Canon John Collins

John Collins (1905 – 1982) was an Anglican clergyman who was active in several radical political movements in the United Kingdom. Educated at Cranbrook School Kent and the University of Cambridge, he served as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force during World War II and was radicalised by the experience. In 1946, he founded the organization Christian Action to work for reconciliation with Germany. He was appointed as a Canon to St Paul's Cathedral, ... more

John Collins (1905 – 1982) was an Anglican clergyman who was active in several radical political movements in the United Kingdom. Educated at Cranbrook School Kent and the University of Cambridge, he served as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force during World War II and was radicalised by the experience. In 1946, he founded the organization Christian Action to work for reconciliation with Germany. He was appointed as a Canon to St Paul's Cathedral, London in 1948, an office he held for thirty-three years. Shortly afterwards he became disturbed by the newly developing apartheid system in South Africa. In 1951, he was one of the four founders of the charity War on Want, which fights global poverty. In 1956, he committed Christian Action to raising funds for the defence of anti-apartheid activists accused of treason in South Africa, and this gave rise to the Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. Canon Collins was strongly opposed to the spread of nuclear weapons and was one of many on... less