Marking 100 years since the birth of our founder

Chad Varah – ‘The definition of a life well lived’

It’s 100 years this month since the birth of our founder Reverend Prebendary Edward Chad Varah, CH, CBE.

Chad, born on November 12, 1911, was a pioneer of talking therapies and his groundbreaking approach to helping people worldwide made fundamental changes in the law, as well as transforming attitudes towards suicide.

Chad was a free spirit – outspoken, unconventional, intellectual, amusing, charming and creative, and he is greatly missed, both by us as Samaritans and the wider community that he reached out to.

A quote left in Chad’s condolence book – ‘the very definition of a life well lived’ seems to encompass the way so many of us feel about Chad.

The history

Chad had a vision of a society where people could explore their feelings without fear
or prejudice, and when he took charge of the parish of St Stephen Walbrook in the summer of 1953, he knew that the time was right for him to launch what he called a ‘999 for the suicidal’.

At the time, suicide was still illegal in the UK and so many people who were in difficult situations and who felt suicidal were unable to talk to anyone without worrying about the consequences.

Some positive newspaper publicity soon meant that demand to speak to Chad over the phone and face-to-face was so high he could no longer cope on his own.

But the same coverage that attracted clients also attracted volunteers.

Initially these volunteers would help by answering the door and making tea, but often Chad’s clients would end up pouring out their problems to his helpers, and no longer need to speak to him afterwards.

Inadvertently, this ‘waiting time’ gave people a space where they could find objectivity and a way forward, through being listened to.

In February 1954, Chad officially handed over the task of supporting callers to volunteers, and Samaritans was born, although Chad was involved for more than three decades afterwards.

Later in his career, Chad promoted the same principle of confidential emotional support internationally through Befrienders International, now Befrienders Worldwide. Chad saw the idea of listening therapy spread rapidly across the globe.

Awards, achievements and retirement

Among many awards, Chad was made a Companion of Honour in the Millennium Year honours list for services to Samaritans.

Chad achieved a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2000 Pride of Britain ceremony and the same year was listed as one of the 100 most illustrious and infuential Britons of the 20th century.

Only in 2003, at the age of 92, and 50 years after he had founded Samaritans there, did he finally retire as rector of St Stephen Walbrook, and as prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral.

The first phone Chad ever used (pictured below) for Samaritans is still on display in the church where the very first Samaritans call was answered almost 59 years ago.

Felicity Varah, Chad's daughter, with the original Samaritans phone

Chad died peacefully in his sleep on 8 November 2007, aged 95. Chad’s final wish
was to not only see Samaritans survive, but evolve and gain momentum in supporting
people all over the world.

Did you know?

As well as his lifesaving work with the suicidal and distressed, Chad’s varied career
ranged from being a clergyman, to a children’s comic-strip writer (from which he used
his journalist contacts to drum up publicity about the hotline) and an advocate of sex
education, particularly to poorly educated young people.

Not afraid to speak out, he once said he was offering marriage guidance to couples ‘before it was invented’.

Chad Varah was an utterly remarkable man who founded an organisation that has saved the lives of countless people. He was an outstanding humanitarian and a great Briton.’

HRH, The Prince of Wales, Samaritans’ Patron