The author, Ralph Mann, was born
in 1927 and educated at Leatherhead and Oxford. After
graduating in History, he spent over thirty years as
a schoolteacher in, amongst other places, Barbados
(where he became a member of the Methodist Church),
Sierra Leone, and later as Head of History at
Kingham Hill School, and Head of History at Chipping
Norton School.
He was ordained to the
Church of England ministry in 1982, and served on the
home staff of a missionary society, and then as Priest-in-Charge
of the benefice of Broadwell, Oddingon, Evenlode and
Adlestrop, and finally as Priest-in-Charge of Upton
St. Leonards, Gloucester. He retired in 2000. He is
an Authorised Minister
under the Anglican / Methodist Covenant. He is married
to Elizabeth, who is a Local Preacher, and has two
children and three grandchildren.
