Harold Davidson: Encyclopedia II - Harold Davidson - Ordained as a Priest

Harold Davidson - Ordained as a Priest

His first Curacy was at the Guards Chapel (Holy Trinity) at Windsor. In May 1903 he had his last professional stage employment and on September 21, 1903 he was ordained as a Priest in the Church of England. He was High Church. At first he was assistant chaplain to the Household Cavalry, and then he was a Curate of St Martin-in-the-Fields from August 1905. Davidson's appointment as Rector of Stiffkey St John with Stiffkey St Mary and Morston was announced in July 1906. Stiffkey (pronounced as its written not as Stewky) is a rural Norfolk village on the north coast of the county and the parish had a population of about 500. Its name came from norman times when that coast line was a thriving commercial centre. Boats would come down and tie up in the harbour because it sheltered them from the turbulence of the North Sea. Siff meaning Safe and Key meaning harbour were joined into the word Siffquay as a village began to grow up around the harbour and William the conqueror built his own great hall there. Siffquay eventually became Stiffkey.

Davidson was a respected churchman before the war who conducted some marriages at the Chapel Royal in the Savoy. He was always very popular in the parishes where he was the main employer and the only landowner living in situ; the Marquis of Townshend who owned all the land other than the Glebe, lived in London and rarely came up to his estates in Norfolk. The rector looked after all the villagers needs, whether they went to his church or not. He visited everyone each week and he did special tours at Michalemas to ensure they all had enough to pay their rents and he would pay it if they didn't. In those days rent was only collected once a year from tenant farmers. He attended several of the King's Levées, although his diminutive stature (he was 5'3") led his parishioners to nickname him 'Little Jim'. He once invested a little money in a revival of the musical 'Dorothy' at the Waldorf Theatre in 1909 at the request of a friend involved in the production. He was asked to be the first chaplain of the Actor's Church Union of Central London while he was still at St. Martin in the Fields, due to his connections with the Theatre and always kept up with friends in the Theatre all his life. He relinquished the Chaplaincy in 1918 to work back in the east end securing the finance for the Dockland Settlement which became one of the largest charity organisations of the time and also securing the patronage of Queen Mary whom he had known since his days in Windsor.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ordained as a Priest", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki