My friend Richard Wheeler, who has died aged 77, was an Anglican priest and social reformer who believed the church had a duty to support and represent disadvantaged people. He worked in Brixton in south London in the 1970s, in the midst of tensions between black young people and the police, and became a race adviser to the British Council of Churches.
Richard was born and brought up in Eltham, south London, the son of Charles Wheeler, chauffeur to the chief executive of London Underground, and his wife, Emily (nee Strawson), a homemaker. He attended Haberdashers’ Aske’s grammar school, New Cross, and trained for the priesthood at King’s College London, graduating with a BD in 1972.
His first post was as curate at St Matthew’s, Brixton. He stayed at the church for nearly a decade, and managed a space in the church called the Meeting Place, where community activities were held. He found himself at the centre of mounting conflict between the black community and the police over the frequent stopping and arrest of black youths under stop and search powers, known as the Sus laws. This tension culminated in the Brixton riots of 1981.
Richard believed the Church of England had a responsibility to support disadvantaged people and those who had suffered injustice – this drove his work. He was an adviser on race relations to the British Council of Churches from 1980 to 1983.
In 1983 Richard moved with his young family to Southampton to work as part of a team ministry in the city centre. One of the things he did there was to open up church buildings for wider community use. He was elected to the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod, from 1985 to 1990, and spoke in favour of the ordination of women. Two women were appointed to the clergy at his church.
Richard’s final move was to St Albans Cathedral in 1998 as a canon. One of his roles there was to help set up the East of England Churches Network, a project sharing ideas between faith communities on how they can contribute to civil society.
He retired in 2009 and moved back to Eltham, where he enjoyed gardening and reading fiction, philosophy and politics. He studied for an MA in theology at Heythrop College, University of London, and was a member of the Forum for Discussion of Israel and Palestine. He visited Palestine in 2013 and he was a supporter of the Medical Aid for Palestinians charity.
He was at heart a reformer but also valued the Anglo Catholic traditions of prayer and contemplation. He had great humanity, borne out especially in his own struggles with depression. He was an empathic pastoral priest and a loyal friend.
Richard is survived by his wife, Frances (nee Blake), whom he married in 1975, and their sons, Patrick and James, by a son, Stephen, from an earlier marriage that ended in divorce, by three grandchildren and his siblings, David and Janet.
