British Methodist minister, socialist and pacifist (1903–1998)
The Reverend and the Right Honourable
The Lord Soper
Portrait by Walter Bird, 1965
Member of the House of Lords
In office May 1965 – December 1998
Councillor of the Greater London Council
In office April 1964 – May 1965
President of the Methodist Conference
In office June 1953 – June 1954
Vice President
Leslie Ward Kay
Preceded by
Colin Augustus Roberts
Succeeded by
William Russel Shearer
Personal details
Born
Donald Oliver Soper
(1903-01-31)31 January 1903 Wandsworth, London, United Kingdom
Died
22 December 1998(1998-12-22) (aged 95) London, United Kingdom
Political party
Labour
Spouse
Marie Dean
Children
4
Alma mater
St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Wesley House
London School of Economics
Occupation
Minister, councillor
Donald Oliver Soper, Baron Soper (31 January 1903 – 22 December 1998) was a British Methodist minister, socialist and pacifist. He served as President of the Methodist Conference in 1953–54. After May 1965 he was a peer in the House of Lords.
Historian Martin Wellings states:
His combination of modernist theology, high sacramentalism, and Socialist politics, expressed with insouciant wit and unapologetic élan, thrilled audiences, delighted admirers, and reduced opponents to apoplectic fury.[1]
^Martin Wellings, "Renewal, Reunion, and Revival: Three British Methodist Approaches to “Serving the Present Age” in the 1950s." Methodist History (2014) 53#1 pp. 21-39 online Archived 2016-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
Donald Oliver Soper, Baron Soper (31 January 1903 – 22 December 1998) was a British Methodist minister, socialist and pacifist. He served as President...
Soper is an occupational surname for a soaper. It may refer to: Daniel E. Soper (1843–1923), American politician DonaldSoper, Baron Soper (1903–1998)...
leaders John Smith, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown, R. H. Tawney, and DonaldSoper. Today, Christians on the Left has over 40 members in the House of Commons...
religion. As a Christian I seen myself as a Socialist; not exactly a DonaldSoper, but that way inclined". At that point, he was engaged to Ruth Mitchell...
by Amphion Records of Malton in Yorkshire. DonaldSoper (the well-known pacifist, later to become Baron Soper), became the Methodist minister of Kingsway...
Nuclear Disarmament in the 1950s and 1960s. Prominent members included DonaldSoper, a high-profile President of the Methodist Conference of the period and...
appointed to the Lords by John Major. Other clergy appointed include DonaldSoper, Timothy Beaumont, and some Scottish clerics. There have been no Roman...
for clemency signed by 3,000 people including The Earl of Harewood, DonaldSoper, Gilbert Harding, Kingsley Amis and J. B. Priestley was turned down on...
service was held in his constituency of Ebbw Vale and was presided over by DonaldSoper. Jennie Lee explained in a letter to Michael Foot, who would be elected...
the Superintendency of DonaldSoper (later Lord Soper), under whose control it suffered catastrophic decline. Upon Lord Soper’s retirement the Mission...
EAW member. In 1975 he married Caroline Soper, youngest daughter of the radical Methodist minister DonaldSoper (div. 2001). They have two children, Xan...
organisation in Britain: Dick Sheppard, George Lansbury, Laurence Housman, and DonaldSoper. Afterwards, Sheppard invited her to join the Peace Pledge Union as sponsor...
(1987–1999), founding President of Initiatives of Change International DonaldSoper (1903–1998) – British Methodist minister, president of the Fellowship...
religious figures, including William Temple (Archbishop of York) and DonaldSoper. The objectors said that while they supported Christian unity, they could...
Chadwick and Maurice Wiles, and was much impressed by a visiting lecturer, DonaldSoper. He was involved with the Iwerne camps ministry of E. J. H. Nash. He...
Hughes both as principal and professor. One of the earliest students was DonaldSoper. Flew, principal up to 1955, was one of the moving forces behind the...
Shawcross, former Cabinet Minister Sir Richard Shepherd, British MP DonaldSoper, Baron Soper, Methodist minister, socialist and pacifist John Stonehouse, former...
century Methodists increasingly embraced Christian socialist ideas. DonaldSoper (1903–1998) was perhaps the most widely recognised Methodist leader....
including Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, Storm Jameson, Rose Macaulay, DonaldSoper, Siegfried Sassoon, Reginald Sorensen, J. D. Beresford, Ursula Roberts...
alongside Methodist theologian DonaldSoper at the West London Methodist Mission in England. He was deeply influenced by Soper's interpretation of Christian...
Mankowitz Ethel Mannin Martin Niemöller John Boyd Orr Bertrand Russell DonaldSoper Later sponsors were: Lindsay Anderson Claude Bourdet John Braine Hugh...
Joseph Fawcett (c. 1758–1804), English Presbyterian minister and poet DonaldSoper (1903–1998), Methodist minister and peer (Labour) Max Clifford (1943–2017)...
Niemöller, Fenner Brockway, A. J. Muste, Richard B. Gregg, Alex Comfort, DonaldSoper, Michael Scott, MPs Leslie Hale and Emrys Hughes, Muriel Lester, Wilfred...
Risca, Monmouthshire at St John's Church of Probationer Minister. Like DonaldSoper, he held open-air meetings on a weekly basis and he drew people to his...
was one aldermanic by-election in 1965 caused by the resignation of DonaldSoper (Labour). Frederick Lionel Tonge (Labour) was elected by the council...
Karefa-Smart – leader of the United National People's Party of Sierra Leone DonaldSoper – Christian socialist and pacifist Edward Sugden – first master of Queen's...
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