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My friend Malcolm Johnson, who has died aged 89, was a popular City of London clergyman whose ministry focused on supporting people who need care, compassion, acceptance and understanding. At his City church, St Botolph’s Aldgate, where he was rector for 18 years from the mid 1970s to the early 90s, he worked to support homeless people and those with addictions by opening up the crypt for rehabilitation.

From his entry into the Church of England in the early 60s, Malcolm was also an advocate for the ordination of women and gay people and, as a gay man himself, he played a pivotal role, in 1978, in the foundation of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.

Born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, he was the only child of Russell, who ran the family’s oilskin clothing factory, and his wife, Iris (nee Delf). Schooled at Framlingham college in Suffolk, he did his national service in Cyprus with the Royal Anglian regiment before graduating with a degree in theology from University College, Durham in 1960.

After deciding he did not want to work in the family firm, he went to Cuddesdon Theological College near Oxford to train for the priesthood, after which his first appointment was as a curate at St Mark’s church, Portsmouth, in 1962. He then became chaplain at Queen Mary University of London, from which base in 1967 he launched weekly social events for gay people at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine, a Christian retreat centre near the Tower of London, in response to the passage of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which partially decriminalised homosexual acts.

Joining St Botolph’s Aldgate in 1972, he raised large amounts of money to support the opening up of the crypt to homeless people and drug addicts, and also helped to bring in cash to support the building of two City hostels.

We met through my work with the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, for which Malcolm provided a base at St Botolph’s for a decade – until the diocese of London and its consistory court, under pressure from traditionalists, took legal proceedings that led to its eviction in 1988. The ultimate shame for Malcolm was that the ecclesiastical court, with the full force of civil law behind it, left him with no option other than to sign the eviction notice – but he was at least able to help find a new home for the group at Oxford House community centre in Bethnal Green, where he was a trustee.

After leaving St Botolph’s, Malcolm became master of the Royal Foundation of St Katharine until 1997. In retirement he was chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London in 1998-99 and later wrote his memoir, Diary of a Gay Priest – the Tightrope Walker (2013).

Despite taking positions that did not always endear him to C of E leaders, Malcolm was the embodiment of Anglican via media theology. A staunch royalist and friend of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whom he had met initially through church affairs, he was a member of the Athenæum and Garrick clubs.

He is survived by Robert Wilson, his partner for 57 years and civil partner since 2006.