The Henson Journals

[105]

New Year's Eve. 1921.

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The last day of the year was fine and calm after a tempestuous night. I spent the morning in letter–writing and sermon preparation. Cecil Ferens came from Durham to lunch & have some talk. We walked in the Park together, and, as we returned, we observed some large boughs broken from one of the trees. I sent out Laws & Smith to bring in the wood at once, as the aborigines would probably steal it before Monday! The Revd C. I. Lockyer came to see me: &, after some conversation, I agreed to let him go as curate to Leadgate, promising to license him after a period of 3 months if all went well. I sent copies of "Anglicanism" to Carissima, Sykes, Gouldsmith, Macdonald, Murlow, Lord Londonderry, & Miss Mundella: and I finished reading through "Vocations".

The year has been strenuous, fatiguing, and filled with perplexity. Its last weeks have been shadowed by private anxiety caused by Marion's health. Happily the worst phase seems to have been passed. I do not feel that any problems have been solved. Knight's arrival in the diocese has evidently justified itself. Bishop Auckland will shortly be vacant, & will be difficult to fill. Of the sermons preached this year, four were of more than usual interest viz: those preached in the Abbey (Jany 30th); in Hull (March 31st) in Durham Cathedral (May 29th) and in Birmingham (October 11th). The Conference of Liberal Churchmen at Cambridge in August has caused much resentment, and may lead to some attempts to evict unorthodox clergymen. I did my best, though vainly, to prevent the Conference, & then to moderate the public mind by my sermon at the Church Congress. The Good Friday Procession in Sunderland, and my address on the Labour Question in Hartlepool on May 1st attracted some notice. On March 10th I addressed the House of Lords on the unpleasant subject of Divorce. My address to the Diocesan Conference on October 22nd was largely reported in the Yorkshire Post: In the course of the year I became much attached to William; and he justified my friendship by very excellent service. The most menacing problem is that presented by the fewness of Ordination candidates.

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