Archives and Special Collections: Subject guides - Religious Archives

Evans, Stanley (Christian Socialist)

Stanley Evans (1912-1965) was educated at Westminster School and the University of Leeds before entering the ministry. He spent his early career as assistant curate at St Stephens, Portland Town, and chaplain in the Royal Air Force. His communist sympathies were well known and he did not get a living until the 1950s when he was instituted as vicar of Holy Trinity, Dalston. He was a popular preacher, an early figure in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had just published The social hope of the Christian church and been appointed canon residentiary to Southwark cathedral when he was killed in a car crash. His papers comprise subject files (1929-1964) which include files on an anti-fascist demonstration (1936); the International Peace Campaign (1937-1941); the USSR (1943-1954) and the Society of Socialist Clergy and Ministers (1946-1958). There are files created as a result of lectureships held with the London Cooperative Society, Oxford University and the London County Council as well as files and notes about Nuclear Disarmament. There is a file on the Christian Socialist Movement (1961-1965) and scrap books (1938-1965), some devoted to local affairs and others to international affairs. There are twelve sermons in the collection (1934-1965) as well as notebooks on a wide range of topics. Miscellaneous material includes printed pamphlets, correspondence and press cuttings (1943-1960). Some of these are pasted into the pew rent account book of St Stephen the Martyr, St Marylebone (1876-1898) [DEV; DEV(2)].