A bishop once dubbed Eddy ‘Mr. Valiant-for-Truth’. Thousands knew him as ‘Mr. Ground-Level’ for his long-running column in the Church of England Newspaper from the 1960s, with working-class insights, then rare among conservative evangelicals.
He gained further fame as one of the ‘East-End Five’, East London clergy who opposed the Romanising trends of some 1970s liturgies.
Conversion
The 11th of 13 children, he first heard the gospel at the age of eight, but said he refused it. Six-and-a-half years later, at Christ Church Surbiton, he committed his life to Christ and thanked God daily for that church’s faithfulness in bringing him the Word of God. Leaving school at 14, he worked in a typewriter business until his father died; needing more money, at 16 he became a machine operator at 19s 6d a week. Being both articulate and trusted as a Christian, he was elected as shop steward and began a lifetime witness from a worker’s perspective.
