the cathedral staff handling training and selection. After seven years there, he was approached by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie to become his secretary for ecumenical affairs. The PM John Major invited him to become Dean of Norwich and later Tony Blair asked him to be Bishop of Wakefield which was his role until his retirement in 2014. He also spent about six years in the House of Lords as well as holding other national church posts.
