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Harold Francis Davidson (14 July 1875 – 30 July 1937), born at Sholing in Hampshire, was a Church of England priest who held the office of Rector of Stiffkey between 1906 and 1932. Self-styled the "Prostitutes' Padre", he was unfrocked after conviction by a church court on charges of immorality. To raise funds for his campaign for reinstatement he became a circus performer, and died after he was attacked by a lion in a cage.

Family background and childhood

Harold Davidson was born on 14 July 1875 at Sholing, a suburb of the port of Southampton, the elder child and only son of the Revd Francis Davidson and his wife Alice, née Hodgskin. Francis Davidson was the vicar of St Mary's, Sholing, a post to which he had been appointed in 1866. According to biographers, as many as 27 members of the Davidson family were or had been Anglican clergymen, while Alice Davidson was a great-neice of Thomas Arnold, the noted headmaster of Rugby School. Sholing was a poor parish, with a mixed population of dock labourers and itinerant workers, many inclined to drunkenness, with little interest in churchgoing. Francis Davidson, described by Harold Davidson's biographer Tom Cullen as as "a tiny man ... with a luxuriant beard that gave him the appearance of a gnome", served this parish faithfully for 48 years. Although he could be pugnacious when necessary, he was more noted for his kindness and compassion; a former parishioner recorded that he never turned anyone from his door, whatever the circumstances.

It was taken for granted in the Davidson family that Harold would follow his father into the priesthood. His upbringing was strict and constrained; he was not allowed to play with local children for fear of contamination. When he was six he began attending Banister Court School in Southampton, an establishment founded initially for the sons of Merchant Navy officers. Among his schoolmates was Maundy Gregory, later a central figure in various 20th century political scandals. In 1890 Harold was placed with two maiden aunts in Croydon while he attended the Whitgift School, an independent establishment founded in 1596 by John Whitgift, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Elizabeth I. At Whitgift Harold was an indifferent scholar, his main energies being dispersed on extracurricular activities—chess, cycling, cricket and acting, the last-named encouraged by a friendship with a fellow-pupil, Leon Quartermaine, who later won recognition as a stage actor. In February 1894 the pair appeared together in a school production of the farce Sent to the Tower. Influenced by his aunts, Harold became a part-time worker at Toynbee Hall, an East End charity founded by Samuel and Henrietta Barnett that attracted many volunteers from schools and universities. These diversions destroyed any prospect of Harold winning the scholarship that would enable him to study for Holy Orders at Oxford, but this did not perturb him. In the face of his father's disapproval he had determined to pursue a career as a stage comedian.

Theatre, Oxford and ordination

Davidson's chosen theatrical genre was that of the "drawing-room entertainer", a genteel precursor of the stand-up comedy routines that became popular in the second half of the 20th century. Cullen describes this kind of performance as "n answer to the demand of a rising middle class which was neither cultured nor resourceful, but which wanted desperately to be diverted". Within a few months of leaving Whitgift in 1894, Davidson was on the London stage, at Steinway Hall in Lower Seymour Street, performing a comic routine. He was reasonably successful, and in the next few years found numerous provincial engagements in masonic lodges, literary societies and similar social organisations. Cullen suggests that his greatest triumph, however, was as a comic actor, in a touring production of Brandon Thomas's popular farce Charley's Aunt. Davidson played the part of Lord Fancourt Babberly, the patrician Oxford undergraduate who masquerades as the rich aunt of his fellow-student Charles Wykeham, a part for which Cullen believes he was eminently suitable.

In his own account of his life , Davidson stresses that he kept to the highest moral standards while on tour. He maintained the strict teetotalism that he had adopted since signing the pledge in his schooldays, and regularly visited the elderly in the towns in which he was performing, to give them bible readings. He also recounts an incident from the beginning of his career, when he was performing in London. He claims that while walking along the Embankment in a thick fog, he rescued a 16-year-old girl who was about to throw herself into the Thames. She was a runaway from her home in Cambridge who, after her money had run out, was "stranded on the London streets. Her pitiful story made a tremendous impression on me ... I have ever since ...kept my eyes open for opportunities to help that kind of girl".

Davidson's theatrical career lasted for four years. In 1898 he finally bowed to his father's wish that he should study for Holy Orders, after the intervention of the Revd Basil Wilberforce, grandson of the abolitionist William Wilberforce and a friend of the Davidson family. Wilberforce was the son of a Bishop of Oxford and an alumnus of Exeter College, Oxford, where he used his influence to secure Davidson a place, despite the latter's complete lack of qualifications. Davidson's record at Oxford mirrored that of his school career; notably eccentric in behaviour, he displayed enormous energy but disregarded rules, was persistently unpunctual, and failed every examination that he sat. He was a successful president of the Oxford Chess Club, but was otherwise isolated from college life, in part because his teetotalism and also because he was several years older than most of his fellow-undergraduates. He continued to appear on the stage when he could, and decorated the walls of his rooms with authographed pictures of actresses. By 1901 his academic inadequacies were such that he was required to leave Exeter College, although he was allowed to continue studying for his degree at Grindle's Hall, a cramming establishment. He finally passed his examinations in 1903, and that year was ordained by the Bishop of Oxford—after some reluctance of the part of the bishop to accept so unpromising a candidate.

In 1901 a further distraction had added itself, when Annie Horniman's travelling theatrical company visited Oxford. Davidson fell in love with one of the company's leading ladies, Moyra ("Molly") Cassandra Saurin, a blonde, blue-eyed beauty from County Meath in Ireland. The couple were quickly engaged, but the relationship was stormy and was several times broken off. There could be no question of marriage before Davidson was established in his new profession. His first church appointment, a prestigious one that demonstrated his family's excellent connections, was a curacy at Holy Trinity church, Windsor, Berkshire, with an additional role as assistant chaplain to the Household Cavalry at Combermere Barracks. In 1905 he was transferred to central London, as curate at St Martin's-in-the-Fields, where his energies and enthusiasm drew approving comments.

Rector of Stiffkey

Early years

On 8 August 1905 Davidson, as curate of St Martin's, presided at the marriage of the sixth Marquess Townshend to Gladys Sutherst. The union was not straightforward. Gladys was a would-be actress, the daughter of a bankrupt Yorkshire businessman, and was in search of a title; the marquess was looking for a rich bride to resolve his financial problems. Unaware of Glady's true situation, the marquess was keen to marry her, while his family, a noble Norfolk line with a long history of public and political service, was appalled, and threatened to have him certified if he went ahead. Davidson was an acquaintance of Sutherst, and may have acted as a mediator between the two factions. Whatever his role in these events, in May 1906 he was rewarded by appointment as Rector of Stiffkey with Morston, two Norfolk parishes within the marquess's gift. This was a highly desirable living, with 60 acres of glebe land, a large Georgian rectory and an income, in 1906, of £503 per annum, rising during Davidson's incumbency to £800.

The village of Stiffkey is close to the North Norfolk coast, on the A149 road between Hunstanton to the east and Sheringham to the west. It is described in a later guidebook as "a beautiful place, set in rolling country either side of the River Stiffkey, then on its seaward side ... salt marshes stretching out to the sea". Cullen's description of it, from the 1970s, is of "a withdrawn, inward-looking community, a village of secrets", However, in his 2007 account of Davidson's life, Jonathan Tucker writes of the village as a thriving holiday and weekend destination, with its formerly humble cottages much sought after as weekend homes. At the time of Davidson's arrival in 1906 Stiffkey, with a population of around 350, was generally impoverished, although according to Tucker plentifully supplied with shops and public houses. There was a two-roomed school. Davidson appears to have enjoyed good relations with most of the villagers, who referred to him with affection as "Little Jimmy"—he was only 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 metres) tall. He was less well regarded by the local gentry, including the main landlowner, Colonel Groom, who fell out with Davidson after the rector rebuked him for keeping a mistress.

The apparent stability that came with the living enabled Davidson, on 9 October 1906, to marry Mollie Saurin. The Stiffkey rectory became a family home, as children were born at regular intervals. Davidson himself soon adopted the habit, which he retained throughout his incumbency, of spending most of his time in London, returning to his parish to take services at weekends. In London, he worked in the East End on behalf of exploited newspaper boys to improve their wages and working conditions. Through his friendship with Reginald Kennedy-Cox, whom he had met at Oxford, Davidson became involved in social work at the Malvern Mission, forerunner of the Dockland Settlements, of which he later became a trustee. Davidson also became chaplain to the Actors' Church Union, based at St Paul's, Covent Garden. In this role he was frequently to be found backstage in London's theatres, ministering to the needs of showgirls—sometimes with an unwelcomed degree of persistence.. Between 1910 and 1913 he expanded this work to Paris, to which he made regular visits, sometimes acting as a chaperone for dancers recruited by the Folies Bergère. Many out-of-work and would-be actresses encountered by Davidson were invited to stay at the Stiffkey rectory—sometimes as many as 20 at a time—to the consternation of Molly Davidson and of some of the local establishment who feared for the morals of local farmhands. Among those most concerned was Major Hamond, a churchwarden who later became Davidson's principal adversary.

First World War

Davidson was 39 years old at the outbreak of war in 1914, and not liable for military service. Nevertheless, in October 1915, possibly as refuge from the increasing domestic turbulence at Stiffkey, he joined the Royal Navy as a chaplain. He began his service on HMS Gibraltar, a depot ship based in the Shetland Islands, where he exasperated and infuriated his shipmates by calling church parades at the most inconvenient of times, though with the full approval of the base commander, Vice-admiral Sir Reginald Tupper, who was known as "Holy Reggie". Davidson's service report from Gibraltar's captain records that "he performs his duties in a perfunctory manner. Not on good terms with messmates, disregards mess rules and regulations". In October 1916 Davidson was transferred to HMS Fox in the Middle East, and was quickly in trouble when arrested by the service police during a raid on a Cairo brothel. He explained his presence by claiming he was looking for a diseased prostitute who had been infecting his men. He received a severe warning from his commanding officer; his service report describes him as showing " a great lack of tact" and "on bad terms with a number of his messmates". Davidson remained with the Fox until August 1918 when he was posted to HMS Leviathan in the northern Atlantic. Here, his commander was slightly more complimentary; he found Davidson "a clever writer and entertainer pays attention to duty". Davidson left the Navy in March 1919.

"The Prostitutes' Padre"

When Davidson returned home he found that Molly was six months pregnant. The dates of his leave from naval duties during the summer and autumn 1918 made it very unlikely that he was the father. A daughter was born on 21 June; rumours indicated that the likely father was a Canadian army colonel, Ernest Doudemain, a friend from Davidson's schooldays who was lodging at the rectory in the latter part of 1918. Although deeply upset by Molly's infidelity, Davidson accepted the child—who bore some resemblace to him—as his own. To escape from the imbroglio, Davidson applied for a year's posting as chaplain to a hill station at Simla in India, and engaged a locum to fulfil his parish duties in Stiffkey and Morston. The Indian post fell through, but Davidson still had to pay the locum, the Revd A. Blair, a fee of £150 to honour the contract he had made.

"The Reverend Mr Davidson's downfall ... was girls. Not a girl, not five or six girls even, not a hundred, but the entire tremulous universe of girlhood. Shingled heads, clear cheeky eyes, nifty legs, warm, blunt-fingered workaday hands, small firm breasts and, most importantly, good strong healthy teeth, besotted him."

With little incentive to remain in the poisoned atmosphere of the Stiffkey rectory, Davidson soon resumed his habit of spending his weeks in London. His pattern became that of departing first thing on Monday morning and returning late on Saturdays; he did this, says Ronald Blythe in his essay on the rector, "not just often, but regularly every week for years and years". Sometimes on the return journey, as the result of a missed rail connection, he would barely be in time for the 11 am service at Stiffkey, and sometimes he would fail altogether to arrive. His activities in London centred on the innumerable Lyons, ABC and Express Dairies teashops and their staffs of nubile waitresses known as "Nippies". The rector was mesmerised, says Blyth, by "the ineffable harmonies created by starched linen crackling over young breasts and black-stockinged calves in chubby conference just below the hem of the parlourmaid's frock".</ref> Davidson, perhaps on the basis of his Thames-side rescue of long ago, had convinced himself that these girls, often no more than 16 years old, were in danger of drifting into vice. His mission was to rescue them; the prototype was Rose Ellis, whom Davidson met in September 1920, in Leicester Square. She was 20 but looked younger; living on the earnings of casual prostitution, she had no money and nowhere to spend the night. Davidson gave her the cash for a room, and arranged to meet her the following week. This was the beginning of a friendship that endured. Davidson brought her back to the rectory, where she worked for a time as a gardener. He also tried to get her a job with a touring theatre company, took her to Paris to find employment as an au pair, kept her supplied with small sums of cash, and paid her medical bills when she was suffering from venereal disease.

Rose Ellis was one of the first of many; according to his own later estimate, Davidson approached around 150 to 200 girls a year. Many of these rejected his advances, and a number of teashops considered him a pest, and barred him from entering. Landladies found him visiting their tenants at all hours of the day and night. However, there is little evidence to suggest that his underlying motives were other than those that he maintained—saving young girls from the dangers of the streets. He bought them tea, found them rooms, listened to their problems and sometimes found them work, on the stage or in domestic service. He styled himself the "Prostitutes' Padre" which, he asserted, was "the proudest title that a true priest of Christ can hold".

Financial problems

To finance his chosen lifestyle, Davidson needed more money than his Stiffkey living could provide. He saw an opportunity to improve his financial position when, in about 1920, he met Arthur John Gordon, supposedly a wealthy American company promoter but in fact an undischarged bankrupt and confidence trickster. Gordon not only persuaded the gullible rector to invest his own savings in a range of dubious money-making schemes, but got the clergyman to solicit funds from other investors, including his own solicitor, Harold Edwards, and the Revd Hugh Boswell Chapman, chaplain of the King's Chapel of the Savoy. Davidson borrowed heavily to increase his investment, and by 1925 was in serious financial difficulties. In February that year he failed to pay his local rates, and was threatened with imprisonment. He avoided this by borrowing from moneylender at exorbitant interest rates, but in October was forced to file a petition of bankruptcy, with debts totalling £2,924. Eventually a settlement was reached, whereby around £400—half of his Stiffkey stipend—was applied to the reduction of his debts, leaving Davidson and his family very short of income. Somehow, however, he managed to continue his London life. He never stopped believing in Gordon's essential honesty, and that one day his investments would pay off; much of his time in London was spent, not in pursuit of girls but in pursuit of or consultation with Gordon.

Downfall and deposition

Initial investigations

In 1930, Davidson missed the Remembrance Day service. Major Philip Hamond, one of the landowners of Morston, who had disliked Davidson since he refused to allow him to be churchwarden in 1919 and had had several further altercations with him since, was furious and accused Davidson of insulting the war dead.

Hamond discovered, through a clergy relative, that if Davidson was accused of immorality the church would have to investigate. A complaint was made to Henry Dashwood, solicitor to the Church of England and adviser to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It is not certain if this was done by the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Bertram Pollock or by Hamond through a relative who was a rural dean. There are no letters of complaint from the bishop to Dashwood at any time. Later letters confirm that nobody in the bishop's office was aware that he was under investigation until they received a notification of his impending trial a year later. The investigation was directed by Dashwood from London. He visited Hamond in early January 1931 and also met the churchwarden of Stiffkey who told him the rector was the best priest they ever had and warned Dashwood that he would find no one to say a bad word against him.

Dashwood then began investigating Davidson's activities in London and he hired the Arrows Detective Agency to follow the rector. Again the private detectives uncovered little; of the 40 girls they interviewed only one would say anything against him and then only when drunk (she recanted when sober.

Almost a year had gone by and a lot of money had been spent without result. Dashwood was under pressure and was being threatened with the Bar Council for the way he was conducting the investigation, threatening and mistreating the girl whom they got drunk and who was so traumatised that she tried to commit suicide. In December 1931, Dashwood attempted to get the rector to sign an open confession to immorality while denying him access to the bishop and the right to know of what he was being accused. The rector refused and immediately offered his resignation to the bishop in return for a church investigation into any accusations against him; his life was an open book he wrote; all the bishop had to do was ask. His family's advice was recorded and sent in to the bishop as well and remains in the archive. He offered to step down if his parishioners wanted him to and they refused.

In a final meeting with the bishop he tried once more to offer to resign in return for a church investigation. He claimed that it would do the church harm to allow the case to come to court. The bishop replied he was entirely in Dashwood's hands and the rector should sign the confession or go to trial. The rector asked how he could possibly sign a confession to charges his bishop couldn't even remember; if that was the choice then he could only choose trial.

Charges under the Clergy Discipline Act 1892 were served on the rector on 20 January 1932, with a Consistory Court trial date set for 1 February. The rector barely had 10 days to find himself a defence team and no money to do it with.

Dashwood sent detectives to serve sub poenas on everyone the rector knew. At the last moment his bishop changed his mind and agreed to accept his resignation rather than a trial but Dashwood released charges to one London newspaper to ensure the bishop could not withdraw. The newspapers were able to write stories that conveyed the impression of guilt.

Davidson later requested a trial in camera so he could present a defence. It was denied him. He never gave interviews to the press even after the trial but he did write a series of articles himself for the Empire News called "Why I am fighting" when the paper offered to defend him. It was quite usual for the media to come in when a defendant in a major trial had no money and offer to pay for his defence in return for exclusive access. In the rector's case a top counsel was retained, but the prosecution successfully sued for contempt of court so the paper and its counsel were obliged to withdraw. He finally got a Jewish defence team which offended the judge who considered a consistory court to be a court of Christian morals.

When the Daily Herald published its story it was fined £50 for contempt of court. The Empire News, to which Davidson had given a series of articles, was fined £100. Davidson was cleared of contempt.

Church disciplinary trial

Court hearing

Davidson's trial began on 29 March 1932 at Church House, Westminster, before the chancellor of the diocese of Norwich. This was a church disciplinary trial, not a criminal prosecution, but it was a public sensation. Gwendoline Harris (known as Barbara Harris) who was 16 years old when she first met Davidson, claimed the rector had posed as her uncle and paid her rent, later arranging for her to live at his London home in Macfarlane Road, Shepherd's Bush. Harris claimed the reason Davidson had missed his train on Remembrance Day was that he was "trying to kiss me all the time". Evidence in the form of letters between them support the rector's claim that he never disguised the fact that he was a priest.

His defence was that his work in London had been authorised by his bishop, and that only Harris had actually given evidence of immorality, she having been paid by the prosecution. He admitted to trying to help up to 1,000 girls with advice and sometimes money (one woman, Rose Ellis, had her treatment for syphilis paid for by Davidson). He had connections with the film industry and could get girls claiming to be actresses parts as extras. The rector's family including his daughter Patricia gave evidence that some of the girls mentioned in evidence had visited the family at Stiffkey and that neither she nor her mother had objected. The hearing lasted 26 days and attracted large crowds.

The prosecution produced a photograph of Davidson standing talking to a 15-year-old girl who had her back to the camera; she was wearing a black shawl but was naked underneath. Davidson claimed he had been set up and that he had been offered money for posing with two of his acquaintances in the hope that the publicity would be helpful to his case. The photograph was never examined for authenticity and neither he nor the girl knew how it had been taken. However, the photographs showed a white line down the centre of them which could indicate that they were faked as he claimed.

On 8 July Davidson was convicted on all five charges. The chancellor of the diocese said that Davidson's evidence was "a tissue of reckless, deliberate falsehoods".

Unfrocking

After Davidson had exhausted his appeals, he was defrocked at Norwich Cathedral on 21 October 1932.

A final appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury failed. Davidson tried to speak at a meeting of the Church Assembly in 1936 but was told by the archbishop that he had no right to speak.

Campaigning for reinstatement

Blackpool showman

With the loss of his clerical income, he went back to public entertainment, even before he had exhausted appeals. In September 1932 his appearance fasting in a barrel at Blackpool was advertised. The massed crowds at his exhibition caused an obstruction and the police arrested the promoter Luke Gannon for causing it, and Davidson for aiding and abetting him. Both had to give undertakings "that the barrel business with Mr Davidson will cease"; they were fined 40s. each.

However, Davidson's contact with the law was not entirely as the defendant; after his last service at Stiffkey he was assaulted by Major Philip Hamond, churchwarden at Morston and the man who had initiated the original complaint against Davidson. Davidson had called at Hamond's house, apparently to ask for a church key, but Hamond did not wish to speak to him and told him "Clear out, or I'll kick you out!". Hamond then kicked the Rector off the step, stating at the Magistrates' court that it was "a kick of finality and contempt". Hamond also kicked a companion of Davidson's, Clinton Gray-Fisk. He was convicted of two counts of assault and fined 20 shillings on each plus the court costs. Local legend states that Hamond received many letters from sympathisers paying part of his fine, and that one enclosed a packet of hobnails with a request that he put those into the soles of his boots for next time.

Davidson then went to Blackpool to live off his notoriety. He would appear either in a barrel or being apparently roasted in an oven while a figure dressed as a devil prodded him with a pitchfork. In August 1935 he was summonsed again, this time by Blackpool Corporation, for attempting suicide by fasting – an entertainment again promoted by Gannon. Davidson appeared in court in ecclesiastical robes, described as "an ex-clergyman of no fixed abode". This time, however, he was found not guilty: the court did not believe that he was intending to take his life. He then successfully sued the Blackpool Corporation for false arrest and malicious prosecution and was awarded £382 in damages. Late in 1936 he was fined for trespassing on Victoria Station. On 20 July 1937 he was arrested by two policemen after exiting a lion's cage, for not paying the fine and was subsequently given 15 days to pay £7 8s.

Death in Skegness

For the summer season in 1937 Davidson worked at Thompsons' Amusement Park in Skegness, where he was billed as "A modern Daniel in a lion's den". He would enter a cage with a lion called Freddie and a lioness called Toto, and talk for about ten minutes about the injustice he felt had been meted out to him. On 28 July, he was moving through his act when he accidentally tripped on the tail of the lioness. Presumably perceiving this as an attack, Freddie the lion attacked and mauled him. Renee Somer, the 16-year-old lion attendant, entered the cage and fought the lion back using a 3 ft whip and an iron bar.

Davidson was taken to Skegness Cottage Hospital with a neck injury and broken collar-bone and lacerations on his upper body. The lion had mauled him at the neck leaving a gash behind his left ear.

A coroner's jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

Davidson was buried in Stiffkey churchyard. Thousands crammed into the village to attend the funeral service. Round the sides of his grave, in gold lettering, is a favourite quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson which says "For on Faith in Man and genuine Love of Man all searching after Truth must be founded".

Aftermath

The strange story of the Rector of Stiffkey has been the subject of several fictionalised retellings. David Wood with David Wright wrote a two-act treatment A Life in Bedrooms, produced in Edinburgh in 1967 and later as The Stiffkey Scandals of 1932 on BBC2 TV and at Queen's Theatre in London in 1968, which trod a middle ground on Davidson's guilt or innocence. This was subsequently revived as The Prostitute's Padre at Norwich Playhouse in 1997.

A musical And God Made the Little Green Apple was staged at the Stables Theatre, Manchester in 1969. Stuart Douglas wrote a play in 1972 The Vicar of Soho which portrays Davidson as a politically naive, but well-intentioned social reformer. Ken Russell made a 1990 underground film Lion's Mouth based on the scandal; the central character is a female journalist on the Skegness Sentinel. A 2009 stage production The Missionary's Position gives an amusing variety music hall style portrayal of Davidson as a naive buffoon but leaves his guilt open to question.

John Walsh's novel about Davidson's life, Sunday at the Cross Bones, was published on 8 May 2007.

The 1982 film The Missionary, starring Michael Palin, tells a similar story but is set in the Edwardian period.

Many documents concerning the case are now in the public arena, except his personal letters and papers which remain with his family. The documents have been used by Davidson's descendants and the present priest at Stiffkey as evidence that he was not guilty of the charges which were found proved against him. A BBC regional documentary in 2004 showed their attempts to posthumously exonerate him.

The death of Davidson has echoes of the unlikely death of Hannah Twynnoy, killed by a tiger in England.

Notes and refererences

Notes

1. A fuller account of the circumstances of the Townshend marriage, its subsequent progress and its consequences is found in The Daily Telegraph obituary of the seventh Marquess (son of the sixth), who died in 2010 aged 93.
2. In England, every parish has a "patron", responsible for the appointment of incumbent clergy. Traditionlly, patrons were members of the nobility or landed gentry; following late 20th-century legislation, most patronage passed to bishops, other church bodies or the Crown, though some remains in private hands.
3. Cullen indicates that this was a very handsome living. Thirty years later, only about half of the Church of Englnd's 12,000 parishes were worth more than £400 a year to their incumbents, and even in 1962 many clergymen earned no more than £600 a year – less than a bus driver's earnings.
4. Some sources, including Blythe (1964) and Parris (1998), maintain that the village name is pronounced "Stewkey". Cullen in 1975, and Tucker in 2007, found that the locals pronounced the name as spelt. Cullen records that "Stewkey" refers only to the "Stewkey Blues" cockles, found on the nearby seashore.
5. Davidson continued this work for the remainder of his years as rector. His activities in raising funds and soliciting volunteer helpers were noted with approval on a visit to the East End by Queen Mary.
6. Sir Reginald Tupper (1859–1945) retired from the Navy in 1921, and was an early member of the "British Fascisti", an early British fascist organisation which attracted a number of high-ranking naval and military officers.
7. The daughter, born Pamela Cushla le Poer Davidson, lived until 2001. She always maintained that Doudemain was her real father, though she was fond of the rector, and often stayed with him in Blackpool and Skegness, after his removal from Stiffkey.
8. In Cullen's account Blair "stuck to the Stiffkey rectory like a barnacle", though it is not clear whether he carried out parochial duties or simply sat out his year.
9. Both Tucker and Cullen record that Davidson invested around £5000 with Gordon, a sum more than six times his gross stipend.

Citations

1. Tucker, p. xiii
2. Cullen, p. 26
3. ^ Tucker, pp. 1–2
4. ^ Cullen, p. 27
5. ^ Cullen, pp. 28–30
6. "Whitgift School". Independent schools Council. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
7. ^ Cullen, pp. 30–31
8. Tucker, p. 3
9. Cullen, p. 33
10. ^ Brown, Robert. "Davidson, Harold Francis (1875–1937)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 28 May 2013. (subscription required) Cite error: The named reference "ODNB" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
11. ^ Tucker, pp. 4–5
12. ^ Cullen, pp. 34–35
13. ^ Tucker, pp. 6–7
14. ^ Cullen, pp. 38–39
15. "Marquess Townshend". The Daily Telegraph. 29 April 2010.
16. Cullen, p. 40
17. "Clergy Appointments: Why Patronage?". Church Society Trust. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
18. Lyall, p. 27
19. Cullen, p. 37
20. Blythe, p. 156; Parris, p. 47; Tucker, p. 7; Cullen, p. 38
21. Tucker, p. 8
22. Cullen, p. 15
23. Parris, p. 47
24. Tucker, p. 113
25. Cullen, pp. 40–42
26. ^ Tucker, pp. 13–14
27. Cullen, pp. 43–44
28. Blythe, p. 171
29. Cullen, pp. 42–43 and p. 59
30. ^ Cullen, pp. 45–46
31. Linehan, p. 156
32. ^ Tucker, pp. 15–16
33. "Obituary: Pamela Nelson-Edwards". The Daily Telegraph. 12 March 2001.
34. ^ Cullen, p. 47
35. ^ Blythe, p. 157
36. Tucker, pp. 25–26
37. Blythe, p. 161
38. Blythe, pp. 158–159
39. Cullen, pp. 48–49
40. Tucker, pp. 30–31
41. Cullen, p. 13
42. ^ Cullen, pp. 51–52
43. Tucker, p. 17
44. Tucker, pp. 18–19 and 144–45
45. Cullen, p. 57
46. Blythe, p. 161
47. "FOUND GUILTY" Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 8, 9 July 1932, Page 13
48. "EX-RECTOR OF STIFFKEY" Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 98, 22 October 1932, Page 13
49. "MAJOR KICKS RECTOR" The Straits Times, 7 November 1932, Page 5
50. "DAMAGES FOR EX-RECTOR OF STIFFKEY" Evening Post, 22 February 1936, Page 271
51. The Straits Times, 10 January 1937
52. "Lion attacks ex-rector of stiffkey : Girl of 16 rescues him", Daily Mirror Late Lon Ed, pp. 1 & 28, 29 July 1937
53. "Neck broken, he talks to his children", Daily Mirror (Late Lon Ed), p. 27, 30 July 1937
54. "Dying ex-rector asks to hear stories of his last adventure", Daily Mirror (London Ed), pp. 3 & 4, 31 July 1937
55. Evening Post, 2 August 1937
56. CROWDS FIGHT WILDLY AT STIFFKEY GRAVE The Straits Times, 14 August 1937
57. David Wood's biography
58. The rector of Stiffkey: Britain's most infamous clergyman - Features, Books - The Independent at enjoyment.independent.co.uk
59. "My Innocent Grandfather" by Karilyn Collier Church Times, 6 July 2007, p.18

Bibliography

• Blythe, Ronald (1964). The Age of Illusion: England in the Twenties and Thirties, 1919-1940 (Ch. 8: "The Rector of Stiffkey"). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books. OCLC 10971329.
• Cullen, Tom (1975). The Prostitutes' Padre. London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 0-370-10285-1.
• Gardiner, Juliet (2011). The Thirties: An Intimate History. London: HarperPress. ISBN 978-0-00-731453-9. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• Linehan, Thomas (2000). British Fascism, 1918-39: Parties, Ideology and Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-5023-5.
• Lyall, Ian (2007). Explore the North Norfolk Coast. London: Lulu Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-84753-681-5.
• Parris, Matthew (1999). The Great Unfrocked (Ch. "Harold Davidson, Rector of Stiffkey", pp. 47–64). London: Robson Books. ISBN 1-86105-263-4.
• Pugh, Martin (2009). We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-1-84413-923-1.
• Taylor, A.J.P. (1970). English History 1914–45. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-021181-0.
• Tucker, Jonathan (2007). The Troublesome Priest. Norwich: Michael Russell. ISBN 978-0-85955-307-0.

External links

• BBC Inside Out profile arguing for Davidson's innocence
• Norfolk History and Past Times
• Rector of Stiffkey website written by his granddaughter, Karilyn Collier

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from April 2012
• 1875 births
• 1937 deaths
• Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
• English Anglican priests
• British chess players
• People educated at Whitgift School
• People from Southampton
• People from Norfolk
• English military chaplains
• World War I chaplains
• Royal Navy chaplains
• People from Eastleigh (district)
• People from North Norfolk (district)