Jonas Pilling

Jonas Pilling (1855 – 28 February 1926) was vicar of the former Church of St Mark, Old Leeds Road, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, from 1905 to 1926. He was the notorious subject of many newspaper articles about the fourteen-year dispute between Pilling and his congregation, the absence of churchwardens, other officials and choir, the dwindling of his congregation and the dereliction of the church building. This occurred in an industrial environment of great poverty, where there was "plenty of scope for church work". At the 1921 Bishop's Commission, he mentioned his fear of "plottings".

However, Pilling was a Manchester-born man, assuming a position of respect in Huddersfield, in an era of powerful inter-city rivalries. He came from a tradition of cotton-spinning, whereas Huddersfield was a wool town; culture and dialect differed. He was studious; he was an Exhibitioner and a Master of Arts, whereas his flock included some of the most deprived people in the area. Although his relationship with his congregation deteriorated disastrously over sixteen years, the Bishop of Wakefield failed to assist either Pilling or his flock during that period.