Battle of Locust Grove

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Harold Francis Davidson (14 July 1875 – 30 July 1937), generally known as the Rector of Stiffkey, was a Church of England priest who in 1932, after a public scandal, was convicted of immorality by a church court and defrocked. Davidson strongly protested his innocence and to raise funds for his reinstatement campaign he exhibited himself in a barrel on the Blackpool seafront. He performed in other sideshows of a similar nature, and died after being attacked by a lion in whose cage he was appearing in a seaside spectacular.

Before his ordination in 1903, Davidson had a brief career on the London stage as an entertainer. As a young curate he became actively involved with charitable activity among London's poor, an interest he maintained following his appointment in 1906 as rector of the rural Norfolk parish of Stiffkey. After the First World War, in which he served as a naval chaplain, he devoted himself primarily to his London work. Styling himself the "Prostitutes' Padre", his declared mission was the rescue of young girls he considered in danger of falling into vice. In this role he approached and befriended hundreds of girls and, although there was little direct evidence of improper behaviour, Davidson was frequently found in compromising situations. His neglect of his local duties over many years strained relations with his parishioners in Stiffkey; after a formal complaint, the Bishop of Norwich instituted disciplinary proceedings through a consistory court. Davidson's defence was severely compromised by his eccentric conduct, and was damaged beyond repair when the prosecution produced a photograph of him with a near-naked teenage girl. (Full article...)

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The Upper Brook Street Chapel, also known as the Islamic Academy, the Unitarian Chapel and the Welsh Baptist Chapel, is a former chapel with an attached Sunday School on the east side of Upper Brook Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Greater Manchester, England. It is said to be the first neogothic Nonconformist chapel, having been constructed for the British Unitarians between 1837 and 1839, at the very beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria. It was designed by Sir Charles Barry, later architect of the Palace of Westminster.

A listed building since 3 October 1974 (currently Grade II*), it is owned by Manchester City Council and was on the Buildings at Risk Register, rated as "very bad". It was partially demolished in 2006. The Victorian Society placed the building on a list of ten most threatened buildings in England and Wales. It was restored and converted to student accommodation in 2017 by Buttress Architects. (Full article...)

Credit: User:COGDEN

The First Vision (also called the grove experience) refers to a vision that Joseph Smith said he received in the spring of 1820, in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, which his followers call the Sacred Grove.

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