Bishop is the country’s youngest

The Rt Rev Mark Davies with his wife Joanne and son Tim

The new Bishop of Middleton made history when he was consecrated at York Minister.

The Rt Rev Mark Davies (45) became the Church of England’s youngest bishop at Friday’s service conducted by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.

And for the first time in more than 400 years there was also a treble bishop-making service with the Bishop of Sodor and Man, Canon Robert Paterson, and the Bishop of Bolton, the Rev Chris Edmondson, also consecrated.

Bishop Davies was rural dean of Pontefract and became an honorary canon of Wakefield Cathedral in 2002 before he was appointed Archdeacon of Rochdale in 2006.

He is married to Joanne who works for the Crown Prosecution Service and they have an 11-year-old son, Tim.

He succeeds the Rt Rev Michael Lewis, who left in 2007 to become the so-called “Bishop of Baghdad”’ His actual role is as Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, which takes in a small Christian community in the war-torn capital of Iraq.

The Bishop of Middleton assists the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch.