Percy Elborough Tinling Widdrington (5 June 1873 – 13 February 1959) was a British

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

activist and

religious minister In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidan ...

Life

Born in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, Widdrington studied at

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

, where he co-founded the university

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

and also joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

. He met

Enid Stacy Enid Stacy (10 June 1868 – 4 September 1903) was an English socialism, socialist activist. Stacy was born on 10 June 1868 in Westbury, Gloucestershire, Westbury, Gloucestershire, the eldest of the Irish painter Henry Stacy and his wife Rose De ...

, and married her in 1897. That year, he was ordained as an Anglican minister, and began working at St Philip's Church, in a deprived area of the city. In 1901, the couple relocated to

Calderbrook Calderbrook ( ) is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It was originally part of the township of ''Blatchinworth and Calderbrook'' within the ancient parish of Rochdale, becoming a separate c ...

in Lancashire, but Stacy died in 1903. Following Stacy's death, Widdrington became a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

Halton-with-Aughton Halton-with-Aughton is a civil parish and electoral ward located east of Lancaster, England, on the north bank of the River Lune. The main settlement is the village of Halton, or Halton-on-Lune, in the west, and the parish stretches to the haml ...

. The vicar was J. H. Hastings, who with Widdrington and others founded the Church Socialist League. In 1906, Widdrington was appointed as vicar at St Peter's Church in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. There, he became active in the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

movement, supporting the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

(WSPU) and in particular local activist Alice Lea. In 1911, Widdrington married Helen Dawson, joint secretary of the local WSPU branch, who he had originally met in Calderbrook. In 1918, Widdrington moved to become vicar at St John and St Giles' Church, Great Easton in Essex. In 1922, he co-authored ''Return of Christendom'', which argued for the combatting of individualism and moral decay which the authors saw as caused by capitalism. This led, in 1923, to the dissolution of the Church Socialist League and its replacement with the League of the Kingdom of God. The new league endured but did not grow, and Widdrington gradually became less prominent. He died in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

in 1959.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widdrington, Percy 1873 births 1959 deaths Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Anglican socialists Independent Labour Party members People from Southampton