When a friend of the Waldensians dies, I usually discover how little I knew of him/her
apart from their interest in the history of my Church and people. And what amazing
lives they had! (Tony Earl and Ruth Cowhig will be remembered next time).
Bill Pickering (1922–2016)
I met Bill Pickering, who left us in May 2016,
in the early 1990s when he lived in Oxford;
he was a guest speaker for us at least once
and almost never missed a Waldensian
‘awayday’ ever since. His great interest be-
ing the sociology of religious persecution,
he was obviously interested in the Walden-
sians, especially those living on the French
side of the Alps. He had done a great deal of
research there, where in the decade 1981–91
he and his wife Carol used to spend the
summer. As his stepson John, Rector of St
Mary’s Newmarket with Exning St Agnes’,
tells, they always preferred living in a some-
what basic presbytery, rather than finding
more comfortable accommodation. Having
good contacts with the Societe de l’Histoire
Bill and Carol Pickering.
du Protestantisme Français, he published
various articles in their annual bulletin. He
lectured profusely on this subject and also wrote a booklet that we have for
sale and that still attracts interest. He was also an expert on Canon W.J. Gilly,
the great benefactor to the Waldensians on the Italian side of the Alps and
founder of our Committee. Some years ago, I organised for Bill to give a lecture
to the students of Collegio Valdese in Torre Pellice about the man who had the
idea and found the money for building an English-style College – called Trin-
ity College, as a matter of fact – for preparing future ministers and teachers.
Bill was a linguist, an anthropologist, an ordained priest of the Church
of England, an ex-WWII RAF radio mechanic in India. He was devoted to
the approach on Sociology and Religion as offered by Durkheim and was one
of the founders of the British Centre for Durkhemian Studies. He taught at
King’s College London, at the University of Newcastle and in the States and
preached in wide variety of churches.
After moving to Coton with his mother, he became friends with Donald
Hardy, Rector of Coton, and his family. When Donald fell ill and eventually
died, Bill helped his widow Carol and their four sons through that difficult
time. Eventually they got married in 1979. Carol told me that the beret and the
briefcase that he was always carrying were still the same he was wearing when
she first met him. She enjoyed 31 happy years with Donald and 37 equally
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