Nicholas Langrishe Alleyne Lash was an English Roman Catholic theologian. The son of a brigadier in the British Indian Army, Nicholas Lash served in the Royal Engineers from 1951-1957. He then studied at Oscott College (of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham) and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. He did not remain a priest for long, however, as he received permission to leave the priesthood and marry in 1976. At University of Cambridge, he became a Fellow of St Edmund's College (1969) and served as dean of the college (1971-1975). He also became a Fellow at Clare Hall (1988, and emeritus in 2001). He held the post of Norris-Hulse Chair of Divinity at Cambridge from 1978 to 1999. Brilliant and imaginative, Nicholas Lash was the author of numerous theological books and a regular contributor to The Tablet. A loyal and obedient Roman Catholic, Lash voiced strong but measured criticism of authoritarian practices among leading figures in his tradition, arguing for open debate on a variety of topics, including the ordination of women. In 2017, a papal knighthood was conferred upon him by Pope Francis.