THE long tradition of Anglo-Catholic Christian Socialist priests has often been epitomised in the life and work of Father Conrad Noel of Thaxted, who flew the Red Flag from his church tower. Sidney Hinkes was a priest in the same tradition. For 50 years he attended most antiwar demonstrations.

The son of an Essex postman, he was born and educated in Dagenham. He was called up in 1943 and served with the 3rd Parachute Brigade as a wireless operator in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Palestine. He married his wife, Elsie, in 1945 and studied for a London degree. Having been accepted for ordination, he attended St Stephen’s House, Oxford, from 1950 to 1952.

His first post as a curate was at St Paul’s Burton upon Trent. After two years he returned to Essex at Leigh-on-Sea. It was here at the height of the Suez crisis that he became a pacifist. At a service to commemorate the Arnhem operation he had been reproached by one of his congregation for not praying for the German dead. This led him to examine the arguments for the just war and, being very single-minded, he became a pacifist.

He offended many parishioners by preaching a sermon attacking the Suez invasion, for which his bishop reprimanded him. He was then recruited into the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship (APF) for which he worked tirelessly. Moving to Chalvey near Slough he began to take part in the Aldermaston marches and became chairman of Christian CND. He helped to found the Week of Prayer for World Peace and lobbied successive Lambeth conferences.

In 1966 he moved to the Barton Estate on the edge of Oxford. This had been built to provide housing for slum clearance from the centre of Oxford and was a difficult area that suited him. He ministered faithfully while never attracting large congregations. While there he gained an external BD from London University.

The vicarage was the centre of vast activity, as a refuge and also the place where he and Elsie brought up five children and fostered others. He soon became a figure on the Oxford scene, not only on matters of peace (he became secretary of the APF in 1975) but also race relations. At a time when immigrants were moving into east Oxford, he did much, as chairman of the Oxford Committee for Community Relations, to smooth their path. (He was also on the national executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.) He hated racism and was once arrested for a demonstration outside a barber’s shop in Cowley. He strongly attacked what he saw as the racist policies of the Conservatives, both locally and nationally. An Anglo-Catholic in his beliefs, he saw no objection to interfaith worship. He stayed at the Barton Estate for 24 years.

In retirement he never stopped working. Living in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, he was archdeaconry officer for retired clergy, as well as preaching all over the country. He became chairman of the APF in 1993 and went over to Oxford once a month to supervise the distribution of its magazine.

Hinkes died of a heart condition of which he had been unaware. His diary was fully booked for the year ahead. He was widely read, a powerful and convincing preacher and speaker. He was not always comfortable to be with, but there was a deep sense of selfless pastoral care in all he did.

In 1973 he had been interviewed for, but not appointed to the living of Thaxted. That was a great pity —he deserved a wider platform. But he lived up to the challenge of Conrad Noel, who once ended a sermon by saying: “You would not like it said of England that the priests preach smooth things and that the prophets prophesied falsely and that you liked to have it so.”

He is survived by Elsie and their five children.

The Rev Sidney Hinkes, priest and pacifist, was born on February 4, 1925. He died on February 8, 2006, aged 81.