Harold Davidson - Church Disciplinary Trial

Church Disciplinary Trial

Davidson's trial began on 29 March 1932 at Church House, Westminster, before the chancellor of the diocese of Norwich. This was a church disciplinary trial, not a criminal prosecution, but it was a public sensation. Gwendoline Harris (known as Barbara Harris) who was 16 years old when she first met Davidson, claimed the rector had posed as her uncle and paid her rent, later arranging for her to live at his London home in Macfarlane Road, Shepherd's Bush. Harris claimed the reason Davidson had missed his train on Remembrance Day was that he was "trying to kiss me all the time". Evidence in the form of letters between them support the rector's claim that he never disguised the fact that he was a priest.

His defence was that his work in London had been authorised by his bishop, and that only Harris had actually given evidence of immorality, she having been paid by the prosecution. He admitted to trying to help up to 1,000 girls with advice and sometimes money (one woman, Rose Ellis, had her treatment for syphilis paid for by Davidson). He had connections with the film industry and could get girls claiming to be actresses parts as extras. The rector's family including his daughter Patricia gave evidence that some of the girls mentioned in evidence had visited the family at Stiffkey and that neither she nor her mother had objected. The hearing lasted 26 days and attracted large crowds.

The prosecution produced a photograph of Davidson standing talking to a 15-year-old girl who had her back to the camera; she was wearing a black shawl but was naked underneath. Davidson claimed he had been set up and that he had been offered money for posing with two of his acquaintances in the hope that the publicity would be helpful to his case. The photograph was never examined for authenticity and neither he nor the girl knew how it had been taken. However, the photographs showed a white line down the centre of them which could indicate that they were faked as he claimed.

On 8 July Davidson was convicted on all five charges. The chancellor of the diocese said that Davidson's evidence was "a tissue of reckless, deliberate falsehoods".

After Davidson had exhausted his appeals, he was defrocked at Norwich Cathedral on 21 October 1932.

A final appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury failed. Davidson tried to speak at a meeting of the Church Assembly in 1936 but was told by the archbishop that he had no right to speak.