Brian Brindley

Rev. Brian Dominic Frederick Titus Brindley (3 August 1931; 1 August 2001) was an Anglo-Catholic canon who later joined the Roman Catholic church. He served as of vicar of Holy Trinity in Reading until a scandal about homosexuality forced his eventual resignation. He later converted to Roman Catholicism over the ordination of women, and died in 2001.

Brian Brindley
Canon
Brian Brindley
Appointed1967
Term ended1989
Orders
Ordination1963
Personal details
Birth nameBrian Frederick Brindley
Born(1931-08-04)4 August 1931
Harrow, Middlesex, England
Died1 August 2001(2001-08-01) (aged 69)
Athenaeum Club, London
NationalityBritish
DenominationRoman Catholic Church, prev. Church of England
Previous postCurate, St Andrew's, Clewer (1962-67), Honorary Canon, Christ Church, Oxford (1985-89)
Alma materStowe School, Exeter College, Oxford, Ely Theological College

Life

Born in Harrow, London in 1931, Brindley was educated at Stowe School, after which he completed his National Service in Germany. He then entered Exeter College, Oxford, where he read Modern History, and was a contemporary of Ned Sherrin and Alan Bennett. During his time in Oxford, he wrote a 17th-century style masque, Porci ante Margeritam ("Swine before a Pearl"), which was performed for Princess Margaret.

After briefly studying for the bar, he decided to enter the priesthood, entering Ely Theological College. He was thereafter ordained in 1963, and spent his first four years as Curate of Saint Andrews, Clewer.[1]

In 1967 Brindley was appointed Vicar of Holy Trinity in Reading, which he transformed into an ornate center of Anglo-Catholic worship. He was likewise known for his eccentric and flamboyant personal style, as one obituary described: "He wore his grey curly hair in a style resembling a periwig and dressed in lavish Roman monsignoral attire, including buckled shoes with four-inch heels, which he had painted red."[2]

In the summer of 1989, the News of the World made public a secretly recorded conversation in which Brindley fantasized about young men. The publication would eventually lead to his resignation, after two evangelical clergymen circulated photocopies of the tabloid's front page to all 500 members of the General Synod.

Brindley retired to Western Terrace in Brighton in 1993, upon the General Synod's decision to ordain female priests, converted to Roman Catholicism. He remarked of it: "I felt as if I had been a commercial traveller who had been selling vacuum cleaners for 30 years, only to discover suddenly that they didn't work".

The Canon died from heart failure at a celebration of his 70th birthday, enjoying a seven-course dinner at the Athenaeum in the presence of close friends.[3]

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References
  1. Symondson, Anthony (4 August 2001). "Brian Brindley". The Independent. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  2. "Brian Brindley". The Telegraph. 3 August 2001. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. "Brian Brindley". The Telegraph. 3 August 2001. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
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