The Henson Journals

[66]

Whit Tuesday, June 10th, 1930.

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Miss Maxwell left after breakfast.

W. Ralph Rumney came to see me, & I promised to ordain him in September if α) he gave me satisfying evidence of baptism & confirmation, β) his references were satisfactory, γ) he passed an examination on the Bible, the Prayer Book, & Doctrine, δ) he offered a suitable title. He is certainly an unusual, &, I am disposed to think, an unusually strong, type of man. The son of a miner at Dipton, he has succeeded in getting education enough to make him able to preach and teach with more than average success. He gave me a little penny booklet, "How shall we pray?", which he had written for the 'South Africa General Mission', and I was impressed by its substance and form. He served through the War, & then went for 3 years to an Interdenominational College at Glasgow for training as a missionary. But he yearns for the Sacramental System, and has been attending the services, & even receiving the Holy Communion, in the Church of England. Dick sent him to me with warm commendation. So I determined to run the risk of dispensing with my own rules, & ordaining him.

[67]

Louis Rudolf Pearson, an Ordination candidate from South Shields, aged 19, came to be interviewed with a view to his receiving a Diocesan grant. A slim youth, rather amiable than vigorous, but the captain of his school, & very well commended, he desires to enter Keble in October. I took him to the chapel, and said prayers with him. On the whole, he pleased me. It would be difficult to imagine two more divergent types of Ordination Candidate than Rumney and Pearson.

In the afternoon I walked round the Park with Graham White, and heard much talk from him. He assures me that his friend Hiram Craven has not actually joined the Church of Rome, though he has resigned office in the Church of England. He showed me a tract entitled "The Hour of our Proving: the Reasons for a Resignation" which H.C. has published. In this the Bishop of Durham is largely quoted!!

I made a start with the Individualist Club speech, and wrote about one third of the necessary amount. But I cannot be sure that this may not all have to be torn up: for I am not yet quite clear on the point of what I desire to say!!

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