DEAN OF CANTERBURY

Southland Times, Issue 20773, 14 May 1929, Page 5

DEAN OF CANTERBURY

REV. H. R. SHEPPARD APPOINTED. London, May 12. The Rev. Hush Richard Sheppard has been appointed Dean of Canterbury. Times Cable. The Rev. Hugh Lawrie Sheppard, the philanthropist and popular preacher, was educated at Marlborough and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Entering the church, he became secretary to the Bishop of Stepney in 1905. and chaplain of Oxford House in the East End in 1907, retaining his connection with it for ten years. In 1914 he was appointed vicar of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, and there he did the work which made him universally beloved. He threw the church open day and night throughout the war, and this practice was continued afterwards for the benefit of the “down and out.” The crypt was transformed into comfortable club rooms for messenger boys, and the Church fellowship which he started was a great social boon to friendless young people who had come to work in London. “Dick” Sheppard, as he was called, acted also as a chaplain in France, receiving many decorations. His popular services were broadcast regularly, and he became known to thousands as the “Wireless Parson.” Although he was a High Churchman, his pulpit was always open to preachers of other denominations. A devoted social worker, he initiated the Winter Distress League, which did excellent service for family men in need of work by its employment schemes. In 1921 he was lecturer on pastoral theology and Select Preacher at Cambridge. Next year he was appointed Proctor of the Diocese of London. He was also honorary secretary of the Life and Liberty Movement. In November, 1926, he was compelled by ill-health to resign his charge, being succeeded by Canon “Pat” McCormick. In the New Year honours list of 1927 his name appeared as a Companion of Honour, a high distinction. He also received an honorary D.D. from Glasgow University. In the following November he. was left a legacy of £22,000 by William Bonbright, a banker of New York and London, who admired his work.