Robert Leonard Childs (1891-1971)
Artist: Arnold Mason (1885-1963)
Robert Leonard Childs was born on 28th March 1891 in Gloucestershire. Unlike many associated with Regent’s Park College, Childs did not demonstrate any early inclination for the ministry, initially entering the civil service in 1909. However, towards the end of the First World War, while working as an Excise Officer in Aberdare, Childs’ Baptist convictions solidified, and he entered Regent’s Park for training in 1919. After further study he took up pastorates first in Cambridge in 1926 and then in Bristol in 1934. The latter church he guided during the tumultuous early years of the Second World War, with Childs taking part in relief efforts in response to the extensive bombing of Bristol. In 1942 he left Bristol to become Principal of Regent’s Park, playing a crucial part in reconstruction efforts after the war such as dealing with the large cohort of ex-servicemen in 1945. Childs’ tenure saw an emphasis placed more on ministerial and pastoral rather than academic training, as well as ensuring a climate of intellectual freedom. He also organised in 1957 the admission of non-ministerial students to the college, and its elevation to the status of a permanent private hall. Childs’ other accomplishments included his commitment to ecumenical and international activities. He attended the Baptist World Congress in Berlin in 1934, visited Sweden with a group of Quakers to meet with Russian Baptists in 1954, a year in which he was also president of the Baptist Union; he was chair of Oxfam’s Overseas Aid Committee from 1958 to 1965. In addition to these leadership activities, Childs was a frequent writer on theological issues, publishing texts on topics such as baptism and the lord’s supper, as well as frequently contributing to the Baptist Quarterly. Childs spent his retirement years in Oxford and died on 2nd January 1971.