The Henson Journals

[28]

Saturday, April 21st, 1923.

The weather is blustering, and bitterly cold. There were showers of sleet in the course of the morning. I completed the sermon for Westminster Abbey, and wrote many letters. Old Mr Milner, who has been taking the duty at Middleton–in–Teesdale came to lunch. He reported the circumstances in which the unhappy parson had died. The Rectory appears to be in a shocking state of dilapidation. Then came Mr Perrott, the son of the old Vicar on the hill. He is mainly employed in teaching in a secondary school, retaining a link with Holy Orders by serving as a part–time curate in one of the Sunderland parishes. He had sought an interview with me because he feared that I disapproved this arrangement! I re–assured him, but pointed out that the Ordination Vows contemplated the career of pastorate. I asked him about his circumstances. He said that he could not manage with a less income than £450 per annum. But this exceeds by £100 the average income of the parishes in this diocese.

I went round to Edgen Hall, where a number of deaf and dumb people were being entertained at tea, and through an interpreter, I made a short speech to them. A woeful spectacle!

Then I returned to the Castle, and wrote letters until dinner. Summer time begins tonight. The clocks were all changed before we went to bed.

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