The Henson Journals

[88]

Saturday, March 13th, 1920.

Lord Stamfordham writes to propose that I should preach in Windsor on the 11th April, and stay the week end. Miss Anson writes to thank me for having completed the Memoir, of which apparently she has received a copy. I packed up, and returned the letters, papers etc. which she sent me, and also returned documents to Reichel, Hutton, & Ker. Harold Cox arrived about tea–time, and after tea I took him for a walk. After a comfortless day of rain the evening lights were delightful.

Joseph Shaw, Bannister, Crees, & Maples came to dinner. We had much pleasant and interesting conversation. Shaw says that there will be a strike of the miners, & that it may be marked by some episodes of violence, but that it will not continue more than two or three weeks, and will end in the defeat of the men. He says that the mine–owners have an elaborate system of espionage & propaganda designed to counteract the poisonous activities of the Unions. The main peril arises in his opinion from the incorrigible habit of effecting what he affects to call a "settlement" and which has the effect of 'saving the faces' of the agitators. Maples says that he met several of the Labour leaders after the meeting on Thursday when 'direct action' was defeated by a very large majority, & that they attributed the result very largely to the absence of Bob Smillie on account of ill health. Smillie's successor, Herbert Smith, the Yorkshire miner is a heavy unpleasant looking fellow with a reputation for dogged obstinacy and a certain useful cunning.

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