The Henson Journals

[136]

Thursday, April 15th, 1920.

In any truthful account of the "Decline & Fall" of the Church of England a great place must be given to the social & economic process which has destroyed the importance of the country gentleman. This process which had gone far before the War, has been hastened & intensified by the War itself. Many of the county families have been "killed out", and the family estates are passing quickly into the hands of new people, enriched by the War, who have no regard for the Church of England. Landowning has become too costly an indulgence for many, & the great houses are vacant because it is almost impossible to obtain servants. The parson & the parish church are often the sole surviving factors of the old régime which is stricken. Within the parish, the Church has declined in importance. High prices, soaring rates & taxes, & disappearance of his patron have reduced the incumbents to embarrassment & even poverty. They are regarded with ill–concealed dislike by their quondam inferiors the village schoolmasters, who are now commonly better paid than they, & swollen with a new importance. Even the country labourers are catching the general contagion, & are everywhere dropping their old deference, by no means always to the benefit of their own character, & always to the further embarrassment of the clergyman. The secularist temper of the age is rapidly transforming village life. Too often the parish churches are almost empty. The girls learned immodesty & irreligion in the munition factories, & are now distressingly rude & profane. And discontent was never so deep and pervading.

[137]

I left Birchington by the 8.13 a.m. after saying Goodbye to Carissima in her bedroom. I wonder whether I shall ever see her again. She will be 79 in July, and is certainly very frail. Marion accompanied me to the station. The weather was gusty with frequent showers. I went to Russell & Sons, 51 Baker Street, and was photographed for the album which the Bishops are presenting to the Archbishop. Then, after lunching at the Athenaeum, I went to Colyer, & from him made my way to Reddington, where I caught the 3 p.m. train for Hereford, & arrived in a deluge about 7.45 p.m. Olaf Caröe and his wife, Colin Kennedy, and the Governess to the children were all dining. After dinner I had some talk with Olaf.

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