The Henson Journals
Mon 25 December 1911
Volume 17, Pages 366 to 367
[366]
Christmas Day, December 25th, 1911.
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I was so perturbed by the flutter overnight that, for the first (and I trust the last) time in my life, I forgot the proper Preface when I celebrated at 8 a.m. Compston assisted: there were 104 communicants.
The Choral Eucharist was more comforting. I preached from S. Luke ii.10,11 speaking with perfect frankness of the critical view of the Birth–narratives, & insisting on its legitimacy within the Church. There were about 175 communicants, of whom an unusually large proportion were men. Frank Pember & his wife communicated. Raleigh was in Church, & afterwards lunched here. The Offertory was over £36, about £3. more than the sum collected in the Abbey.
I attended Evensong in the Abbey. Pearce came in to tea: & we walked on the Embankment together.
[367]
Number of Communicants on Christmas Day
| In 1901 there were | 213 communicants |
| " 1902 " " | 269 " |
| " 1903 " " | 289 " |
| " 1904 " " | 263 " |
| " 1905 " " | c. 294 " |
| " 1906 " " | 231 " |
| " 1907 " " | 235 " |
| " 1908 " " | 210 " |
| " 1909 " " | 263 " |
| " 1910 " " | 268 " |
| " 1911 " " | 279 " |
| " 1912 " " | 330 " |
On Friday, the 29th Dec. 1911, I lunched with Dr Campbell Morgan and his 'Bible–students', a number of Dissenting ministers drawn from the counties about London. Afterwards I addressed them on Chillingworth's famous sentence: "The Bible, I say, the Bible only is the Religion of Protestants".
[symbol] On Saturday, the 30th Dec: 1911 I celebrated the marriage of Harold Wilfrid Knowling and Alice Katrine Graham in Tewin Parish Church.