[1] As Archbishop of Canterbury, he "revived morale within the Church of England, opened a dialogue with Rome and supported women's ordination".

Donald Coggan (he dropped the name Frederick[3]) was born on 9 October 1909 at 32 Croftdown Road, Highgate, Middlesex, the youngest child of Cornish Arthur Coggan, at one time national president of the Federation of Meat Traders and mayor of St Pancras, London, and his wife, Fanny Sarah Chubb.

It was there that young Donald was influenced by Ashley King, an evangelist who conducted missions for children on the beach.

Having shown an unusual aptitude for languages, Coggan was awarded an open exhibition to St John's College, Cambridge.

He entered St John's College in 1928 with an open exhibition, but he was so studious that it was later upgraded to a full scholarship.

[4][5] He was outstanding in oriental languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac, and won a first in both parts of the Tripos examinations in 1930 and 1931.

[5] During his time in Cambridge, Coggan helped found a branch of the Christian Union, an evangelical student movement.

There, he served on the board of management of the Manchester City Mission, and also edited the Inter-Varsity Fellowship magazine.

[8] When Coggan returned to England, wartime constraints on travel meant that his wife and their two children had to remain in Toronto temporarily.

"[5] Coggan's success as Bishop of Bradford, as it had been in Canada and at the London College of Divinity, demonstrated that he was "thoroughly capable and balanced, colossally hardworking, a scholarly teacher, a fine preacher, and an increasingly irenic personality.

[citation needed] While Coggan served as Bishop of Bradford, he became a world vice-president of the United Bible Societies in 1957.

However, "his zeal sometimes outstripped his wisdom, and amid a plethora of activity in the diocese, involving the setting up of numerous councils and committees".

He also visited the British armed forces bases in Singapore and Borneo, meeting with senior officers, leading retreats, and teaching schools for service chaplains.

He also served as Pro-Chancellor of the University of York from 1962 to 1974, as Pro-Chancellor of Hull University from 1968 to 1974, as President of the Society for Old Testament Study from 1967, as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom from 1961 until his retirement in 1980 by virtue of his office, as the Shaftesbury Lecturer in 1973, and as Prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (1967–91).

[4] Coggan "founded, and energetically promoted, Feed the Minds, an ecumenical programme for providing Christian literature to the third world".

[4] Coggan's appointments of three suffragan bishops were also highly successful: George Snow, Douglas Sargent, and Hubert Higgs "all provided thoughtful loyalty and stimulating companionship".

[citation needed] While in North America, Coggan addressed The Empire Club of Canada in Toronto on 1 June 1967.

[1] In 1972, Coggan demonstrated his abhorrence to racial intolerance by opening the Bishop's Palace in York to an Asian family that had been forced to leave Uganda.

He was perhaps less at ease with the landed gentry of the Yorkshire farms and wolds, but they warmed to him for his active support of the York Civic Trust.

His preaching would often take "a single Greek word and open up its meaning, leaving laity enlightened and encouraged and clergy thirsting for more study".

[4] In 1974, on the recommendation of the British prime minister, Harold Wilson (himself a Congregationalist), Coggan was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury.

In contrast, Coggan was not only a scholarly theologian, but, as a "company director" would, he kept "a tape recorder handy for prompt dictation".

Another enemy is at the gates today, and we keep silence.In broadcasting the "Call to the Nation", Coggan was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to attempt to communicate en masse beyond the church.

[9] Other bishops had joined Coggan in pushing for the ordination of women but the conference affirmed that "the theological arguments" for and against it are "inconclusive".

[19] In 1977, during a visit to Rome, Coggan called for full intercommunion between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, taking his hosts completely by surprise.

[8][26] The visit to Rome took place during an ecumenical tour in which Coggan also went to see the Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul and the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

[5] Coggan attended the enthronement in 1978 of Pope John Paul II, the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be present at such a ceremony since the Reformation.

[2] In 1976, Coggan attended the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Trinidad from 23 March to 2 April as ex officio president.

[8] After Coggan's retirement, he and his wife moved to Sissinghurst in Kent where he had been appointed Assistant Bishop in Canterbury Diocese.

[5] During his retirement, he received awards and was active in ways that included the following: Coggan died at the Old Parsonage Nursing Home, Main Road, Otterbourne, near Winchester, on 17 May 2000, survived by his wife.