The Henson Journals

[87]

Monday, August 9th, 1926

Dear Mr Rust

If I could see my way to approve of Mr Reed's tenure of your parish, I wd certainly not refuse my consent to your exchanging parishes with him: but you will please understand that my inability to give such approval is based on reasons which appear to me ample, & which have nothing to do with your omission to secure my permission before entering on negotiations.

I can well understand that the position of an incumbent in such a parish as yours has become very difficult: & I sympathize deeply with you. We must not lose heart. It is a long lane which has no turning: and the diocese of Durham has been passing through a long period of difficulty. At least we have this consolation, that for these special difficulties caused by the continuing economic disputes &c, we are not ourselves responsible. Let us look to it that we do not add any personal faults & failures to the sum of trouble, &, for the rest, place ourselves & our efforts in the Hands of God, whose ministers we are.

With kind regard,

Yours sincerely

Herbert Dunelm:

[88]

August 9th, 1926

Dear Mr Reed

I have carefully considered the proposal that you shd become Vicar of Hamsteels by way of an exchange with the present Incumbent; and I regret to have to inform you that I am unable to sanction such an exchange, as I do not consider you would be a suitable clergyman for Hamsteels.

Believe me,

Yours v. faithfully

Herbert Dunelm:

My nephew, Harold, writes from Canada to ask me to be godfather to his infant son. But I am within three months of being 63 years old, and before the child grows old enough to need counsel and guidance, I shall be a senile incumbrance or a fading memory! In either event I shall be altogether unable to fulfill my sponsorial obligations. Moreover, the thousands of miles that sever me from my proposed godson, must needs reduce the relationship to an empty name. And why should I voluntarily add another fiction to the fiction–cursed world? On the other hand, if the boy were my godson, the fact might tell something in his nurture, for his parents could hardly ignore the religious factor altogether in the upbringing of a bishop's godson! Indirectly, by increasing my influence over them, I should be affecting him possibly for good. And it is not very kind flatly to refuse a request, which was no doubt determined upon with much deliberation, and may express a genuine desire. Thus the scale of affirmation goes down, & that of negation kicks the beam: & I yield not without hesitation, to add yet another personal responsibility to my already excessive burden.

[89]

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The Vicar of Hamsteels describes a situation which may well breed in his mind a desire by some means or other to escape from his parish in which he has lived for 15 years.

"The people have been ruined by the constant preaching of what is called Socialism. If I had been a very strong and able man, I would have met such pernicious doctrine by open air preaching, and by openly contending against these mob–orators, but I did not feel myself capable of doing so, & I am in the lamentable position of seeing the village going to ruin without being able to help it. The men at Hamsteels Colliery have been out of work now, I think, for nearly 3 years. During all that time they have been living very comfortably & sufficiently on State charity, & so far from feeling any gratitude, they consider it their right, and demand it as a right, & grow more threatening & truculent in their denunciation of Capital. Not being a person of superabundant tact, I have shown my disapproval of their conduct, & consequently they treat me as an enemy, forbid their children to come to my church Sunday School, even insult adults on their way to church. Parishioners have told me repeatedly that they would come to church more often, but they do not like to run the gauntlet of the idle loafers who congregate at a certain corner. Owing to the continued lack of employment, a number of people have left, & are leaving the village. Two whole rows, one at Hamsteels & one at Cornsay, that were inhabited a few years ago, are now empty & dismantled, those who leave the village are as a rule the best men, men of honesty & courage, men to whom a clergyman can appeal."

Making all requisite discounts for personal inadequacy, this is a very miserable situation for the parish clergyman.

[90]

In the afternoon we went into Worcester. The ladies employed themselves in visiting the shops, while I went in to the Cathedral. Here the Dean joined me, and showed the more interesting features of the church. I was interested to notice that the tourists were moving about freely and, perhaps, rather noisily. The Dean expressed himself as well satisfied with the experiment of abolishing fees. Not that the abolition is complete, for charges are made for seeing S. Wolfstan's crypt, & the Chapter House. We had tea with the Dean and Mrs Moore Ede in the fine Deanery, once the Bishop's palace. Of course, we discussed the Strike. The Dean is, perhaps, disposed to trust too much to the memory of his experiences in Durham in Bishop Westcott's episcopate: and he was not as indignant with the meddling bishops as he ought to have been. He thinks highly of Lawson, one of the Labour members for Durham, whom he himself assisted to send to Ruskin College. Lawson is not cheerful about the outlook, and speaks strongly against Cook. But I suspect that Lawson, like most of his kind, has one aspect for the Dean of Worcester, and another for his fellow Trades Unionists. On the way home I bought a local paper, and saw in it a brief extract from my note on "The Deadlock in the Mines" in the current issue of "the Bishoprick". It is unfortunate that my pronouncement should appear so late, and in the holiday month, when the chance of its being read is small! The miners appear generally to be accepting what the newspapers call "the Bishops' proposals", but as these include the demand for four months additional subsidy, it seems difficult to see how their acceptance can advance the cause of negotiation. The Government are pledged to the hilt to make no concession on that point, and beyond question, the country will not easily acquiesce in another surrender. So the outlook is as black as ever.

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