Maurice Henry Harland (17 April 1896 – 29 September 1986) was a 20th-century Anglican bishop, his most significant appointment being Bishop of Durham from 1956 to 1966.
He was born on 17 April 1896, the son of the Revd William George and Clara Elizabeth Harland and educated at St Peter's School, York.
Harland served in the British Army during World War I. He was commissioned into the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1914 and served in the Royal Field Artillery until 1916, when he joined the newly formed Royal Flying Corps, rising to the rank of lieutenant by 1919.
On demobilisation he went to Exeter College, Oxford, graduating BA in 1922, MA 1927. After a period of study at Leeds Clergy School he became a curate at St Peter's Leicester, during which time he married Agnes Winckley. They had two daughters.
After five years he was appointed successively priest in charge of St Anne's Conventional District, Perpetual Curate[e] of St Matthew's Holbeck, Leeds, Vicar of St Mary's, Windermere and Rural Dean of Ambleside before his first posting as suffragan bishop of Croydon in 1942. In 1947 he was transferred to the See of Lincoln where he served a further nine years, being appointed to the House of Lords in 1954. His final appointment was to the more senior Bishopric of Durham.
Harland was alone amongst the episcopate in opposing the abolition of the death penalty for murder in debate in the House of Lords.
Text source: Wikipedia
