Stewart Headlam


Stewart Duckworth Headlam was an English Anglican priest who was involved in frequent controversy in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Headlam was a pioneer and publicist of Christian socialism, on which he wrote a pamphlet for the Fabian Society, and a supporter of Georgism. He is noted for his role as the founder and warden of the Guild of St Matthew and for helping to bail Oscar Wilde from prison at the time of his trials.

Early years and education

Headlam was born on 12 January 1847 in Wavertree, near Liverpool, the elder son and third of four children of Thomas Duckworth Headlam, underwriter of Liverpool. His parental home was strictly evangelical, though not narrow or severe, but Headlam rejected with horror the doctrine of eternal punishment.
From 1860–65 Headlam attended Eton College. There he was influenced by a teacher, William Johnson, who was a disciple of the Christian Socialism of F. D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley.
Headlam matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1865. There he was taught by the Professor of Moral Theology, F. D. Maurice, the primary influence in his life. Headlam came to agree with Maurice that God's Kingdom on earth would replace a "competitive, unjust society with a co-operative and egalitarian social order."
Maurice's teaching and example shaped Headlam's life, starting with his decision to be ordained. Years later, Headlam told colleagues in the Fabian Society: that he had been delivered from "the belief that a large proportion of the human race are doomed to endless misery" by Maurice's teachings. Maurice instilled a "Christian humanism" in Headlam. In his Fabian Society Tract on "Christian Socialism," Headlam wrote, "I learnt the principles and was familiar with the title of 'Christian Socialism' from Maurice and Kingsley."

Ordination and parish ministry

After Headlam took his degree from Cambridge in 1868, his father arranged with an Evangelical cleric, Herbert James, to give further training before ordination. But Headlam was not open to the teaching. James said, it was "impossible to budge" Headlam from his convictions based on Maurice's teachings.
Headlam received another years training under Charles Vaughan who recommended him for ordination as a deacon and found him a curacy at St John's, Drury Lane, London. Headlam was ordained deacon by Bishop John Jackson in 1869 and in 1871 as priest. His ordination as a priest was delayed by Jackson because of his reservations about Headlam's beliefs.
Headlam had five parish assignments, but he was dismissed from all of them. He was never "beneficed" and after being "constantly dismissed" with no curacy he could hold services only when friendly clergy invited him.

St John's Church, Drury Lane: 1869–1873

Hedlam's first curacy was at St John's Church in Drury Lane. William Graham Maul was the vicar from 1855 to 1882.
Maul and Headlam had much in common. They were both friends of the Christian socialists F. D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley who had attracted them to Christian socialism.
At St John's, Headlam's special ministries were "church catechist" and making pastoral visits.
The parishioners to whom Headlam ministered included "working people, actors, actresses, and artisans". Among these people, there were "music-hall dancers". These parishioners, Headlam observed, were "the victims of prejudice" and often "cold-shouldered" by other parishioners. Headlam, who was "notorious for his defence of the down-trodden of every sort," set out to remedy the situation by making dancing socially acceptable.
Headlam recognized that social acceptance of dance depended on "an appreciation of ballet as an autonomous aesthetic form". He adopted a threefold strategy to accomplish this goal: provide an "authoritative exposition of the dance technique itself", form the Church and Stage Guild, and formulate a theology of dance.
In spite of what they had in common, Headlam fell foul of Maul who asked him to leave the parish in 1873. It was not only, or even mainly, a matter of dogma. He outraged respectable Victorian society by his public championing of the poor and his denunciations of the uncaring rich.

St Matthew's, Bethnal Green: 1873–1878

In 1873, Headlam left Drury Lane for St Matthew's, Bethnal Green. Bethnal Green was an area of extreme poverty and Headlam was assigned to the most impoverished area.
The rector of the church, Septimus Hansard, was another Christian socialist who influenced the ideas of Headlam. Working with Hansard gave added "practical content" to Headlam's "socialist ideas".
The clergy usually lived outside St Matthew's parish, but Headlam "rented a flat in a working-class building." Although Headlam lived "among" his people, he did not live "like" them. His "independent means" enabled him to furnish his rooms in an "individual style."
By 1875, "men and their needs now became the centre of Christianity". Living near the church Headlam saw the "degradation and suffering" of the workers. Having seen this, Headlam told the St Matthew's congregation that when people are "not fed so as to grow up and healthily", it is a "witness against the Church" that she has "neglected her primary duty".

Poor attendance at church; good attendance at theatres; Headlam's defence

St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, was noted for poor attendance. "The poor of Bethnal Green spent their Sunday mornings sleeping and the remainder of the day at the dancing room, the music hall, or the beer shop." "Headlam was determined to win them back for Christ, beginning with the young people." He made Sunday School more interesting and made it coeducational.
Headlam also went to see the "cheap theatres" his parishioners attended rather than church services. This research was documented in a pamphlet. The problem for Headlam was that his "defence of the Music Hall and the ballet as being worthy occupations and uplifting pastimes" was an "anathema" to the puritan and political climate. In the face of opposition, Headlam gave a lecture on "Theatres and Music-Halls" in which he expounded a positive Christian view of theatre and the theatrical profession. The speech inflamed Headlam's opponents and led to his bishop removing him from his curacy at St Matthew's.

The Guild of St Matthew

Inspired by Maurice's Christian socialism Headlam was determined to do all he could to reduce working class suffering. Disturbed by the appalling living conditions of his parishioners Headlam used his sermons to attack the wide gap between rich and poor. He presented Jesus Christ as a revolutionary and when John Jackson, the Bishop of London who had long been concerned about Headlam's teaching, heard about this, he threatened Headlam with dismissal. Headlam refused to change his views.
In his efforts for the working class, in 1877, Headlam founded the Guild of St Matthew and led it to national prominence. Its original purpose was to increase attendance at early Eucharist.
Headlam challenged workers to unite to strike down "the customs and circumstances" that make them "mere hands" for the production of goods. He not only issued verbal challenges, Headlam worked with the trade union movement, especially the Women's Trade Union League. However, Headlam had no specific proposals until he read Henry George's Progress and Poverty. From then on George replaced Maurice as the major influence in Headlam's thinking.

1878: Dismissal and marriage

Early in 1878, Headlam was dismissed from St Matthew's. His socialism was only one of Headlam's conflicts with authorities. The immediate cause of his dismissal was his "lecture in praise of the theatre and music halls." In June, he received a testimonial of 100 guineas raised by supporters.
Given the fact that Headlam "could never keep a job", it was fortunate that his father and grandfather were underwriters in Liverpool. From them, he inherited private means on which to live when unemployed.
On 24 January 1878, Headlam married Beatrice Pennington at St. Augustine's Church, Queensgate. The marriage was dissolved in a very short time. He discovered his wife was a lesbian.
Headlam was left with no prospect for employment, but in 1879 he was offered a curacy by John Rodgers, vicar of St Thomas's Charterhouse.

St Thomas's Charterhouse: 1878–1880

In 1878, Headlam became a curate at St Thomas's under the vicar, the Revd John Rodgers. Rodgers was "the most understanding incumbent" under whom Headlam would serve and even defended him in letters to Bishop Jackson. While at St Thomas's, Headlam continued his defence of theatre and ballet by forming the Church and Stage Guild. The death of Rodgers on 25 October 1879 ended Headlam's curacy at St Thomas's. Rodgers had served on the London School Board as Headlam was to do later.

St Michael's Shoreditch: 1880–1882

Headlam's curacy at St Michael's Shoreditch was brief because the parishioners strongly opposed his positions.
From 1882 until its demise in 1903, Headlam sat on the London School Board. He took an active role in the promotion of evening classes for adults, especially as chairman of the Evening Continuation Schools Committee from 1897.

St George's Botolph: 1884

A trial curacy in 1884 ended when Headlam, at a rally, called for the abolition of the House of Lords.
In 1884, Headlam used own money to buy and later to finance a newspaper, The Church Reformer: An Organ of Christian Socialism and Church Reform, that became virtually the voice of the Guild of Saint Matthew. The Church Reformer was published for eleven years. It supported land reform as advocated by Henry George.

End of parish ministry

After leaving St. George's Botolph in 1884, Headlam asked Bishop Jackson for a general licence to officiate in the diocese, but Jackson refused. Jackson's successor Frederick Temple also refused. Although his licence was eventually reinstated in 1898, he was never again to hold permanent office in the Church of England. After being "constantly dismissed" with no curacy, Headlam was reduced to holding services only when friendly clergy invited him.
Beginning with his ordination, Headlam's "beliefs and actions" led to constant conflict with his ecclesiastical superiors and removal from curacies until he finally "abandoned of the idea of a parish ministry." From then on, Headlam "devoted his time propagating Socialism" through his Guild of St. Matthew and membership in the Fabian Society and membership on the London County Council.