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The Influence of Former Anglican Army Chaplains on the Church of England and British Society in the Inter- War Years

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The Influence of Former Anglican Army Chaplains on the Church of England and British Society in the Inter- War Years Shell-shocked Prophets: The influence of former Anglican army chaplains on the Church of England and British society in the inter- war years. by Linda Mary Parker A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History School of History and Cultures University of Birmingham January 2013. University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The role of Anglican army chaplains in inter-war church and society will be examined and judgements made on the extent to which their ideas and actions were influenced by their war- time experiences, leading to an impact on the inter-war Anglican Church and British society. The extent to which the intervention of the Church of England in social and industrial issues in the inter-war years was shaped by the activities and opinions of former chaplains will be examined using examples such as as in the work of the Industrial Christian Fellowship and Toc H. The significance of former chaplains in rituals of remembrance and the development of pacifism will be assessed and their contribution to discussions on ecclesiastical controversies such as Prayer Book revision and unity will be analysed. Similarly their views on marriage, divorce, contraception and the proper uses of the new media will be judged in the light of their impact of their thoughts on wider opinion. The conclusion will make a judgement on the practical and ideological impact of their ideas and actions. It It will be argued that they were a significant minority who became the catalyst for change. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the help and encouragement given by the following people. My supervisor, Dr.M.F.Snape. Mr D. Blake, curator and archivist, Royal Army Chaplains’ Department Museum Amport. The Revd P. Howson for permission to quote from the unpublished diary of The Revd Ben O’ Rourke. The staff of the University of Birmingham Special Collections. The staff of Lambeth Palace Library. The staff of the Bodleian Library. Mr N. Parker, my husband. This thesis was copy edited for conventions of language spelling and grammar by Ann Stevens Contents Introduction...............................................................................................................p. 1. Chapter One: Shell-shocked Prophets........................................................................p. 18 Chapter Two: Chaplains, Industry and Society...........................................................p.49 Chapter Three: P. B. ‘Tubby’ Clayton and Toc H.........................................................p. 106 Chapter Four: Chaplains, Training and Education......................................................p. 145 Chapter Five: “Revival not Reformation”, Former Chaplains and Reforms in the Church of England in the Inter–War Years....p. 182 Chapter Six: Controversies in Wider Society..............................................................p.222 Chapter Seven: Remembrance and Pacifism...........................................................p.248 Conclusion.................................................................................................................p. 287 Appendix : Chaplains Mentioned in Text Bibliography Introduction Robert Keable, 1an Anglican army chaplain writing in 1919, said of chaplains returning from the front: “It is inconceivable that they will not make an upheaval: if they do not, it will be the central disappointment of my life.”2 F. R. Barry, 3writing in 1970, looking back over his life and ministry, argued that: “The social and religious revolution started on the Somme and the Salient.”4 These quotations are indicative of the mixed feelings and expectations of army chaplains on their return from the Great War and the awareness throughout their ministry that their experiences at war had shaped them irrevocably. There is a clear sense that a new era had began in which the chaplains, changed and in some ways strengthened by their experiences, were more self-consciously aware of the part they were to play in post-war church and society. The role of the Anglican army chaplain during the Great War has received increasing attention from military and religious historians in recent years. The derogatory comments about Anglican chaplains which gained credence in the inter-war years as a result of accounts of the war by authors such as Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Guy Chapman, have to a great extent been refuted by Michael Snape and Edward Madigan. They have used a multiplicity of sources to paint a different picture, showing the way in which chaplains sought to adapt to their changing roles during the war and were able to provide spiritual and 1 Robert Keable had been teaching at St Andrew’s Missionary College in the diocese of Zanzibar and served as a missionary in Basutoland until May 1917 when he was commissioned as a chaplain to the South African Labour Corps and was sent to France, serving mainly at Le Havre, M.F.Snape,“Church of England Army Chaplains in the First World War: Goodbye to‘ Goodbye to All That’” Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 62, No. 2, April 2011,p.328 2 Robert, Wartime Reflections in France and Flanders (London, 1919), p. 42. 3 F. R. Barry, TCF 1915-1919, DSO 1916. Deputy Assistant Chaplain General, Crockford’s Clerical Directory. 4F. R. Barry, Period of My Life (London, 1970), p. 56. 1 material help to the troops. During the war 3,030 Anglican chaplains served in the army, 5 so it can be seen that their return to their peace time positions was likely to have an effect on the life of the Anglican Church. The chaplains who served in the army returned to a wide variety of church posts, bringing with them their experiences and expectations. Evidence from Crockford’s Clerical Directory 6shows them serving as parish priests, in Cathedral Chapters, teaching in schools and universities, as chaplains in prisons and hospitals and as full time workers for national institutions such as Toc H and the Industrial Christian Fellowship. A substantial number were destined to achieve positions of significant influence as Bishops, Deans, chaplains to the King and to be instrumental in matters concerning the influence of the church in industrial and political issues. Chaplains will be shown to have had an influence on Prayer Book revision, developments in theological thinking, moves towards church unity as well as having an important part to play in the resolving of industrial tension. Changes in society such as new divorce laws, the acceptance of contraception, and the responsible use of new media were aspects of the inter-war years which former chaplains were to involve themselves in. They were also influential in shaping attitudes to rituals of remembrance in the 1920s and attitudes to pacifism in the 1930s. Given the changes that occurred in the Church of England, institutionally, liturgically and in its attitudes to a rapidly changing society, it is important that the role of former chaplains should be examined and their significance analysed. Many of the chaplains considered in this thesis, especially those men who became national figures, were well- connected in the pre- war church and some reached senior rank in the war-time 5M. Snape, The Royal Army Chaplains Department, 1796-1953, Clergy Under Fire (Woodbridge, 2008), p. 184. 6 Crockford’s Clerical Directory, 1940. 2 Army Chaplains’ Department (AChD).This is significant, as an important part of any debate surrounding the role of former chaplains is the extent to which their post-war activities were influenced by their war experiences alone, or had their roots in their background, training and pre-war careers. Also to be considered is the argument that the impact of the returning chaplains, being largely7 of the younger generation of the pre-war clergy, might have been as a result of their youthful enthusiasm for reform, as evidenced by the actions of younger clergy who did not become chaplains , for example William Temple.8 However, it will be argued that in the inter-war years the impact of former chaplains was not merely a generational issue, but was enhanced by their experiences in an unprecedented global conflict which gave their actions and opinions more moral authority than would otherwise have been the case. This question of the impact of former chaplains must be considered in the context of debates about the effect that the war had on British society as a whole and on the Church of England in particular. F. R. Barry realised this when he commented: “The question of religion after the war was part of the very much bigger question about England 9 itself after the war.” Questions about the way in which returning chaplains functioned as positive elements in many areas of church and national life can be answered by examining them in the wider context of the results of war on the economic, social and psychological condition of the British people and the way in which the church as a whole functioned in the inter-war years. There was an enduring idea in the twentieth century that the pre-war Edwardian 7Men such as H.Southwell, L.H.Gwynne, B. Keymer and T. B. Hardy could have been considered to be in the older generation of pre-war clergy. 8 William Temple, editor of The Challenge 1915-1918, secretary to the National Mission of Repentance and Hope, 1916, chairman of the Life and Liberty Movement 1917, Bishop of Manchester 1920, Archbishop of York 1929-1942, Archbishop of Canterbury 1942-1944 Crockford’s Clerical Directory (1940), p. 1518. 9Ibid., p. 61. 3 years represented a halcyon era in which “there was an ordered way of life, a law, a temple, a city - a civilisation of sorts .....
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