大象传媒

Reverend Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, better known as Woodbine Willie, became one of the best known figures of World War One. At the outbreak of war he volunteered as a chaplain, and won the Military Cross in 1917.

His habit of handing out cigarettes to troops earned him his nickname, being a heavy smoker himself. Cigarettes were one of the most common comforts given to soldiers during the war.

After the war he was the vicar at St Paul's Church in Worcester, and he is buried in the city. He was born the son of a vicar in Leeds in 1883, and after reading divinity and classics at Trinity College in Dublin, he became a vicar; first in Rugby and then in Worcester. Like many others, he volunteered to join the army at the outbreak of WW1, and was often in the thick of the fighting.

In August 1914, there were 117 commissioned chaplains representing three denominations. By November 1918, there were more than 5,000 temporary commissions granted to the clergymen of 11 denominations; 60% of them being Anglican. More than 100 chaplains were killed during active service in the war.

One celebrated story tells of him crawling out to a working party putting up wire in front of their trench. A nervous soldier challenged him, asking who he was, and he said: "The church". When the soldier asked what the church was doing out there, he replied: "Its job."

He was also a published poet, writing two books about his war experiences: Rough Rhymes of a Padre (1918) and More Rough Rhymes (1919).

After the war he became closely involved in the Christian socialist and the pacifist movements, touring the country giving public lectures. He was in Liverpool on one of his lecture tours in 1929 when he fell ill and died. A crowd of more than 2,000 turned out for his funeral procession, lining from Worcester Cathedral to his old parish church of St Paul's. They tossed packets of Woodbines onto the passing cortege - a gesture the Rev. Studdert Kennedy would probably have thoroughly approved of, being a heavy smoker himself.

Location: St Paul鈥檚 Church, St Paul's Street, Worcester WR1 2BH
Narrated by Canon Paul Tongue and Sandra Taylor
Image shows Reverend Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, courtesy of Reverend Paul Tongue

Show less