Background
Noel was born on 12 July 1869 in Kew, London. He was the eldest son of Roden Noel, the poet and essayist, and his wife, Alice Maria Caroline Noel (née de Broë). His father"s father was Charles Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough.
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Conrad Noel
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He was educated at Winchester School and at Cheltenham College, then also an all-boys public school. He then entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge but was rusticated (suspended) for a year and chose not to return to complete his degree.
Career
Noel underwent training for ordination at Chichester Theological College, an Anglo-Catholic theological school. In 1894, he was ordained deacon in the Diocese of Chester and became a curate in Flowery Field, Cheshire. In late 1904 he became assistant priest to Percy Dearmer at Primrose Hill.
In 1910, he became the vicar of Thaxted, Essex.
Within the church at Thaxted, Noel hung the red flag and the flag of Sinn Féin alongside the flag of Street George. This led to the "Battle of the Flags" with students from Cambridge leading attacks on the church to remove the flags.
Eventually a consistory court ruled against his displaying the flags and Noel obeyed the ruling.
Politics
Known as the Red Vicar of Thaxted, he was a prominent British Christian Socialist. He was appointed by the patron of the private living, Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick who was herself a socialist. He founded the Catholic Crusade to propagate his views, which had some impact in the origins of Trotskyism in Britain.
Views
Noel also supported the British Provisional Committee for the Defence of Leon Trotsky, and signed a letter defending Trotsky"s right to asylum and calling for an international inquiry into the Moscow Trials.
Membership
He joined the Independent Labour Party, but in 1911 became a founding member of the British Socialist Party.
