The Henson Journals

[69]

5th Sunday after Trinity, July 20th, 1919.

The rain seems to have fallen throughout the night, and it was still falling when I set out for the Confirmation at Kinlet. This will have damped the popular enthusiasm, & possibly extinguished the festal bonfires: but it will accord with the melancholy which reigns in every considering citizen's mind.

I started in the motor at 9 a.m., & proceeded by way of Leominster, Brimfield, & Cleobury Mortimer to Kinlet, which I reached about 10 minutes after 11 a.m. The Vicar, Prebendary Payton, was at the porch waiting with some anxiety for my appearance. I confirmed 21 candidates. There should have been 22, but one – a girl described as the best loved person in the parish – had died suddenly yesterday to the grief of everybody. I lunched very pleasantly with Colonel & Mrs Childe. The latter is a Swede. The parish church of S. John is most interesting. It has four remarkable monuments of the Cornewall & Blount families. Also a chantry of S. Catherine wonderfully preserved. After lunch I motored to Tenbury, arriving five minutes late. The rain ceased about 3 p.m. I consecrated an addition to the churchyard after preaching in the church. Preb. Ragg & his son declared themselves Socialists, rather to my surprise. The world changes. We had a pleasant run home, arriving about 7.10 p.m. The evening lights were beautiful.

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