the Galatians in 1879. He was on the one hand a fine preacher but on the other sometimes a cause of tension in the parish, for example when he engaged in bitter battles over the future of the local Church of England schools. Case of George Edalji The lives of the five Edalji family members were clouded in 1888 by the appearance of a series of abusive letters in Great Wyrley, most of them directed against the Edalji family itself. There was a further flood of offensive letters between 1892 and 1895, and the family was also subject to a series of hoaxes. When the Staffordshire Chief Constable indicated that he suspected George of writing the letters Shapurji argued vehemently in his son's defence. This was also his role after October 1903, when George was convicted of wounding a pony, the 8th of the so-called Wyrley outrages of that year; Shapurji campaigned passionately on his son's behalf, and in 1905 produced a booklet, The Case of George Edalji, which provided a detailed analysis of the woeful police and prosecution case against his son. Last years Edalji's eyesight faded in later years, and by the time of the First World War he was having difficulty in seeing at all. His daughter had to lead him to the pulpit during church services. He died on 23 May 1918, five weeks after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage, and was buried in the parish churchyard. References External links Outrage: The Edalji Five and the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes 19th-century Indian Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests British people of Parsi descent English people of Parsi descent Christian clergy from Mumbai Indian emigrants to England Elphinstone College alumni Year of birth uncertain 1918 deaths Converts to Christianity from Zoroastrianism Great Wyrley Deaths from intracranial aneurysm