The Henson Journals

[135]

Monday, July 13th, 1925.

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I left Canterbury after breakfast. Ella was to go her own way to visit her friends. On arriving at Victoria, I first drove to S. Paul's Deanery & deposited my baggage, & then went to the Athenaeum for lunch. At 2.30 p.m., I attended the meeting of the Ecclesiastical Courts Commission, and then had an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Athenaeum, on the subject of applying the Barrier Act to the constitution of the Church Assembly. His Grace was friendly but elusive, and suggested that I shd write to him as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Assembly proposing a resolution. We then discussed the impending vacancy at the Deanery of Westminster. He expressed himself very strongly against Carnegie's appointment, but evidently thought that, in the absence of any other person, & that one of quite evident fitness, it was nowise improbable. His Grace "sniffed" at the notion of Archbishop D'Arcy's appointment, & seemed nowise attracted by anyone whom I could mention. He suggested as a possible candidate, Dicky Sheppard!! I observed that I thought some academic or intellectual distinction ought to be an indispensable qualification in the case of the Dean of Westminster.

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