Harold Davidson

Who was Harold Davidson?

Harold Francis Davidson, generally known as the Rector of Stiffkey, was a Church of England priest who, after a notorious court case in 1932, was convicted on charges of immorality and defrocked by the Church. Davidson strongly protested his innocence, and to raise funds for his reinstatement campaign he exhibited himself in a barrel on the Blackpool seafront. He performed in other sideshows of a similar nature and died after being attacked by a lion in whose cage he was appearing in a seaside show.

Before his ordination in 1903, Davidson had a brief career on the London stage as an entertainer. As a young curate he became actively involved with charitable work among London's poor, an interest he maintained following his appointment in 1906 as rector of the rural Norfolk parish of Stiffkey. After the First World War, in which he served as a naval chaplain, he devoted himself almost exclusively to his London work. Styling himself the "Prostitutes' Padre", his declared mission was the rescue of young girls he considered in danger of falling into vice.