Monsignor John Henry Filmer

Monsignor John Henry Filmer had been a vigorous and effective Anglican clergyman. After his reception into the Church in 1900 and ordination in 1902, he joined the Catholic Missionary Society to preach to non-Catholics all over the country. In 1908 he joined the Guild as priest assistant to Fr Fletcher and in 1928 became the second master. Monsignor Filmer served as Master of the Guild from 1928 to 1951.

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He continued much of Fr Fletcher’s work and, having previous experience in the City of London, he put the Guild’s finances on a sound footing. The work of public preaching by lay members of the Guild had increased and by 1919 the bishops determined that such preachers should be trained and vetted by the parish clergy, leading to the formation of the Catholic Evidence Guild.

To commemorate the centenary of Catholic Emancipation (1829) Fr Filmer established a trust fund to support the building of churches in the many centres of population where no Catholic church existed. He was ambitious and named it the Million Pound Fund, a total not reached until 1989; long after his retirement from the Mastership in 1951 and his death in 1959.