Conrad Noel
Encyclopedia
Conrad le Despenser Roden Noel (12 July 1869 - 2 July 1942) was an English priest of the Church of England
. Known as the "Red Vicar" of Thaxted
, he was a prominent British
Christian Socialist. His father was the poet Roden Noël
.
Born in Kew
, Noel was ordained in the Church of England
and officiated in various parishes until 1910, when he became the vicar of Thaxted in Essex
until his death in 1942. He joined the Independent Labour Party
, but in 1911 became a founding member of the British Socialist Party
.
Within the church at Thaxted, Noel hung the red flag
and the flag of Sinn Féin
alongside the flag of St George. This led to the "Battle of the Flags" with students from Cambridge leading attacks on the church to remove the flags; eventually a consistory court
ruled against his displaying the flags and Noel obeyed the ruling. He founded the Catholic Crusade to propagate his views, which had some impact in the origins of Trotskyism
in Britain.
He was a friend of Gustav Holst
the composer who lived for some years in the village.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. Known as the "Red Vicar" of Thaxted
Thaxted
Thaxted is a town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, with about 2,500 inhabitants.-History:Thaxted appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Tachesteda, Old English for "place where thatch was got." Once a centre of cutlery manufacture, Thaxted went into decline with the rise of Sheffield...
, he was a prominent British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Christian Socialist. His father was the poet Roden Noël
Roden Noel
Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel, also known as Noël , was an English poet.The son of Charles Noel, Lord Barham, afterwards 1st Earl of Gainsborough, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained his M.A. in 1858. He then spent two years travelling in the East...
.
Born in Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
, Noel was ordained in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
and officiated in various parishes until 1910, when he became the vicar of Thaxted in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
until his death in 1942. He joined the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
, but in 1911 became a founding member of the British Socialist Party
British Socialist Party
The British Socialist Party was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war Right Wing...
.
Within the church at Thaxted, Noel hung the red flag
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
and the flag of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
alongside the flag of St George. This led to the "Battle of the Flags" with students from Cambridge leading attacks on the church to remove the flags; eventually a consistory court
Consistory court
The consistory court is a type of ecclesiastical court, especially within the Church of England. They were established by a charter of King William I of England, and still exist today, although since about the middle of the 19th century consistory courts have lost much of their subject-matter...
ruled against his displaying the flags and Noel obeyed the ruling. He founded the Catholic Crusade to propagate his views, which had some impact in the origins of Trotskyism
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
in Britain.
He was a friend of Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
the composer who lived for some years in the village.
Publications
- Ought Christians to be Socialists?, 1909. Transcript of a debate with the Christadelphian Frank JannawayFrank JannawayF. G. Jannaway was an English Christadelphian writer on Jewish settlement in Palestine, and notable for his role in the conscientious objector tribunals of World War I.Frank George Jannaway was born in Kensington, Brompton in 1859...
.
Sources
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Conrad Noel, an Autobiography, London, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1945