The Henson Journals
Thu 22 October 1925
Volume 39, Pages 295 to 296
[295]
Thursday, October 22nd, 1925.
Dear Mr Stead,
It is, of course, not possible for me to make any promise as to the disposition of my patronage, for obviously I have to consider every appointment on its merits with a primary view to the interests of a particular parish.
But, if you should decide to remain in this diocese, and, if you worked faithfully in your curacy, I see no reason for doubting that, within a relatively short period, you would be given the offer of independent parochial charge. More than this it would not be right or fitting for me to say.
Believe me, Yours sincerely,
Herbert Dunelm:
After breakfasting pleasantly with Lord S. I walked – in an interval of sunshine between two deluges – to the Athenaeum, where I took up my letters, & read the newspapers. Then I went to Church House, & spent another day in revising the Prayer book. I dined at the Athenaeum with the Bishop of Birmingham, & then went back to Park Lane.
[296]
The Bishops of London and Southwark told me that they had received copies of my book on Spiritual Healing. I may, perhaps, assume that copies are waiting for the other Bishops at home. I wonder whether the poor little thing will have any measure of success.
I had some talk with Ld Sumner at the Club. He and Foxley Norris were contemporaries at Oxford, but they did not know one another there, being at Balliol and Trinity respectively. He seemed to think that the appointment was a good one. We talked of Prayer Book Revision, and he said that he had inspired the Bishop of Norwich's motion to bisect the measure. But he agreed that the only thing worth achieving was the restoration of law & order: & that that implied handling the Communion Service.
I just exchanged a few words with Ld Middleton, but his deafness, cunningly concealed with the usual craft or vanity or consideration of deaf persons, makes me doubtful whether he "took in" what I said. He is too closely lié with the Talbot–Cecil ring to have an opinion on ecclesiastical affairs which could be worth knowing!