Chad Varah
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The Reverend Prebendary Chad Varah CH CBE |
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| Born |
12 November 1911 Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, England |
| Died | 8 November 2007 (aged 95) Basingstoke, Hampshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education |
Worksop College Keble College, Oxford Lincoln Theological College |
| Years active | 1935–2003 |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Whanslaw (m. 1940–93) |
| Children | Five including Michael Varah |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Ordained | 1935 (deacon) 1936 (priest) |
Edward Chad Varah, CH, CBE (12 November 1911 – 8 November 2007) was a British Anglican priest. He is best remembered as the founder of the Samaritans, established in 1953 as the world's first crisis hotline telephone support to those contemplating suicide.
Varah was born in the town of Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, the eldest of nine children of the vicar at the Anglican church of St Peter. His father, Canon William Edward Varah, a strict Tractarian, named him after St Chad, who, according to Bede, had founded the 7th century monastery 'ad Bearum', 'at Barrow', which may have occupied an Anglo-Saxon enclosure next to Barton Vicarage.
He was educated at Worksop College in north Nottinghamshire and won an exhibition to read natural sciences at Keble College, Oxford, quickly switching to Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). He was involved in the university Russian and Slavonic clubs, and was founder-president of the Scandinavian Club. He graduated with a third-class degree in 1933.
He was initially reluctant to follow his father's vocation, but his godfather persuaded him to study at Lincoln Theological College, where he was taught by the Rev. Michael Ramsey, later Archbishop of Canterbury. He was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England in 1935 and as a priest in 1936. He first served as curate at St Giles, Lincoln from 1935 to 1938, then St Mary's, Putney from 1938 to 1940, and finally at Barrow-in-Furness from 1940 to 1942. He became vicar of Holy Trinity, Blackburn in 1942, and moved to St Paul, Clapham Junction in 1949. He was also chaplain of St John's Hospital, Battersea.
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