J. W. Horsley

John William Horsley (14 June 1845 - 25 November 1921) was a Church of England priest, campaigner and philanthropist. He was also granted honorary canonries of Rochester Cathedral (1903) and Southwark Cathedral (1905).

He was a totally abstained from alcohol and was active on the Church of England Temperance Society's council, along with serving as the National Anti-Gambling League's vice-president. In his spare time he was a mountain-climber, botanist, zoologist and mollusc-expert.

Life

He was born in Dunkirk, Kent to that parish's first incumbent, the Rev. John William Horsley, and his wife Susannah Sankey, daughter of Dr William Sankey. Attending King's School, Canterbury and Pembroke College Oxford, he was ordained priest by John Mackarness, Bishop of Oxford at Cuddesdon parish church on 22 September 1872 and spent curacies in Witney and St Michael Shoreditch.

On Shoreditch he began his work to alleviate poverty and improve conditions for prisoners. His next post was as Clerkenwell Prison's chaplain (1876–1886), only leaving the post when that prison was demolished, then becoming secretary to the Waifs and Strays Society (1886–1889). He also married Mary Sophia (1855–1890), daughter of that prison's governor Captain Rowland Bentinck Codd (1824–1880) in 1877.

In 1889 he became Vicar of Holy Trinity Woolwich, remaining there until 1894, when he was made Vicar of St Peter's Walworth in south London (1891–1911). Whilst in Walworth he emptied the church's crypt to provide a play-area for local children. He was also chairman of the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark's public health committee and of its largest workhouse.