The current Archbishop of Canterbury, the 104th, is Dr Rowan Douglas Williams, previously Archbishop of Wales. He succeeded Dr George Leonard Carey.

The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Saint Augustine of Canterbury, who arrived in Kent in 597, all Archbishops of Canterbury since have been referred to as occupying the Chair of St Augustine.

The Archbishop has a number of roles to fulfil that include:

1. Bishop of the See of Canterbury
2. Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury
3. Primate of All England
4. Lord Spiritual
5. 'Chaplain to the Nation'
6. Leader of the Anglican Communion around the World
7. The Ecumenical Role
8. The Inter-faith Role

1. Saint Augustine of Canterbury 597 -- 605
2. Saint Laurence of Canterbury 605 -- 619
3. Mellitus (St.) 619 -- 624
4. Justus (St.) 624 -- 627
5. Honorius (St.) 627 -- 653
6. Deusdedit (St.) 655 -- 664
7. Theodore (St.) 668 -- 690
8. Bertwald (St.) 693 -- 690
9. Tatwin (St.) 731 -- 734
10. Nothelm (St.) 734 -- 740
11. Cuthbert (St.) 740 -- 758
12. Bregwin (St.) 759 -- 762
13. Jaenbert (St.) 763 -- 790
14. Aethelhard (St.) 790 -- 803
15. Wulfred 803 -- 829
16. Feologild 829 -- 830
17. Ceolnoth 830 -- 870
18. Aethelred 870 -- 889
19. Plegmund 891 -- 923
20. Athelm 923 -- 925
21. Wulfhelm 928 -- 941
22. Oda the Severe (St.) 941 -- 958
23. Aelfsige 958 -- 959
24. Saint Dunstan 960 -- 988
25. Athelgar 988 -- 989
26. Sigeric the Serious 990 -- 994
27. Aelfric 995 -- 1005
28. Aelfheah (St Alphege) 1006 -- 1012
29. Lyfing 1013 -- 1020
30. Aethelnoth 1020 -- 1038
31. Edsige 1038 -- 1050
32. Robert of Jumieges 1051 -- 1052
33. Stigand 1052 -- 1070
34. Lanfranc 1070 -- 1089
35. Anselm (St.) 1093 -- 1109
36. Ralph d'Escures 1114 -- 1122
37. William de Corbeil 1123 -- 1136
38. Theobald of Bec 1139 -- 1161
39. Thomas Becket (St.) 1162 -- 1170
40. Richard of Dover 1174 -- 1184
41. Baldwin of Exeter 1185 -- 1190
42. Reginald Fitz-Jocelin 1191
43. Hubert Walter 1193 -- 1205
44. Stephen Langton 1207 -- 1228
45. Walter d'Eynsham 1229 -- 1231
46. Edmund Rich (St.) 1233 -- 1240
47. Boniface of Savoy 1240 -- 1270
48. Robert Kilwardby 1273 -- 1278
49. John Peckham 1279 -- 1292
50. Robert Winchelsey 1293 -- 1313
51. Walter Reynolds 1313 -- 1327
52. Simon Mepeham 1327 -- 1333
53. John de Stratford 1333 -- 1348
54. John de Ufford 1348 -- 1349
55. Thomas Bradwardine 1349
56. Simon Islip 1349 -- 1366
57. Simon Langham 1366 -- 1368
58. William Whittlesey 1368 -- 1374
59. Simon Sudbury 1375 -- 1381
60. William Courtenay 1381 -- 1396
61. Thomas Arundel 1396 -- 1414
62. Henry Chicheley 1414 -- 1443
63. John Stafford 1443 -- 1452
64. John Kemp 1452 -- 1454
65. Thomas Bourchier 1454 -- 1486
66. John Morton 1486 -- 1500
67. Henry Dean 1501 -- 1503
68. William Warham 1503 -- 1532
69. Thomas Cranmer 1533 -- 1556
70. Reginald Pole 1556 -- 1558
71. Matthew Parker 1559 -- 1575
72. Edmund Grindal 1575 -- 1583
73. John Whitgift 1583 -- 1604
74. Richard Bancroft 1604 -- 1610
75. George Abbot 1611 -- 1633
76. William Laud 1633 -- 1645
77. William Juxon 1660 -- 1663
78. Gilbert Sheldon 1663 -- 1667
79. William Sancroft 1678 -- 1691
80. John Tillotson 1691 -- 1694
81. Thomas Tenison 1694 -- 1715
82. William Wake 1716 -- 1737
83. John Potter 1737 -- 1747
84. Thomas Herring 1747 -- 1757
85. Matthew Hutton 1757 -- 1758
86. Thomas Secker 1758 -- 1768
87. Frederick Cornwallis 1768 -- 1783
88. John Moore 1783 -- 1805
89. Charles Manners-Sutton 1805 -- 1828
90. William Howley 1828 -- 1848
91. John Bird Sumner 1848 -- 1862
92. Charles Thomas Longley 1862 -- 1868
93. Archibald Campbell Tait 1868 -- 1882
94. Edward White Benson 1882 -- 1896
95. Frederick Temple 1896 -- 1902
96. Randall Thomas Davidson 1903 -- 1928
97. Cosmo Gordon Lang 1928 -- 1942
98. William Temple 1942 -- 1944
99. Geoffrey Francis Fisher 1945 -- 1961
100. Arthur Michael Ramsey 1961 -- 1974
101. Frederick Donald Coggan 1974 -- 1980
102. Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie 1980 -- 1991
103. George Leonard Carey 1991 -- 2002
104. Rowan Douglas Williams 2002 --

• http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/ - Official web site