Henry Dewsbury Alves "Hal" Major, FSA (28 July 1871 – 26 January 1961) was a New Zealand Anglican clergyman and theologian.
[1] His parents were Mary Ursula (née Alves) and Henry Daniel Major, an Admiralty clerk.
[2] He was educated at home by his father, and received religious instruction from his mother (heavily influenced by the Tractarian John Keble) and by the Revd William Katterns (local vicar and Ostrich farmer).
[2] He then studied natural sciences, specialising in geology, and graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) degree from Auckland in 1886.
[2] In addition to his scholarly appointments, he maintained his parish ministry: first as curate of North Stainley (1908 to 1911), then as Rector of St Michael's Church, Copgrove (1911 to 1919).
[2] In 1933, he once more oversaw the moving of the college, and it relocated to Boars Hill, a village on the outskirts of Oxford: this time, however, it retained its name.
[2] Having become increasingly deaf, he stepped down as Principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford in 1948, and retired to the vicarage at Merton.
[2] His beliefs caused conflict with others within and without Anglicanism: there was an unsuccessful attempt to have him tried for heresy in 1921, he was nicknamed the "Anti-Christ of Oxford" by traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, and a Baptist minister organised a series of anti-modernist meetings in reaction to his visit to New Zealand in 1928.