"Rebel priests" and "Red vicars" feature frequently in the dissident history of Britain, dating back at least as far as John Ball in the 14th century. One of the liveliest of the lot, Reverend Leon Atkin, was born on this date. During his ministry he was accused of atheism, left-wing extremism and drunkenness and at one point was threatened with prosecution for "obstructing the administration of His Majesty's government" for allowing homeless men to use his church as their address so that they could claim benefits.
Leon's childhood home, in Spalding, Lincolnshire, was next door to a Methodist chapel, and although his family was Anglican, that was where his religious activities began. He became a preacher at fourteen and joined the Labour Party aged sixteen. He apprenticed as an engineer before studying at vicar school (I think that's what they call it) in Birmingham. From that time onwards, to his death in 1976, he was constantly in trouble with authorities, both religious and secular.
Atkin supported a faction in Christianity which argued that any church worth its candles should be concerned with this world as well as the next - as Martin Luther King Jr. later put it, not only the soul but the body of a parishioner, "not only his spiritual well-being but his material well-being." Probably fair to say this view was not universally shared in the upper reaches of the ecclesiastical ranks.
At his first ministry in Gwent, his services attracted hundreds - of worshippers, as well as unbelievers who were also welcome. He held open-air meetings and took part in Friday night debates at the local working men's club. At Bargoed, Atkin turned the Methodist Hall into a kind of social services centre, open seven days a week, serving free meals, along with barbering, shoe-repair and a hostel for unemployed youngsters.
At a time of recession and growing poverty, Rev. Leon never stopped criticising his own Labour Party, and churches in general, for failing to sufficiently support the victims of the Great Depression. He made more enemies amongst respectable people by baptising the babies of unmarried mothers. His involvement in anti-fascist activities didn't go down all that well, either. The story goes that Atkin confronted British fascist leader Oswald Moseley and told him that he, Atkin, worked for a Jew. When Moseley told him he was wrong to do so, Leon showed him his dog collar, and the would-be fuhrer was drowned in humiliating laughter.
The hierarchies conspired to shut Atkin up by moving him to a moribund parish in Swansea. Predictably, he set about de-moribunding it, building regular attendances from about a dozen to several hundred.
From 1936 to 1964 he was elected to the borough council, originally as a Labour member, though when he fell out with the official group he formed his own People's Party. An election leaflet in the 1950s for "Rev. Leon Atkin The People's Candidate" is illustrated with a caricature of Atkin wearing, as always, what later became known as a Che Guevara beret, and a clerical collar. The slogan is "Your vote is your voice; say something sensible".
In 1940 he reversed a lifetime's pacifism and joined the Royal Artillery. When he got home it was to find that he'd been sacked and the church closed and locked. That didn't last long: Atkin restarted his open-air ministries, and regained unofficial but absolute control of his old chapel by popular demand. He used it as a homeless shelter, undoubtedly saving the lives of many people during the appallingly harsh winter of 1946-7.
One of the activities which most upset church leaders was Atkin's willingness (to put it mildly) to engage with people in pubs. He was a drinking companion of Dylan Thomas, but he would also tour the pubs of Swansea weekly, collecting money with which to give treats and outings to poor children. His greatest sin, perhaps, in the eyes of his superiors, was that he was as well-known and well-loved by people who never set foot in a church as by the faithful.
As far as I can tell, no-one has yet written a full biography of Rev. Leon, and surely someone should? If you're a writer in Wales or Lincolnshire, I humbly suggest that you have just found your next project.
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Sources:
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/man-once-described-most-dangerous-13185785
Dictionary of Welsh Biography at https://biography.wales/article/s7-ATKI-LEO-1902#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=3&manifest=https%3A%2F%2Fdamsssl.llgc.org.uk%2Fiiif%2F2.0%2F1473167%2Fmanifest.json&xywh=-421%2C-270%2C4343%2C3749
http://gowerhiddenhistory.blogspot.com/2016/10/unconventional-minister-revived-churchs.html
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/social-gospel
www.historyforsale.com/leon-atkin-leaflet-signed/dc146502