Michael Higgins

Michael Higgins holds two First Class Honours degrees in law and a Cambridge doctorate in the subject. He is a former Choate Fellow at Harvard University. His working life began as a University Lecturer in Law, but early on he forsook law for grace and was ordained a priest in the Church of England.

After well over 50 years of ordained ministry, Michael has extensive experience of working with clergy at all levels, from curates to bishops. He served in the South of England as a Selection Secretary at Church House, Westminster, staffing Selection Conferences for hopeful ordinands. In a move west, he became Vicar of Frome in Somerset, followed by emigration north as Team Rector of Preston in Lancashire. Then, in a move east, he became Dean of Ely and steward of that world famous cathedral. His claim to have served at all points of the English compass is soundly vindicated. Member of the General Synod, 1994–2000. In retirement, he has been a locum chaplain in the Diocese of Europe, serving in Menorca, Tenerife, Nice and Lanzarote.

Michael is an amateur journalist, and has written weekly columns in local newspapers in Somerset, Lancashire and Ely as well as occasional pieces in national newspapers. While at Ely, he established a reputation as a notable fundraiser and early in retirement was engaged by East Anglian Air Ambulance as a salaried Development Director, a post he held for six years.

In his student days, Michael did many different vacation jobs, working in a garden centre, a chemist’s shop, and as a hospital porter, bus conductor, school teacher and overseas tour guide. He says these experiences did as much to prepare him for being a priest as his time at a Cambridge theological college.

Michael lives in Norfolk with his wife Margaret, a doctor. They have one daughter, Gabrielle.