John Leonard Wilson 1897-1970, St Philips cathedral, Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QB,Church of England, Anglican,

John Leonard Wilson (23 November 1897 – 22 July 1970) was an Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Singapore from 1941 to 1949 during the time of Japanese occupation and subsequently Dean of Manchester and Bishop of Birmingham. After serving as Dean of Hong Kong, Wilson became Bishop of Singapore in 1941. At the time of the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Wilson, assisted by the Reverend Reginald Keith Sorby Adams of Saint Andrew's School, Singapore and John Hayter, ministered unstintingly to the people of Singapore. Subsequently, they were able to continue their ministry for a year, thanks mainly to the help of a Christian Japanese officer Andrew Ogawa. However the growing popularity of the cathedral and the use of English was regarded by the Japanese authorities as a threat and in 1943 they were interned in Changi prison. From 1949 to 1953, Wilson was Dean of Manchester and, from 1953, to 1969 Bishop of Birmingham in succession to the controversial Ernest William Barnes. In his time as a bishop, Wilson was frequently called on to give a Christian perspective on issues of peace and war, his wartime experiences giving him a moral platform from which to do so. He was an early supporter of the ordination of women. He was opposed to the death penalty and for the reform of the law on homosexual acts