had five parish assignments, but he was dismissed from all of them. He was never "beneficed" and after being "constantly dismissed" with no curacy he could hold services only when friendly clergy invited him. St John's Church, Drury Lane: 1869–1873 Hedlam's first curacy was at St John's Church in Drury Lane. William Graham Maul was the vicar from 1855 to 1882. Maul and Headlam had much in common. They were both friends of the Christian socialists F. D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley who had attracted them to Christian socialism. At St John's, Headlam's special ministries were "church catechist" and making pastoral visits. The parishioners to whom Headlam ministered included "working people, actors, actresses, and artisans". Among these people, there were "music-hall dancers". These parishioners, Headlam observed, were "the victims of prejudice" and often "cold-shouldered" by other parishioners. Headlam, who was "notorious for his defence of the down-trodden of every sort," set out to remedy the situation by making dancing socially acceptable. Headlam recognized that social acceptance of dance depended on "an appreciation of ballet as an autonomous aesthetic form". He adopted a threefold strategy to accomplish this goal: (1) provide an "authoritative exposition of the dance technique itself", (2) form the Church and Stage Guild, and (3) formulate a theology of dance. In spite of what they had in common, Headlam fell foul of Maul who asked him to leave the parish in 1873. It was not only, or even mainly, a matter of dogma. He outraged respectable Victorian society by his public championing of the poor and his denunciations of the uncaring rich. St Matthew's, Bethnal Green: 1873–1878 In 1873, Headlam left Drury Lane for St Matthew's, Bethnal Green. Bethnal Green was an area of extreme poverty and Headlam was assigned to the most impoverished area. The rector of the church, Septimus Hansard, was another Christian socialist who influenced the ideas of Headlam. Working with Hansard gave added "practical content" to Headlam's "socialist ideas". The clergy usually lived outside St Matthew's parish, but Headlam "rented a flat in a working-class building." Although Headlam lived "among" his people, he did not live "like" them. His "independent means" enabled him to furnish his rooms in an "individual style." By 1875, "men and their needs now became the centre of [Headlam's] Christianity". Living near the church Headlam saw the "degradation and suffering" of the workers. Having seen this, Headlam told the St