John Stansfeld

John Stedwell Stansfeld (English: /ˈstænsfiːld/; 1855–1939) was a doctor and Anglican priest in Oxford, England.

He was a relative of the Stansfeld family of Field House, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire.[1] He began his career as a civil servant in HM Customs and Excise. In 1877, he moved to Oxford, and later matriculated as a student at Exeter College, where he studied Theology. He also studied part-time at Wycliffe Hall, although he did not take Holy Orders until 1910. He had qualified as a doctor in 1897 and started a medical mission in Bermondsey in London, where he founded the Stansfeld Oxford & Bermondsey Club in the same year.[2]

Stansfeld returned to Oxford in 1912 as Rector of St Ebbe's, Oxford then a slum district. He campaigned successfully for the erection of a children's playground and public baths in St Ebbe's. His philanthropy is commemorated by a blue plaque in Paradise Square, unveiled in June 2009.