The Henson Journals

[132]

Friday, July 27th, 1923.

The Secretary of the Anglo Catholic Congress corrects my figures. He says that "the exact number" of clergymen attending the service in St Pauls, & the Albert Hall Meetings was 1976, which included 39 Bishops: " and that "the exact number" of parochial incumbents in sympathy with the Anglo Catholic Movement "on my card index at the present moment is 4251" On this view something near two sevenths of the incumbents sympathize with the revolt.

In the afternoon I motored to Barnard Castle, & presided at a meeting of the Governors. It was rendered unpleasant by a 'breeze' between the Headmaster & the Vicar of B.C. – the one a 'jobber', the other a ruffian! I stamped it out with a firm foot, but it will rankle, & come up again. After the meeting I returned to Auckland, only to set out again immediately with Clayton. We motored to Durham, & had tea with Wilson, who went with us to Dalton le Dale, picking up Knight on the way. A considerable congregation assembled at the new parish church for the institution of the new Vicar, Revd John Doncaster, lately curate of Beamish. He is a good man with a kind face, and a tendency to clear his throat with disconcerting frequency! He has been 20 years in orders, & is, I suspect older than his standing suggests. Dalton le Dale is not an easy parish. There is a population of nearly 10.000 miners. The late parson had been a minor canon of Durham, & this fact may, perhaps, explain the unusual excellence of the choir. We got back to Auckland about 9.15p.m.

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