Preaching the Great War: Canadian Anglicans and the War Sermon, 1914-1918

Preaching the Great War: Canadian Anglicans and the war sermon, 1914-1918 Melissa Davidson Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal July 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. © Melissa Davidson 2012 Abstract When the British declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, the Dominion of Canada, as part of the British Empire, was also at war. As an overwhelmingly Christian nation, Canada’s mobilization included not only its manpower, industrial capacity, and agricultural wealth, but also its spiritual resources. This thesis focuses on views of the Great War offered by Canada’s Anglican clerics from 1914 to 1918 through an analysis of sermons and other documents. Situated at a crucial junction between the religious and political life, clerical rhetoric about the war provides an invaluable tool for understanding how a people’s religious and national identities shaped one another during this critical period. Rather than painting the conflict in stark terms of ‘good and evil,’ Canada’s Anglican clerics appealed to theological ideas of repentance and righteousness. The clerics denounced national sins and called on Canadians to shoulder their responsibilities both as citizens of the Empire and as Christians. Identifying and negotiating the responsibilities of citizenship in the crucible of war were key elements in the clerical rhetoric, as they sought to construct and connect their overlapping identities as Anglicans, citizens of the Empire, and as Canadians. Résumé Quand l’Angleterre a déclaré la guerre à l’Allemange le 4 août 1914, le Dominion du Canada a été impliqué parce qu’il faisait partie de l’Empire britannique. La mobilisation du Canada a principalement inclus des gens et des capacité industrielles et agricol. Toutefois, comme le pays était majoritairement de religion chrétienne, la mobilisation du Canada a aussi collaboré à l’élaboration de nombreuses ressources spirituelles. Cette thèse se concentre donc sur les opinions à propos de la Première Guerre mondiale présentées par les prêtes anglicans du Canada entre 1914 et 1918. Ell fait une analyse des sermons et autre documents écrits par les prêtes anglicans nous permettant d’examiner la ‘rhétorique des ecclésiastiques’. La rhétorique des ecclésiastiques de la guerre fournis un outil inestimable pour la connaissance de comment l’identité religieuse et nationale des gens rejoignent, parce que la rhétorique des ecclésiastiques est au même temp religieuse et politique. Au lieu d’aborder directement l’idée «du bien» et «du mal», les prêtes anglicans ont utilisés les idées théologiques comme «le repentir» et «la vertu» pour justifier la guerre. Les prêtes anglicans ont aussi dénonçé les péchés nationaux et ont demandé aux Canadiens de répondre à leur responsabilités en tant que citoyens de l’Empire britannique et chrétiens. Les gens ont donc dû identifier et négocier pendant cette épreuve la notion de citoyenneté, afin d’identifier leurs responsabilités. Cette question est donc particulièrement importante dans la rhétorique des ecclésiastiques alors que les prêtes anglicans ont essayé construire et associer des identités chevauchant la religion anglicane, la citoyenneté de l’Empire britannique, et la citoyenneté du Canada. ii Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………..………….………………ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………iv List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………….vi Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………………23 Justification and Duty August 1914 to December 1914 Chapter 2……………………….…………….………….…………….………………39 Imperialism and Prayer January 1915 to December 1915 Chapter 3….…….……………………….….…………………………………………59 Perseverance January 1916 to December 1916 Chapter 4……………………………………………….……………...………………77 Patriotism and Nationalism January 1917 to December 1917 Chapter 5……………………………….…….……….……………….………………99 Despair and Triumph January 1918 to November 1918 Conclusion….….….…………………………………….……………………….…….125 Appendix A…………………………….…….…….…….………………….…………128 Timeline of Major Events, 1914-1918 Appendix B……………………………………….……………………………………135 Graph of National Monthly Recruiting Figures, 1914-1918 Bibliography…………………………….……….…….………………………………136 iii Acknowledgements I would like to grateful acknowledge the help, support, and guidance of my supervisors, Dr. Torrance Kirby and Dr. John Simons. Without the insightful questions and recommendations of Dr. Simons early in the process, my sense of the rich and often unwritten history of Canadian Anglicanism would have been much shallower. The suggestions, guidance, and encouragement of Dr. Kirby have been invaluable as I tried to weave together the many strands of this story into a coherent whole. Thank you both. I would also like to thank the McGill Faculty of Religious Studies for providing travel funding and fellowship support that allowed me to consult archival sources outside of Montreal and to devote myself to my work. Dr. Alana Vincent of the University of Glasgow and Dr. Gordon Heath of McMaster Divinity College have both been kind enough to share forthcoming manuscripts with me. In both cases, these manuscripts helped support material I was finding in my own primary research but not elsewhere in published secondary sources. Both also went out of their way to offer encouragement. I would also like to acknowledge the Canadian Society of Church History and its members for allowing me to present papers at their annual conference. I owe thanks as well to Dr. Ellen Aitken, Dean of McGill’s Faculty of Religious Studies. Despite her busy schedule, she was always able to offer help and counsel when it was most needed. Unfortunately, the help given by the archival staff I have had the pleasure to work with is not reflected in the number of archival citations. The staff of the McCord Museum, where I worked with the letters of Canon F.G. Scott in the fall of 2007, were unfailingly helpful. I would also like to especially thank Glenn Lockwood of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa for his help and indulgence. When I said I was willing to look at anything he was willing to bring me, he took me at my word and shared documents I would never have thought of, all helping build a picture of parish life during the war. I would also like to thank staff at the Montreal Diocesan Archive, Library and Archives Canada, General Synod Archives, and the Archives of Ontario for their help. iv I would like to thank Dr. John Fossey and Peter Hawkins for their friendship and support. Without their encouragement, I likely wouldn’t have had the courage to change disciplines and pursue graduate research. I owe Peter a debt of gratitude for sharing his immense knowledge of Anglican church music and liturgy. He also served as copy editor and now probably knows more about the Great War than he ever wanted to. The conjunctions, subordinate clauses, conservative punctuation, discursive footnotes, and all errors are, of course, my own. There are also numerous other friends and colleagues who, at various stages, have offered help and suggestions. Special and sincere thanks are also due to Tim and Chris Jenish. They welcomed me back to the staff with open arms every time I was visiting home, provided valuable advice, and offered me every opportunity possible over the ten years that I’ve been associated with them. Words simply aren’t enough to express my gratitude to my family. My parents, Wendy and Garth Davidson, taught me early on what has been the most important lesson in this enterprise — the things that are worth the most are the ones that you have to work the hardest for. They have also often have reminded me that eventually the research has to stop. They, along with my sister, grandparents, and extended family have always been there whenever I needed anything. They have shaped me into the person that I am today, although, here again, all the faults are my own. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Canon F.G. Scott. It was Canon Scott who first interested me in the intersection of patriotic and religious rhetoric through his writings and his service as Senior Chaplain of the First Division of the CEF in France from 1914 to 1918. His staunch patriotism, devotion to duty, and unwavering faith have long remained with me. On the dedication page of In the Battle Silences: Poems Written at the Front (1916), he had printed: Not by the power of Commerce, Art, or Pen, Shall our great Empire stand, nor has it stood, But by the noble deeds of noble men, Heroic lives and heroes’ outpoured blood. To present the ‘noble deeds of noble men’ through their words and in their context has been my goal with this thesis. I can only hope that I have lived up to it. v List of Abbreviations Australia and New Zealand Army Corps ANZAC British Expeditionary Force BEF Canadian Expeditionary Force CEF Drocourt-Quéant Line D-Q Line Military Service Act MSA Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry PPCLI vi Introduction The Canada of the early twentieth century was not only a profoundly religious nation, it was profoundly Christian as well. People turned to the churches, as they had been doing for centuries, to help them mark major life events — births, marriages, illnesses, and deaths. Civic events, too, often had a religious element. Clergymen, important and well-respected figures in their local communities, regularly offered prayers at council meetings, pronounced blessings at building dedications, and spoke at important anniversaries and public commemorations. For many Canadians, church-going was also an integral part of the round of their ordinary lives. Week after week, people assembled and clergymen faced their congregations, preaching on belief and doctrine, morality and practical matters, sin and redemption. In 1911, the census showed that close to ninety- five percent of the Canadian population identified themselves as members of a Christian denomination: this meant 6.9 million Christians in a nation of 7.2 million people.1 Eighty- eight percent of Canadian Christians — eighty-five percent of all Canadians — identified themselves as belonging to one of just four major denominations: Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, and Anglicanism.

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