Background
He was born on 8 November 1893 and died on 3 March 1983 at the age of 89.
He was born on 8 November 1893 and died on 3 March 1983 at the age of 89.
He was Canon of Christ Church, Oxford and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford from 1949 to 1971. He served two curacies, one in Oxford and the second in London. He became vicar of Street John the Divine, Richmond in 1933 and nine years later he became a Canon of Street Paul’s Cathedral.
The Wolfenden report was published in Britain on 3 September 1957 and, disregarding the conventional ideas of the day, recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence".
Demant was a regular broadcaster on the British Broadcasting Corporation"s Third Programme in the 1950s. He supported Maurice Reckitt in founding the Christendom Trust to encourage and fund research into the application of Christian social thought.