Helen-Ann Macleod Hartley (née Francis; born 28 May 1973) is a British Anglican bishop, Lord Spiritual, and academic. Since 2023, she has served as Bishop of Newcastle in the Church of England.^[1] She previously served as Bishop of Waikato in New Zealand from 2014 to 2017, and area Bishop of Ripon in the Diocese of Leeds from 2018 to 2023. She was the first woman to have trained as a priest in the Church of England to join the episcopate,^[2] and the third woman to become a bishop of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.^[3]

Hartley was born Helen-Ann Francis on 28 May 1973 in Edinburgh, Scotland.^[3][4][5] She was baptised in Coldingham Priory, Coldingham, Berwickshire, where her father was the minister.^[6] She spent her childhood in Sunderland, England. Her father was a Church of Scotland minister but the family moved to Anglicanism in the 1980s.^[3][6] In 1987, her father became a Church of England priest and served in the Diocese of Durham;^[7] he was later made an honorary canon of Durham Cathedral;^[8] and Helen-Ann's mother also later became a priest.^[9] Francis was educated in Sunderland at Benedict Biscop Primary School (a Church of England primary school) and St Anthony’s Secondary School (an all-girls Roman Catholic secondary school; now St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy) before attending university.^[6][8]

She has attended a number of universities where she studied theology. She graduated from the University of St Andrews with an undergraduate Master of Theology (MTheol) degree in 1995, and from Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) with a Master of Theology (MTh) degree in 1996. PTS is a seminary associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Later, she studied at the University of Oxford and graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in applied theology, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in 2000, and a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 2005.^[3][4] Her DPhil thesis concerned the portrayal of manual labour in Judaism and Early Christianity,^[10] and was titled "We worked night and day that we might not burden any of you (1 Thessalonians 2:9): aspects of the portrayal of work in the Letters of Paul, late Second Temple Judaism, the Græco-Roman world and early Christianity".^[11]

Hartley is a fourth generation cleric.^[12] She was an acolyte at Durham Cathedral during her youth.^[8] She attended the Oxford Ministry Course at Ripon College Cuddesdon to undergo ministerial formation.^[2]

Hartley was ordained in the Church of England: made a deacon at Michaelmas 2005 (24 September), by Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford,^[13] and ordained priest the Michaelmas following (24 September 2006), by Colin Fletcher, Bishop of Dorchester, at Dorchester Abbey.^[14] She then began her ministry as a curate in a group of parishes in Wheatley, Oxfordshire.^[2] In 2007, she became curate at St Mary and St Nicholas Church, Littlemore.^[10] In addition to serving as a curate, she worked as a lecturer in New Testament studies at Ripon College Cuddesdon.^[8] She later became the theological college's Director of Biblical Studies.^[12]

In November 2011, Hartley was selected to become Dean of Tikanga Pakeha, i.e. European heritage, students at St John's College, Auckland in New Zealand. The college is co-deputised by three deans who represent the three main peoples of New Zealand: Pakeha, Maori and Polynesians.^[10][15] She originally went to St John's College in 2010 to research for a book, Making Sense of the Bible, before moving to New Zealand to take up the appointment of Dean in early 2012.^[10][16]

In 2003, Helen-Ann Francis married Myles Hartley,^[5] a musician and church organist.^[8]

After the Sycamore Gap tree felling incident, Hartley remarked that "there [was] a real sense of sadness in the air", and that "it was just heartbreaking and almost unreal to see the tree felled". She also stated that she had spent a few days running around Hadrian's wall shortly before becoming the Bishop of Newcastle in 2023, and that "a lot of life events" were associated with the tree.^[31]

• Making Sense of the Bible: Atonement and Redemption. SPCK. 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06405-2.
• Thinking About the Bible. National Book Network. 2015. ISBN 978-1-5064-0101-0.
• We worked night and day that we might not burden any of you (1 Thessalonians 2:9) (DPhil). Oxford University. 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2018.