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THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND ARMY CHAPLAINS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR David George Coulter The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 1997 ABSTRACT This thesis is the first study of Church of Scotland chaplains serving with the Army during the Second World War. It explores the way in which the Church of Scotland accepted the chaJlenge of the Second World War and how the Presbyterian chaplains were recruited, trained and how they performed their ministerial duties under wartime conditions. The thesis opens with an examination of the Church of Scotland during the inter-war years, with particular attention to the background of those ministers who were ordained in the 1930s and who were later recruited as Army Chaplains from 1939-45. The discussion highlights pacifism, anti-Semitism, and the Scottish response on the German Church struggle. The thesis then considers from a Scottish perspective the history of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department and the involvement of the Church of Scotland Chaplains' Committee in looking after the interests of Presbyterian chaplains and Scottish soldiers at home and overseas. The thesis considers the factors which led ministers to enlist as chaplains, and assesses the training which they received. It shows how Scottish chaplains integrated with both officers and men and the contribution they made to the moral and spiritual life of many units. Inevitably a number of chaplains were captured in the course of their duty and taken as prisoners of war. This thesis includes a chapter on ministry in the POW camps. The thesis includes two case studies on the wartime experiences of the Very Rev Prof. T.F. Torrance and the Very Rev Dr. R. Selby Wright. Torrance was enlisted into the Church of Scotland Huts and Canteens organisation and saw active service in Italy. Selby Wright meanwhile enlisted as a TA chaplain in 1939 but was later seconded to the BBC as the "Radio Padre". Finally, this thesis concludes with a chapter in which the chaplains are allowed to reflect on their wartime experience and an assessment is made of the overall work and worth of this particular wartime ministry. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the course of this study I have been indebted to a number of people without whose help, support and understanding this thesis could never have been written. First and foremost I want to thank my wife Grace and my sons Andrew and Thomas. I began this project before Thomas was born and during the past four years I have spent too much time researching and not enough time with my family. After a brief sojourn in the Department of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology I was rescued by Professor S.J. Brown and drawn into the Department of Ecclesiastical History where I have always felt most at home. A term as a part-time tutor and the constant supervision of Professor Brown has made this research an education. I am indebted to Professor Brown for his supervision, his timely suggestions, his gentle correction and encouragement, his eye for detail, as well as making time to see me in his own otherwise busy schedule. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this research was interviewing former Scottish Chaplains in their own homes. Sadly many have since died but I would like to thank them all for the time they gave me and the rare and personal insights that they so willingly shared with me. I only hope that this thesis has done justice to the trust I was afforded by these veterans. I am especially grateful to the Rev Tommy Nicol who gave me exclusive access to a survey that he conducted amongst veterans in 1979-80 and whose findings are reflected in this thesis. As a serving Army chaplain I was given access to the entire records of the Church of Scotland Chaplains Committee which date back to 1860. For this I would like to thank the Honorary Secretary Mr Douglas Hunter. Major (Retd) Margaret Easey, Departmental Secretary of the R.A.Ch.D. Association, pointed me towards both journal articles, war diaries and papers that were important to this thesis. No one, however, has done more to find references, often with the merest of biographical information, than Marjory Farmer, Librarian at the University of St Andrews. Without her help this thesis would have been unworkable. In regard to funding I am grateful to the generosity of the Principal of New College for granting me a Church of Scotland Ministers scholarship. To the Rev John Cairns, Convener of the Church of Scotland Chaplains' Committee. To the Rev Dr Victor Dobbin, the Chaplain General, for his financial support and encouragement to complete this thesis. And to the Hope Trust for their most generous funding. Finally, I would like to thank all those friends and colleagues in the Army who have taken an interest in this thesis and who have encouraged me to complete the task. Encouragement has always been welcome but it was the desire to learn more about the exercise of the Christian Ministry in the professional Army that has always been my motive. CONTENTS Introduction. Chapter 1. The Church on the Home Front. 1919 - 1939. Chapter 2. Recruitment and Selection. Chapter 3. Training and Ministry on Operational Service. Chapter 4. Scottish Chaplains and Active Service. 1939 - 1945. Chapter 5. Church of Scotland Ministry in the POW Camps. Chapter 6. Alternative War-Time Ministry. a. Huts and Canteens: The war-tim.e ministry of T.F. Torrance. b. Radio Broadcasting: The war-time ministry of R. Selby Wright. Chapter 7. Demobilisation. Bibliography and list of works cited. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY In battle a11 superficialities of life have been stripped away. You do not know whether you wi11 survive the next day or not. .. it could have been me ... there is an openness to that reality and the chaplain is the only person who can speak to that reality ... the faces of the men told of the reality of the war ... it is unforgettable and God touches men in these situations. The chaplain who has gone through the campaign is the only person a man can turn to, because whether you like it or not you are apart of that experience ... Ministry in battle is beyond comprehension. 1 D.H. Whiteford Church of Scotland Chaplain This thesis was written by a serving Church of Scotland Army Chaplain. It is a study of ministers from the Church of Scotland who saw service in the Army as chaplains during the 1939-45 war. While there have been a number of studies dealing 2 with chaplains during World War One , there has been little equivalent work on the 1939-45 War. The thesis makes passing reference to the work of chaplains from other churches, not least because as far as the War Office was concerned a11 chaplains were recruited, trained and administered in war under the same constraints and conditions, regardless of denominational allegiance. However, the focus is on the chaplains in connection with the Church of Scotland. The thesis is, moreover, restricted to Scottish chaplains serving with the Army rather than with the Navy and the Air Force. The large majority of chaplains enlisted during the Second World War and indeed in all other campaigns this century were employed in Army service. This in no way undermines the important contribution made by Scottish chaplains who served in the other two services and with the merchant manne. 1 D.II. Whiteford, Taped interYiew, Gillan, 29 Oct 1993. 2For exmnplc, /\. Wilkinson, The Church of Englund cmd the First World War. (London 1978) and.S. Mews, "Religion and English Society in the First World War", unpuhlishcu PhD diss., Cmnbridge, 1973, cited by S.J. Ormm, "A Solemn Purification hy fire: Responses to the Great War in lllC Scottish Presbyterian Churches 1914-19", The .Touma) of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 45, No. I, Jan 1994. Sources Taped Interviews. The core source used in this thesis was a series of taped interviews, collected by the author during 1993-94. Those interviewed included twenty Church of Scotland ministers who had been chaplains with the Army during the Second World War. The tape recordings, which amount to some 25-30 hours of material, will be deposited in New College library as part of 'The Church in Modern Scotland Project', upon completion of this thesis. Some of the chaplains interviewed were in uniform for only a relatively short time. Others had a much longer period of service - for example, the Rev Dr David H. C. Read, who was captured at St Valery in the early days of the war and spent nearly five years in a POW camp. Some left the Army as soon as possible after hostilities ceased while others continued to serve on in the Royal Army Chaplains' Department and to make this form of ministry their full career.