William Walton Thomson Hannah (9 October 1912 – 26 February 1966) was an English priest from

Forest Row Forest Row is a village and a large civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is located three miles (5 km) south-east of East Grinstead. History The village draws its name from its proximity to the Ashdo ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Originally an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, he later became a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest. He was the author the controversial book '' Darkness Visible'' about

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

.A review of ''Darkness Visible''
Timothy Tindal-Robertson, '' The Angelus'', October 1990. Retrieved 2011-06-11. In January 1951, Hannah wrote an article, "Should a Christian be a Freemason?", in ''Theology'', a magazine produced by the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

. This was controversial, as both the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and

Geoffrey Fisher Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961. From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...

, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, were

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, as were many Anglican clerics. The Church of England Assembly discussed the subject in June 1951, although there was no substantive conclusion. ''Darkness Visible'' was published in 1952. He later published ''Christian by Degrees'', left England for Canada and became a Roman Catholic priest. Hannah earned his M.A. from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1934. He died in Montreal in 1966.

Works

*'' Darkness Visible'', 1952. *''Christian by Degrees'', 1954.

References

1912 births 1966 deaths Christianity and Freemasonry Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism 20th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Forest Row {{RC-clergy-stub