The Henson Journals

[124]

Saturday, February 10th, 1923.

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The Report of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical discipline (1906) arrived, and I spent much of the morning in reading it. There is a distinct historical value in this document as registering the stage of degeneration which the Church of England had reached before the War brought about the final catastrophe.

Clayton and I motored to Lanchester, where I took part in the strangest War Memorial Dedication I have yet experienced. It was really the public glorification of the Sadlers and the Ritsons, local employers who had promoted the memorial. The hall was crowded, and the platform presented a striking assemblage of dignitaries, among whom M rs Sadler (a quaintly brilliant lady who reminded me of the gipsy woman who commonly divides with the monkey the public interest in a street–organ) shone resplendent. The Chairman was her son, the Mayor of Middlesborough, & enormously vain of the fact. His vulgarity was too ludicrous to be offensive. My prayer and dedication were as congruous with the proceedings as a Quaker at a public dance! We returned to the Castle in Durham, where I interviewed 3 young men, aspirants to Holy Orders. They all pleased me, though none satisfy my requirements. However times are evil, & bishops are human. My decisions were more creditable to my heart than to my head. I returned to Auckland.

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