Subject

Rector of St Mary’s Church Cadogan Street, 1965 - 1983.

Andrew Behan has kindly carried out this research: John Leonard Longstaff was born on 7 February 1913 in Harrow, Middlesex, the eldest of the three children of Leonard William Longstaff (1877-1953) and Marguerite Aimée Longstaff née Foreman (1877-1956). The 1911 census shows that his father was a 'clerk in wholesale leather, grindery and shipping trade'. His father later enlisted in the Army Service Corp (Mechanical Transport) during World War One and the family lived at 13 Butler Avenue, Harrow. He had two sisters, Agnes Mary Helena Longstaff (1915-1990) and Mary Aimee Lucy Longstaff (1916-2002).

The 1939 England and Wales Register shows him living at 42 Cranleigh Villas, Kenton Road, Harrow. He was shown as a Roman Catholic Priest, the Curate of Church (Kenton) and also living at this address was Arthur Hugh Maurice T. Beckett (1888-1957) who was shown as a Roman Catholic Priest, the Rector of Church (Kenton). Electoral registers for 1945-1947 inform that he was residing at the Cathedral Clergy House, Francis Street, Westminster. He died, aged 73 years, on 28 April 1986 and when probate was granted on 23 June 1986 it showed his address as having been 6 Ashley Court, Morpeth Terrace, London, SW1P 1EN and that his effects totalled £71,766.