In Crockford's Clerical Directory Liam is entered as "Manning, Rt Rev William James". Many called him Bill, but to an increasing number he came to be known as Liam. He himself preferred the Irish rendering. In his heart he never really left the West, where his father and his grandfather had served as clergy of the Church of Ireland.
Fishing was his delight, and he died while on a fishing holiday in Connemara. A friend commented: "I feel sure that if he had expressed a wish it would have been to depart this life in the West."
He was an ambassador of his country wherever he went - and he went far. A friend who first met him in Bermuda says Liam was instrumental in forming the Bermuda Irish Association in the 1960s and became its first president. He added: "He always gave a sermon on St Patrick at the cathedral on the Sunday nearest to St Patrick's Day."
Liam was born in 1916. He graduated from TCD in 1944 and in the same year was ordained for the curacy of St Mary's, Donnybrook. In 1947 he was appointed residentiary preacher and librarian at St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork. His health, never robust, deteriorated in Cork and he was advised to seek a sunnier clime. After two years in a school chaplaincy in England, during which he took an MA degree at Oxford, he was appointed residentiary canon of Bermuda Cathedral where he served for 13 years. After a brief period as Anglican chaplain in Switzerland he went to South Africa (1967), first as precent or of St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, and then as Dean of George in 1972. He was consecrated Bishop of George in 1978, an office which he held until he retired in 1984.
After retirement he became assistant bishop to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. With different backgrounds, yet with common objectives, they were close friends. Liam's death followed closely on Desmond's retirement this summer.
Liam's ministry was marked by kindness and compassion. Children felt drawn to him, and would surge forward for a blessing as he passed. His studies at the Jung Institute in Zurich added a new dimension to his life and thought. In consequence, regular psychological counselling became an important part of his ministry.
Liam is survived by his widow Erica in South Africa and by his sister Meriel Latchford in Dublin. His funeral service took place in Howth at the beginning of August. Two Requiems were offered in his memory; one in the Cathedral Church of George, where he had served as bishop, and the other in St Michael's Church at Observatory, near Cape Town, where he was wont to worship in retirement.