The Very Reverend Hewlett Johnson (25 January 1874 - 22 October 1966), was an English clergyman, Dean of Manchester and later Dean of Canterbury, where he acquired his nickname The Red Dean of Canterbury for his unyielding support for the Soviet Union and its allies.
Born in Manchester, the third son of Charles Johnson, a wire manufacturer, and his wife Rosa, daughter of the Reverend Alfred Hewlett, he graduated from Owens College, Manchester in ...
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The Very Reverend Hewlett Johnson (25 January 1874 - 22 October 1966), was an English clergyman, Dean of Manchester and later Dean of Canterbury, where he acquired his nickname The Red Dean of Canterbury for his unyielding support for the Soviet Union and its allies.
Born in Manchester, the third son of Charles Johnson, a wire manufacturer, and his wife Rosa, daughter of the Reverend Alfred Hewlett, he graduated from Owens College, Manchester in 1894 with the geological prize but later attended Wadham College, Oxford and was ordained in 1904. An avowed Christian Marxist, Johnson was brought under surveillance by MI5 as early as 1917, when he spoke in Manchester in support of the October Revolution. His political views were unpopular but his hard work and pastoral skills led to him becoming Dean of Manchester in 1924. He was appointed Dean of Canterbury in 1929 by Ramsay MacDonald.
He shot to public prominence in the 1930s when he contrasted the economic development of the USSR under...
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