The Henson Journals

[12]

Monday, October 24th, 1921.

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I left the castle at 7.45 a.m., and caught the early express to King's Cross. Meade Falkner was on the train, & insisted on my lunching with him. We had much pleasant conversation. On arriving at King's Cross I drove to 21 Park Lane, & left my bags. As I walked to the Athenaeum, I was hailed by one of my old boys, Duck, who, after going through the Retreat from Mons & the Gallipoli campaign unscathed, is now a messenger of some department, a married man, and the father of two daughters. While I was talking with him, I was laid hold of by Willie Murray, who walked with me to the Club. Then I went to the hair dresser, & was shampooed. Returning to the Club, I had tea, & wrote to my wife. The Archbishop of Canterbury came in, and had some talk with me. He has received letters from the Bishop of Zanzibar denouncing the Bishop of Manchester, and demanding that his name shall be removed from the signatories of the Lambeth Appeal tota. It appears that the Bishop had communicated directly to the Church Times so that 'the fact will be in the fire' immediately. We talked of the extraordinary difficulty of ecclesiastical finance. His Grace said that he was himself embarrassed for the unknown private benefactor who had contributed as much as £3000 per annum towards his expenses, was no longer available. He says that there will be a difficult discussion of Reservation at the Bishop's Meeting, as the Bishops in the metropolitan areas are indignant at the Bishop of London's toleration of the practice. I asked him whether he had appointed the Bishop of St Alban's to preside over the official Press Bureau in order to assure us that there would be no tincture of partisanship in its working. He seemed anxious to disclaim responsibility for the appointment. Meade Falkner entertained me in the club at dinner, and afterwards walked with me to Park Lane. We had much pleasant talk, and parted with many declarations of friendship.

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