OATES, Rev Canon John 1930-2023
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 29 May 2023:
The Rev Canon John Oates obituary
Effective rector of St Bride’s during the Wapping dispute who combined pastoral concern with a flamboyant approach to ministry
… Born in 1930 in a mining village in West Yorkshire, Oates was the son of a miner, also called John. The family was Roman Catholic but, because there was no accessible RC church, they began attending the Anglican parish church instead. John had been thinking about ordination from the age of 12 but, when his mother, Ethel, died unexpectedly, he was so appalled at the family disagreements over the funeral service that he turned his back on the church and went to Australia, touring the country on a motorbike, to get thoughts of ordination out of his system.
While in Australia, he stayed with the community of the Society of the Sacred Mission outside Adelaide (the Kelham Fathers) and there rediscovered his calling to ministry. On his return to England he studied at Kelham and, after being ordained deacon in 1957, served his first curacy at St Mary’s, Hackney Wick in east London… He was made Area Dean of the City of London in 1997, when he was also appointed a Prebendary of St Paul’s Cathedral…
…Fresh out of school, Oates decided to use his free travel for a trip from his home near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire for a journey with a purpose. First he went to see the owner-editor of the weekly Huddersfield District Chronicle, offering to travel down to London and produce an eye-witness reporter’s account of the marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and the Duke of Edinburgh. The paper’s editor hesitated, then said go ahead. He would pay the enterprising young journalist a penny a line if his report were printed…[When] Printed a day later, it ran to 168 lines and was headed “From the ‘Chronicle’ special representative at the Wedding.”…
… He and Sylvia, who married in 1962, moved to a flat in Richmond and he continued to keep in contact with his wide circle of friends, as well as travelling extensively, especially to his beloved Australia. He maintained an active ministry in retirement, taking services at St Andrew’s, Ham and St Cyprian’s, Clarence Gate. Sylvia predeceased him in 2018 and five children survive him: David, a quantity surveyor; Jeremy, a management consultant; Rebecca, a counsellor; Alistair, also a surveyor; and Jonathan (Jonny), Lord Oates, chief executive of United Against Malnutrition and Hunger, a not-for-profit company…
The Rev Canon John Oates, rector of St Bride’s Church, 1984-2000, was born on May 14, 1930. He died after a short illness on May 25, 2023, aged 93
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-rev-canon-john-oates-obituary-hhq5txwgn