great influence on him and he was convinced of the need for a secular order of priests in the Church of England to provide mutual spiritual support to one another and to extend the Catholic faith, particularly among the poor. Society of the Holy Cross On 28 February 1855 in the chapel of the House of Charity in Soho, Lowder and five other priests founded the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) and Lowder became the first Master. The five other founder members were Charles Maurice Davies, David Nicols, Alfred Poole, Joseph Newton Smith and Henry Augustus Rawes (three of whom would later become Roman Catholics). Lowder took up the austerest form of the society's rule of life and so committed himself to celibacy. The society grew quickly drawing other Anglo-Catholic priests from some of the poorest slum areas in London. Before long the society was at the forefront of the Catholic revival. The society was particularly influential in the second phase of Anglo-Catholicism following John Henry Newman's reception into the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the great SSC heroes were at one time Lowder's curates, including Alexander Heriot Mackonochie and Lincoln Stanhope Wainright (both of whom were later vicars of St Peter's, London Docks). Wapping In August 1856 Lowder was invited by the rector to become head of the mission at St George's-in-the-East at the centre of the London Docks. The mission expanded quickly and later that year it opened an iron chapel (The Good Saviour) in Wapping and in 1857 began holding services in the rented Danish chapel of St Saviour and St Cross at Wellclose Square. In 1857 the mission was joined by Elizabeth Neale (sister of John Mason Neale) who founded the Community of the Holy Cross to assist in the mission's work. The presence of the sisters of the community allowed Lowder to extend the mission's work providing schools, a refuge for prostitutes, a hostel for homeless girls, night classes and parish clubs, an insurance scheme for dockers, coal for the poor and general poor relief. The mission was, however, controversial due to its high-church practices. Lowder, for example, wore eucharistic vestments (and was probably the first Anglican priest in London to do so). Riots took place outside the mission, stones were thrown and services were interrupted. Most of the trouble, however, focused on Lowder and the mission priests at the parish church and the