Henry Tibbs

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The Reverend Henry Stanley Tibbs (died 1943) was an United Kingdom vicar interned in 1940 under Defence Regulation 18B for his alleged pro-Nazi sympathies.

Henry Tibbs was the Vicar of the parish of Teigh, Rutland in the United Kingdom from 1925. On 8 July 1940, Tibbs was arrested after it was claimed that he was a fascist. He was interned and held in jail until he was released on 19 August, being considered harmless.[1] It is now believed however that Tibbs was wrongly punished, with most the evidence given against him being gossip.[2][3]

[edit] History

Tibbs was the vicar of the local parish in Teigh, preaching to 72 people.[3] During his time as vicar, he became the subject of gossip and fell out of friendship with several people, many of whom started to spread rumours that he was a fascist. Tibbs was arrested on 8 July 1940 and was sent to Liverpool Prison.[1] Amongst the people who claimed he was fascist was the Reverend Douglas Bartlett, Vicar of a neighbouring parish, an estranged former friend of Tibbs. He claimed that Tibbs once hid two "members of the Gestapo" in his rectory and that he was, "conveying his Nazi views to his parishioners which had now developed into a defeatist theme by describing the losses made by the enemy on our Naval forces as of a far more serious character than that disclosed by the British official reports."[4] Bartlett also alleged that Tibbs said to his (Bartlett's) children that "Hitler and Goering were the finest men in the world".[1]

Other people claimed that Tibbs said that Winston Churchill was, "a drug addict and a dictator of the vilest kind, in fact the worst dictator in the world and in the pay of the American Jews."[3][5] He was also accused of saying that Germany was, "our natural friend",[3] that he had taken interest in local aerodromes and that, "Tibbs substitutes Edward, Duke of Windsor [a suspected fascist sympathiser] for the name of the King."[1]

While being interrogated, Tibbs admitted that in 1935 he had been a member of the British Union of Fascists, but because of the party's agricultural policy. His son, John Dudley Montague Tibbs, a well-known amateur boxer, had also joined the BUF, but Tibbs claimed that he joined because of the uniform.[1][3]. Dudley Tibbs was also detained. Tibbs denied that he had been hosting members of the Gestapo, praised Hitler or called Churchill a drug addict. He said that local people would often be found "gaping" at the planes at RAF Cottesmore and he claimed that he mentioned the Duke of Windsor because, "I thought he wanted praying for as much as anyone else."[1]

On 19 August, the restrictions against Tibbs were revoked after he appealed. It was claimed that being "an Irishman" and that being "loquacious and eloquent", Tibbs would, "let his tongue run away with him". The original detention however was felt justified.[1] Tibbs returned to Teigh, but never recovered from the incident. During his time in prison he caught pneumonia and said that, "You have completely destroyed the life of an innocent man."[4] He returned as vicar but he slipped into obscurity. He conducted his last service on 31 January 1943 and was buried ten days later.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Pavia, Will. "Internet search for lost grandfather revealed he was a shunned vicar who sided with Hitler", The Times, 2008-05-05. Retrieved on 2008-05-05. 
  2. ^ a b Pallister, David. "Gossip that put vicar in prison is revealed", The Guardian, 2008-05-05. Retrieved on 2008-05-05. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Bell, Dan (2008-05-04). The parish gossip and the fascist vicar. BBC. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  4. ^ a b Tibbetts, Graham. "'Fascist' vicar detained without trial", Daily Telegraph, 2008-05-04. Retrieved on 2008-05-05. 
  5. ^ "The vicar who had the Gestapo to stay and labelled Winston Churchill 'vile drug addict'", Daily Mail, 2008-05-04. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.