Unveiling the Past: A Norfolk Rector’s Journey on The Rest is History Podcast

Just three days after the Rest is History explored the dark tale of the murder of 12-year-old William of Norwich, the hit show was investigating another unusual story from the county’s past.

The series once again featured some questionable behaviour by Norfolk churchmen.

But rather than the 12th century Norwich monk who had peddled antisemitic conspiracy theories about William’s death, this episode followed the extraordinary career of Harold Davidson, the renowned Rector of Stiffkey.

A witness arriving for Davidson’s hearing (Image: Dick Meadows) The clergyman, who described himself as the Prostitutes’ Padre, was at the centre of a national scandal in the 1930s over his infatuation with young women and girls.

He was eventually put on trial by the church authorities and defrocked before exhibiting himself in a barrel on Blackpool seafront, in an effort to raise money for an appeal.

He died in 1937 after he was attacked by a lion while appearing in another seaside show in Skegness.

Davidson with loyal parishioners (Image: Dick Meadows) Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, the historians who host the podcast, recounted this remarkable tale and used it to highlight other elements of 1930s Britain, from the tabloid press to seaside resorts and class tensions in rural Norfolk.

Sandbrook said Davidson might have been more at home in the more licentious 1960s but suggested that in some respects the 1930s had been a “dry run” for the later decade.

The historians also considered whether Davidson had been overly maligned and what the true extent of his infatuation with young women had been.

The Revd Harold Davidson, Rector of Stiffkey, in his church pulpit, Easter 1932 (Image: Wikipedia) Sandbrook also weighed in another historical debate which has raged for decades – whether the village is pronounced Stiff-key or Stew-key.

The historian said he had conducted research among locals and established that Stew-key is used only for the local cockles, Stewkey Blues.

During the podcast, the pair made various references to the connections between the show and the previous episode about William of Norwich.

The boy’s murder in Thorpe Woods in 1144 was blamed on the city’s Jews by a local monk, Thomas of Monmouth, spawning the blood libel which is still employed by antisemites to this day.

St John and St Mary church in Stiffkey (Image: Wikipedia) As Holland pointed out, both shows had featured a “priest from East Anglia behaving badly” and a trial on an “East Anglian offence” that was conducted in London.

Both episodes also had walk-on roles by the Bishop of Norwich and various key moments occurring at Norwich Cathedral.

Holland’s conclusion, though, was that Davidson was “not remotely as bad a person as Thomas of Monmouth”.

The podcast seems to have now taken a break from Norfolk history with its next episode the start of a series about Mary Queen of Scots.