“WOODBINE WILLIE”

Northern Advocate, 14 March 1929, Page 5

“WOODBINE WILLIE”

■REVERED ARMY CHAPLAIN TOUCHING FUNERAL TRIBUTE. “SAINT IN A .SURPLICE. ’’ (Australian. Press Association.) (Received 9 a.m.) LONDON, March 13. A striking feature of the funeral ; at Worcester of- the 'Rev. Geoffrey A like tell Sluddart Kennedy, the famous Army Chaplain known as “Woodbine Willie,” was a procession of unemployed. Hundreds of ail sorts .and conditions of men formed up at the Labour Exchange and marched in procession to the cathedral and later to the cemetery. The eoflin was covered with red poppies, with the simple motto; “In memory of a great heart.” The widow, among hundreds of condolences, specially prizes one signed “Old Contemptibles.” The Rev. Shields, at a crowded memorial service at Liverpool, told how, when they were working together, Mr Kennedy, .overstrained, used to say: “I’m 99 today.” At other times he would say: “Pull up your socks and let us get ou with the job,” He remembered Mr Kennedy talcing off his boots in the street to give them to a down-and-out unemployed man, going home himself in his socks. The lamented padre received large fees for newspaper articles, every penny of which was given to the needy. “He was a saint in a surplice.”

•Mr Kennedy gained the Military Cross in 1917, and after the war the King made him one of his honorary chaplains. As a padre ho spoke to the soldiers in France in a direct and manly way which made an instant and enduring appeal and. the helpful advice he gave to all who asked him made him popular with all ranks of the army. His post-war sermons, delivered without the slightest fear or favour, were often slashing attacks on modern social life. They were studded with the forceful pungent slang of the streets and ..trenches; His war experiences filled him with a bitter hatred of militarism, and his sermons often had as their theme the need for peace.