He attended
Emmanuel College, Cambridge and completed his studies in 1910. He was made deacon at
Michaelmas (24 September) 1911, by
Handley Moule,
Bishop of Durham, at
Auckland Castle Chapel. He started out as an assistant
curate at St. Gabriel's, Bishopwearmouth and later became chaplain to British forces during World War I. After the war, he was the
Vicar of St. Alban's,
Westbury Park, Bristol in 1918. He was at the post for the next 20 years. In 1938, he was migrated to
Nigeria as an Assistant Bishop on the Niger succeeding
Morris Gelsthorpe. He was consecrated a bishop on
All Saints' Day (17 November) 1938, by
Cosmo Lang,
Archbishop of Canterbury, at
Westminster Abbey. Vining was appointed the
Bishop of Lagos in 1940 after the resignation of
Melville Jones in September 1940; he returned to England for part of that year. While in Nigeria, he established a training school for religious teachers. He also tried to be a bridge builder, reaching out to the Lagos Islamic community. He was elected the first Archbishop of the newly created
Church of the Province of West Africa (remaining diocesan Bishop of Lagos), on the afternoon of the province's inauguration on 17 April 1951; he was duly enthroned as such that evening. He was still in both posts when he died at sea on his way to England on 4 March 1955. He was buried in
Freetown, Sierra Leone. ==References==