Chaplains at War: The Role of Clergymen during World War II 9780755623556, 9781780760407

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TO MUM AND DAD

List of Tables 1.1 4.1 4.2

Number of Chaplains in the AChD during the Great War Denominational Ratios of Soldiers and Chaplains during World War II Promotion Prospects for Chaplains during World War II

23 88 96

List of Abbreviations AChD AHJA ATS BEF BL BRCA BUA CCA CERC CF CO IWM IWMSA LPA MARC MO NA OCF POW PPL PPR RA RCCA RAChD RAChDA SASRAA SCF SRCDA TA TTT

Army Chaplains’ Department AJEX House Jewish Archive Auxiliary Territorial Service (women soldiers) British Expeditionary Force British Library, London British Red Cross Archives, Guildford Baptist Union Archives, Regent’s Park College, Oxford Churchill College Archives, Cambridge Church of England Record Centre, London Chaplain to the Forces Commanding Officer Imperial War Museum Archives, London Imperial War Museum Sound Archives, London Lambeth Palace Archives, London Methodist Archive and Research Centre, John Rylands Library, Manchester Tom Harrison Mass Observation Archive, University of Sussex National Archive, Kew Officiating Chaplain to the Forces Prisoner of War Personal Papers lent to the author Personal Papers retained by the author Royal Archive, Windsor Roman Catholic Chaplaincy Archives, Upavon Royal Army Chaplains’ Department Royal Army Chaplains’ Department Archives, Amport Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association Archives, Aldershot Senior Chaplain to the Forces Salford Roman Catholic Diocesan Archives Territorial Army Twenty Twenty Television Archives, London

Acknowledgements While working on this book I received help from many kind people. It had its origin in a Ph.D. I completed at University College Chester (now University of Chester) with University of Liverpool providing oversight. My supervisors, Dr Ronald Barr and Dr Charles Esdaile deserve special thanks for their insight into military history, wise advice, and patience. The research was funded by University College Chester who awarded me a scholarship. During the course of the research, I was surprised to discover that chaplains trained at Chester during World War Two. My thanks also to the staff of Cheshire Military Museum who were convivial companions and who illustrated better than I could explain the strengths of the regimental system. My research was greatly aided by library staff at Chester, especially those processing inter-library loans requests. I was also helped by archivists at the Salford Roman Catholic Diocesan Archives, the John Rylands Library Manchester, Gabriel Communications Manchester, Regents Park College Oxford, Churchill College Cambridge, British Library, National Archive, Imperial War Museum, Church of England Record Centre, Lambeth Palace Archive, Twenty Twenty Television London, British Red Cross archive Guildford, the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association Aldershot, the Royal Archives Windsor and Mass Observation Archive University of Sussex. Special thanks must go to Major Margaret Easey the RAChD Regimental Secretary and archivist, and Sister E. Grant the Secretary to the Principal Roman Catholic Chaplain. Many former chaplains, officers, and soldiers helped me by completing survey forms, agreeing to be interviewed, and offering hospitality. Some relatives of chaplains lent or gave me letters and other personal documents which offered valuable insights into life during World War Two. Copies of the interview tapes and other documents will be given to the RAChD archives. I hope this thesis reflects something of their experiences; they are a group of men and women who deserve our admiration. I must thank friends and fellow students for their support while I was doing this research, in particular, Mike, Janet, Ruth and Debbie. More recently, my wife Katy helped me turn the Ph.D. into a book. Robert Dudley provided a useful introduction to I.B.Tauris and thereafter Dr Lester Crook and Elizabeth Munns smoothed the path to publication.

Foreword

Alan Robinson has researched the role of chaplains with outstanding thoroughness and has portrayed the story of the Army Chaplains’ Department/Royal Army Chaplains’ Department with bold courage. His book has that quality which must humble and challenge the clerical reader and prove fascinating to all. All chaplains in both World Wars were, for the most part, civilian clergy in uniform gathered under the umbrella of the Department and some found Army discipline more difficult to accept than others. The regular chaplain had much to share with the war time chaplain, and the war time chaplain had much to share with the regular, but it was the same Gospel they sought to preach both by word and quality of life and service. Some sustained the temptations and pressures of their strangely exposed life better than others and any who failed were very few and, being exceptional, attracted unhappy publicity. As one whose life has spanned both World Wars, and who entered the Chaplains’ Department before training schools were thought of, it is possible to speak of the earnest care and diligence of chaplains prior to World War II. Their task consisted of pastoral evangelistic and Christian educational responsibilities. Contact had to be made on a one-to-one basis very early with new recruits, regular visiting of hospitals and guardrooms, and married quarters. General active participation in army life and training were all part of a chaplain’s duty. A newly joined chaplain, upon asked by his senior chaplain “Have you a got a motor car?...Put it aside and get yourself a bicycle. In a car you pass them, on a bicycle you meet them.” Church parades belonged to the ethos of the pre-war army where everything that was of importance – including meals – was a parade. Morale was of the very being of the army where regiments could be so proud of their ‘superior excellence’ as to be found in conflict with other regiments! Soldiers were possessed of such loyalty to one another that even pay packets could remain on a man’s bedding and it would not get ‘lost’. The chaplain was accepted and welcomed and no more than the normal courtesies (beyond saluting) were expected. Saluting is an acknowledgement of the Monarch’s Commission and was always returned. A regiment, despite its strict discipline, was like an enlarged family – everyone mattered – and a chaplain was privileged to become part of its life.

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Alan Robinson has moved into a sphere of life he admits was strange to him and, in doing so, has shown brilliant perception and keen interest. The book is hard to put down and the reader will find that readability has not belittled reliability. Ivan Neill The Very Revd. I. D. Neill was commissioned as a chaplain in 1938 and retired as Chaplain-General in 1966. He was Mentioned in Dispatches, made a Knight Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau (with Swords), appointed an Officer of the British Empire and, lastly, awarded the honour of Companion of the Bath. On leaving the army he continued his ministry as Provost of Sheffield.

Introduction

Soon after landing with the invasion force in Normandy during June 1944, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney wrote to his wife: Happier than ever. Have taken some services this morning – very worthwhile, including a Communion, the altar being two ammunition boxes plus a water-can. My Prayer Book I had to lay on up-turned Communion case. All this under a hawthorn hedge, and all absolutely marvellous, so true and definite. The circumstances contrasted with the situation four years earlier when Leaney and his unit were evacuated away from the German advance. So rapid had the retreat been in 1940, Leaney had never been fired upon at all. When his position was shelled for the first time in 1944, he reflected on his reactions: I … knew in my own heart that I was going to be all right. I suppose I may as well confess here that I never had – as so many chaplains have testified – the experience of feeling the constant presence of our Lord through danger. I prayed frequently enough on the brink of anything particularly unpleasant and my prayer to keep steady was never left unanswered; but my continuous consciousness was of hell, not heaven, and my general ability to remain unaffected was due chiefly to satisfaction at being at last ‘in the show’ and the knowledge that calmness was expected of me. 1 Leaney was one of 3629 chaplains who served during World War Two. Their experiences, values and relationships with officers and soldiers are explored in this book. A comprehensive picture of chaplains relates three strands. Firstly there is the actual role of chaplains in various circumstances including during combat, the more settled situations in bases and lines-of-communication, and life for that minority of chaplains who were captured and held in German, Italian and Japanese prisoner of war camps. The second significant strand is the relationship that chaplains established with soldiers and officers in the units they were serving. This locates the ministry of chaplains within the wider context of the role of

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religious beliefs within the Army and more generally in civilian society in the first half of the twentieth century. Finally, three powerful institutions, the government, the Army and the churches all had significant interests and conflicts over the direction of Royal Army Chaplains’ Department (RAChD). This book focuses on World War Two but includes chapters on the Great War and interwar years which are essential to understand the institutions and mindsets that operated during the later conflict. Defining the role of chaplains during the World Wars was an exercise that was fraught with difficulties for the army, churches, government, and individual chaplains. In 1916, the nonconformist United Board issued a pamphlet to their chaplains which admitted, ‘A Chaplain’s duties are very vaguely defined.’2 The church historian Alan Wilkinson argues that the real difficulty in defining the chaplains’ role lay with ‘a basic incongruity between Christianity and the military profession’. He asks some searching questions including, how can the chaplain symbolise catholicity while serving the national cause?3 These types of question have shaped academic debate on chaplains which has focused on alleged role conflict between chaplains’ priestly and officer functions.4 Most chaplains viewed having a religious ministry that influenced soldiers and supporting military endeavour as complementary activities. The role conflict argument is simplistic as it fails to consider factors like the military context of the chaplains’ actions and the extent to which chaplains remain under the influence of their church. Furthermore the fact that the denominational influence on chaplains can be seen in their pattern of ministry suggests they have not neglected their priestly role. Most of the attitudes and theologies of different denominations in civilian life were carried into the RAChD and although altered during this transition, their church origins were clear enough. For example, the often bitter debates within the Anglican church over high church and low church rituals were found in the RAChD, but with the additional complication of overlapping church and military authority. Similarly, the Methodist emphasis on a social gospel with ministers serving the community created Methodist chaplains who ran canteens and organised entertainments. During World War Two the chaplains’ role (in order of importance) was determined by the military context they operated in, their character and personality, their denomination, the attitude of officers towards chaplains (in particular officers’ assessment of the chaplain’s relationship with soldiers) and RAChD policy. The second major theme of this book is the relationship between chaplains, soldiers and officers. Although the historiography on chaplains is limited, it is this relationship which has most attracted the attention of

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historians, most recently Michael Snape who wrote God and the British Soldier5. Church historians are interested in this topic for the information it provides about secularisation whilst military historians have focused on whether religious beliefs enhance morale and combat performance. John Keegan and Richard Holmes state that material resources like tanks were easy to quantify, ‘But fighting spirit, with all its complex chemistry of individual and collective needs, loyalties and pressures, can urge men to go forward or stand firm even in the face of certain death.’6 They continue: It would be rash, even in an age when religion may seem relatively unimportant in the West, to ignore its influence upon men in battle. The function of religion as a cause of conflict remains a matter of dispute: certainly, religion has often been enlisted to legitimise attitudes and policies which are more temporal than spiritual. Similarly, the efforts of military chaplains have led to accusations that religion in wartime is used as simply another device to help buttress morale. Nevertheless, there is more than a little truth in the cliché that ‘there are no atheists in foxholes.’7 Certainly soldiers became more devout during combat and a consideration of the work of chaplains, from a military point of view, fits into the wider issue of fighting spirit. A government report prepared just after the end of the Second World War noted, ‘By fostering these sentiments, and in many other ways, a good chaplain may help to raise and maintain the morale of a unit, particularly in action, as many commanding officers have testified.’8 Even the critics of chaplains assume that they are effective in bolstering morale.9 However it is difficult to see how an assessment can be made of the chaplains’ role in bolstering morale without considering the means they used and whether or not it was central or marginal to their work. By carrying out religious functions, chaplains contributed to army morale, as many soldiers, even if they were normally apathetic towards religion, found it was a comfort and support during combat. Just as important personal events were marked by religious ceremonies in civilian life, so military rites of passage like enlistment, going into action, capture, death, and remembrance were also marked by religious observance. In such circumstances, religion and chaplains were important. The administrative arrangements for the RAChD were unique with three powerful institutions, the government, the army, and the churches all having policy influences over the RAChD. The armed forces came under government authority, but the RAChD was administered in a much more

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direct way than other sections of the army since they reported directly to the senior civil servant at the War Office, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, and as Sir Herbert Creedy said, the RAChD ‘with its special problems occupies not a little of his time’.10 The Secretary of State for War could also become involved with the RAChD, as happened in 1943, when P. J. Grigg unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the creation of an Anglican Bishop with spiritual authority over chaplains. Part of Grigg’s problem was that churches, especially the Church of England, were more inclined to use their latent spiritual authority over the RAChD during wartime. It might be expected that secularisation left the churches in a vulnerable position when they were negotiating with the government and the army over RAChD policy, particularly as this took place at a time when Church of England and state links were becoming weaker, but in practice the churches increased their authority over the RAChD during this period.11 The paradox is best explained by the centrality of war rather than religion to the history of the 20th century. The way other denominations maintained their spiritual authority over chaplains revealed much about the structure and theology of that church and its relationship with government. The underlying position was that the RAChD had administrative authority over chaplains whilst spiritual authority resided with the denominations. An exception to this was the Catholics did not consider that spiritual and administrative authority could be divided so they had a separate structure within the RAChD. Although the government and the army regretted this arrangement they took a pragmatic view recognising that attempting to force the Catholics into the united RAChD would either exacerbate existing administrative difficulties or result in Catholic withdrawal from the armed forces. The government tolerated the Catholic insistence on being separate and even appointed many more chaplains above the numbers they were strictly entitled to. The position of nonconformist chaplains evolved rapidly during the 20th century. At the time of the Boer War the only nonconformist chaplains were Wesleyans. However at the start of the Great War the government recognised the importance of appointing nonconformists from other denominations to ensure nonconformist men volunteered to become soldiers. The government improved the conditions for nonconformist chaplains and they continued to serve in the regular army. The government did not unduly favour Anglicans within the RAChD and pragmatic considerations led the government to show a degree of equity between the denominations. The RAChD is important to church historians since about 10 per cent of clergy from all denominations volunteered to become chaplains and their

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experiences shaped attitudes towards ecumenism, and revealed the extent of secularisation in Britain. Church historians have used the experiences of chaplains to illustrate wider points about secularisation. This study has found that most people had their existing religious beliefs confirmed by their wartime and combat experiences and that the wars did not contribute towards secularisation. A similar view is taken in most persuasive recent works by church historians. Adrian Hastings writes that chaplains discovered, ‘just how non-religious a nation England was. The war did not create irreligion so much as reveal it.’12 Robin Gill argues in The Myth of the Empty Church that the actual cause of secularisation lay more with structural faults in church organisation and competition between denominations than it did with shifts in culture or disillusionment caused by war.13 Church historians have written mostly about the Great War rather than World War Two. Alan Wilkinson’s two books The Church of England and the First World War and Dissent or Conform: War, Peace, and the English Churches, 1900–1945 are the most useful starting points for any enquiry about religion during both World Wars. These books have a broad scope of inquiry linking church history to theological shifts. These books are based predominantly on published sources and arguably the lack of archive research may explain why he understates church influences over chaplains. Rather less has been completed on the RAChD during World War Two. Although this period is covered in chapters of the RAChD official history and in Tom Johnstone and James Hagerty’s account of Catholic chaplains The Cross on the Sword: Catholic Chaplains in the Forces, there is no general account of the RAChD during World War Two. David Coulter, a serving Church of Scotland chaplain, completed a thesis on The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War. Although focused on that denomination, it provides a helpful starting point for a wider study since, as Coulter wrote, ‘As far as the War Office was concerned all chaplains were recruited, trained and administered in war under the same constraints and conditions, regardless of denominational allegiance.’14 A weakness with both of these accounts is that the focus on one denomination can give a false impression. For example Coulter does not comment on the fact that Church of Scotland chaplains were more bellicose than chaplains from other denominations. In fact the RAChD is an ideal place for cross denominational comparisons of clerical functions and images since many of the variables of church authority and lay expectations that are present in civilian life are absent in the army. Because chaplains operated in similar environments any variations in their ministry are more likely to reflect actual differences of approach than is the case in civilian life. Also John Smyth’s official history of the RAChD, In This Sign Conquer:

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The Story of the Army Chaplains which was published in 1968 has two chapters on British chaplains during World War Two where the author is especially good on chaplains’ work during battles. Smyth interviewed a number of leaders like the Revd F. L. Hughes, Chaplain-General from 1944 to 1951, who have since died. However one weakness is that contentious issues like compulsory church parades and chaplains carrying arms only get passing references.15 This work was written before army, government, and church records relating to the RAChD were released, so while Smyth mentions the public outcome of debates, he was not in a position to write about policy formation. Perhaps church and military historians alike have neglected chaplains as their status as priests and officers presents a topic which does not fit neatly into the sub-disciplines of either church or military history. However, since the 1960s ‘new military history’ has placed war and the armed forces in much broader context looking at society, economic factors, political structures, and human factors in warfare like morale and psychology.16 Within this context it is easier to locate the work of chaplains. Another difficulty relates to causality within church history. As Wolfhart Pannenberg observed, ‘Church history faces in a way no other branch of history does the question of the relevance of the religious concern to the understanding of history because it deals with the history of a religion the essence of which is belief in a God who acts in history.’ Pannenberg continued that church history should avoid attributing supernatural causes to events since this is beyond historical enquiry, but that the way religious convictions directly influences conduct should not be ignored.17 Fitting notions of church history into a military context is a difficult methodological problem that may explain why there is little historiography on chaplains during both World Wars. While archive sources sometimes gave information about the work of chaplains, officers, and soldiers, they did not provide a comprehensive picture of life in army units. As Smyth noted, ‘wartime chaplains worked on their own … it is therefore from the accounts of individual chaplains that one must build up the picture.’18 Consequently any account of chaplains must draw extensively on memoirs and oral history. Oral history is a particularly effective technique to investigate religious beliefs. As Sarah Williams wrote, ‘It is my conviction that oral history provides an effective medium through which to undertake this more intensive study of the symbolic dimension of religious belief.’19 Also, oral history is also a helpful tool to understand ‘the nature of battle’.20 During this research, I interviewed 12 chaplains, seven officers, five soldiers, two women Chaplains’ Assistants, one clerk, and one Officiating Chaplain. They

INTRODUCTION

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provided some very valuable insights including information on conducting services in the field, how chaplains supported COs, the work of women Chaplains’ Assistants, and established that MI5 monitored the RAChD during the war. A number of the people I interviewed have since died and I feel privileged to have recorded some of their experiences. There are limits to the use of oral history, since it is difficult to distinguish between common and unusual events. For this reason a survey was carried out among chaplains, officers, and soldiers to gain an insight into the aggregate experiences of chaplaincy work in army units. This brought the additional advantage of being able to place this evidence alongside other survey evidence like the Army and Religion report of 1919, and a Mass Observation report into the work of chaplains carried out in 1943. This book is mainly focused on the tangible role of chaplains, rather than their important symbolic function in a nation at war. As Richard Overy wrote, ‘Religion was mobilised in every state to support the national war effort, though it was by no means the only, or even the prime, source of moral validation.’21 In Britain at least, this mobilisation would have been unconvincing without chaplains, so their symbolic presence in the army was second only in importance to their actual presence.

1 The Great War

Two of the most significant factors that differentiate people who fought in the Great War and people living today are patriotism and religion.1 These two influences motivated 3475 clergy from all denominations to volunteer as chaplains. Their beliefs, lives, and actions are reflected in this chapter. The Great War also established a framework for chaplaincy administrative structures and work which remained largely unchanged up to the present day. The churches in pre-war Britain had considerable influence both on national life and individual citizens. Sixty per cent of the population of England were identified as Church of England, 15 per cent nonconformists, and 5 per cent Catholics, with 20 per cent belonging to other denominations or agnostics.2 Despite these figures, there was a sense of unease in the churches. In 1906, Charles Gore, the Bishop of Birmingham, delivered a sermon that included an accurate summary of the position of the Church of England: Above all, we have laboured very hard for the poor, and amongst them. And yet; – it all hangs fire. … Such a feeling is in the mind of very many of us as we take stock of the powerlessness of the Church, in spite of splendid exceptions in this or that parish, to produce any broad corporate effect, to make any effective spiritual appeal by its own proper influence, in the great democracy of England today.3 The experience of chaplains during the Great War confirmed Gore’s concerns about secularisation.4 The influence of the Church of England was marginal in urban working class areas, more so with men than women, and especially in the north of England. Whilst many of the urban working class described themselves as being Anglicans, few had active links with the church.5 Part of the difficulty the church had in reaching the urban working class was due to the social background and inadequate

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training of the clergy, attendance at theological colleges only becoming compulsory in 1917. One of the more outspoken chaplains, the Revd G. A. Studdert-Kennedy, commented how the soldiers’ pre-war perception of ‘dry rot in the pulpit’ had to be eradicated.6 The same year that Gore was worrying about the state of the Church of England, the numbers of nonconformists peaked. Moreover, nominal nonconformity was rarer than nominal Anglicanism. Geographically the nonconformists were strongest in industrial towns and Wales. Their congregations were drawn mainly from the aspiring lower middle class and skilled working class. The culture was didactic with Sunday School for the children and sermons for the adults. However, the inherent risk in education and improvement was that nonconformity elevated its members into the establishment where their separate identity was smothered.7 Whereas discrimination against the nonconformists had virtually ceased by 1900, there was still extensive discrimination against Catholics in all levels of British society. Despite this, a small group of Catholics like Baron Friedrich von Hugel, the right wing writer Hilaire Belloc, the 15th Duke of Norfolk H. FitzAlan-Howard who was the unofficial lay leader of the Catholics, and over forty Catholic peers had influence out of proportion to their numbers amongst the elite of British society. Catholics were conspicuously absent from the middle class. The Catholic influence was overwhelming in the south of Ireland and substantial in those northern British cities to which many Irish had migrated, in particular, Bradford, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Preston. Nominal Catholicism was rare, partly due to the discrimination against them. Most Catholics in these cities were working class. The Catholic priests were well trained and remained close to their working-class origins.8 Anglicans, nonconformists, and Catholics were separated by social divisions and theological differences. One of the few areas where there was theological concord was in regard to war. Generally, the doctrine and tradition of Christianity did not object to Christians serving as soldiers. Biblical authority could be cited. Christ at the request of a Roman Centurion healed his paralysed servant and did not object to his profession.9 Soldiers like Saint Martin, who went on to become Bishop of Tours, were venerated (Saint Martin is the patron saint for chaplains). Theological reasoning was provided in the fourth century by St Augustine of Hippo with the just war theory. Defence of the nation was always justified provided the war was not unduly bloodthirsty, or directed against non-combatants. St Augustine wrote, ‘Peace should be your aim; war should be a matter of necessity so that God might free you from necessity and preserve you in peace. … And so, let it be necessity

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rather than your own desire that you kill the enemy fighting against you.’10 The just war theory determined the thinking and actions of most Christians since the fourth century. The Church of England based its doctrine on the just war theory. In 1571 the new Church of England outlined its doctrine in the Articles of Religion. Article XXXVII stated, ‘It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars.’11 When St Augustine was writing, Christianity was the established religion of the Roman Empire. Similarly, the Church of England was established and there were mutual obligations between church and state, one of them being that the established church would allow Christians to fight for the state. Unlike the Catholics and Church of England, the nonconformists never had a doctrine permitting or preventing their members from serving in the military. There was, however, a militant culture exemplified by the Salvation Army, the usage of military metaphors, and the veneration of Oliver Cromwell. In 1908, 250 years after Cromwell’s death, the Primitive Methodist minister, the Revd R. H. Taylor wrote in the Leader newspaper that it was ‘most desirable to see the great battles of this age in the light of those Cromwell fought and won’.12 There was little in the doctrine or tradition of the churches to suggest they would do anything other than support the British war effort. There was, however, an alternative pacifist tradition which was adhered to by a small minority of Christians. They also cited biblical authority including Christ’s command to ‘love your enemies’, and his remark in the garden of Gethsemane that, ‘all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword’.13 As nonconformists did not encourage their members to serve in the military or prohibit them from doing so, the pacifist tradition was strongest in these churches. Pacifism had long been part of the Quaker tradition. The Christadelphians arrived at pacifism by a different route as they were unwilling to come under the authority of a secular government, rather than an objection to war per se. Pacifism had marginal influence in the Baptist, Congregational and Primitive Methodist churches. During the Boer War, the Revd Dr John Clifford, a Baptist minister, formed the Stop the War Committee. Their protesting was so effective that it was widely, but wrongly, believed that a majority of nonconformists opposed the war.14 The marginality of the pacifist tradition became apparent at the start of the Great War. On 4 August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany and the other Central Powers. The Church of England, as expected due to its position as the established church and the theology of Article XXXVII, both nationally and locally supported the war effort. The Revd Thomas Sadgrove,

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Rector of Fairstead in Essex, ‘preached a horrifying sermon, on the horrible scenes of the battlefield and exhorted all the young men to join the army. He had a big Union Jack hung in front of the pulpit, instead of the pulpit-hanging.’15 Similarly, the nonconformists were equally strenuous in their recruiting efforts. The weakness of the pacifist tradition within nonconformity was demonstrated. On 10 November 1914, 3000 nonconformists packed City Temple in London. They were addressed by the leaders of the Wesleyan, Baptist and Congregational churches, and by Lloyd George who was then serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government. The meeting was chaired by Robertson Nicoll who was the editor of the leading nonconformist newspaper, the British Weekly. In his opening address he stated, ‘If we had not been Christians, we should not have been in this War. It is Christ … who has taught us to take care for small nations and to protect the rights of the weak, over whom He has flung his shield. … The devil would have counselled neutrality, but Christ has put His sword into our hands.’ Christ was conscripted onto the British side. Lloyd George was adept at playing to his nonconformist audience. He described recently invaded Belgium as ‘that little country bleeding on the roadside’ suggesting that Britain was the Good Samaritan. He joked that the German vulture had expected Belgium to be like a rabbit they could pounce on, only to discover the animal in question was in fact a hedgehog. Robertson Nicoll told the Anglican editor of the proTory Spectator magazine that the meeting had ‘showed a far more militant spirit in English Nonconformity than I had dared hope for’.16 His surprise was probably due to the presence of the Revd Clifford, formerly of the Stop the [Boer] War Committee, at the meeting. In addition to recruiting, there were other signs that the nonconformists were moving closer to the government. The campaign by nonconformists who opposed the Education Act of 1902 (which funded Church of England schools with nonconformist tax-payers money) virtually ceased in 1914. Surprisingly, many southern Irish nationalists joined the British Army. John Redmond, the nationalist MP, urged his followers to enlist. By mid 1916 about 92,000 Irish men had enlisted and about half of these were Catholics. Redmond calculated that a display of loyalty would advance Home Rule further than a stab in the back. Also once the war ended, a body of trained men could be valuable. The attitude of the Catholic church was similar. The Irish Catholic All Hallows Journal argued that supporting the war would advance Irish independence, not British unionism. The Home Rule Bill was interpreted as an agreement that the Irish could have ‘our own customs, habits, and local laws, our own racial and religious characteristics; and we, on our side, consent to becoming

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willing members of the Empire’.17 The longer term difficulty for the British government was that Unionists thought their support for the war would advance unionism rather than Irish independence. The start of the war temporarily side-tracked the Irish question as men from nationalist and unionist communities enlisted. The Professor of Divinity at University of Edinburgh, the Revd W. P. Paterson, stated in August 1914 that ‘the perils and uncertainties of war are leading us back to God’.18 The expectation that the experience of war would turn soldiers towards God coincided with the national enthusiasm for the war and motivated the clergy to make strenuous recruiting efforts. The existence of theology that permitted military service and the fact that the majority of clergy from all the major denominations encouraged recruiting meant that those considering becoming chaplains could accept a military role with a clear conscience. The Revd Ernest C. Crosse, Anglican assistant chaplain at Marlborough College, volunteered to become an army chaplain. He described how the churches had identified the devil with the Kaiser, a comparison which led him and many others to the conclusion that the British army consisted of crusaders, therefore ‘as only natural under such circumstances, clergy in hundreds vied with one another for the privilege of ministering to these spiritual knight-errants’.19 Crosse was commissioned into the Army Chaplains Department (AChD) on 15 January 1915. The organisation Crosse joined had been established by Royal Warrant on 23 September 1796. This abolished the system of having chaplains who were privately appointed by the Colonels of regiments and formalised the arrangements for having army chaplains rather than regimental chaplains. Initially only Anglican chaplains were appointed, although the Catholics had informal arrangements to minister to soldiers. In 1827 the Presbyterians were granted permission to appoint chaplains. Meanwhile the reduction of official anti-Catholic discrimination, as symbolised by the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 which allowed Catholics to become MPs and candidates for government office, also influenced the army which sanctioned the appointment of Catholic chaplains in 1836. The Wesleyans applied for recognition in 1856, but it was only granted in 1881.20 It is significant that the Wesleyans were the first English nonconformist denomination to apply and be recognised. They were closer to the establishment than other nonconformists and did not agitate against the Education Act of 1902. The first Jewish chaplain was appointed in 1892. The other nonconformists were the last to apply and be recognised by the Army. Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War tried to block the appointment of non-Wesleyan nonconformists.

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According to Lloyd George, Kitchener considered the nonconformists to be ‘superfluous and eccentric sects’. Lloyd George presented the nonconformist case and after a bitter argument, Kitchener was overruled and said to Lloyd George, ‘Come now, tell me the names of these sects for which you want padres. Is this list right? Primitive Baptists, Calvinistic Wesleyans, Congregational Methodists?’ If his own account is to be taken at face value, Lloyd George gently corrected his colleague. In August 1914, the first Baptist and Congregational chaplains were commissioned and by 1915, Primitive Methodists, United Methodists, and Welsh Calvinistic Methodists were also appointed. 21 These chaplains entered an organisation whose legislative and regulatory framework had developed during peacetime and was of limited utility during wartime. The armed forces were established annually in Parliament with the passing of the Army (Annual) Act. Uniquely, the army chaplains were also established under their own legislation, the Army Chaplains Act of 1868. The need for this Act had arisen from an unusual court case. The Revd Herbert T. Craig was the Anglican chaplain appointed to the Richmond Barracks. The barracks were in the parish of St Jude, Dublin. The Revd Thomas Mills, incumbent of St Jude, argued that Craig was usurping his authority by carrying out his duties like baptism, confirmation, and administering communion for the soldiers, their families, and St Jude parishioners who attended his services in the garrison church. This argument was accepted by the Provincial Court of Dublin and they ruled that Craig be ‘admonished and inhibited to abstain from performing divine service or preaching in the chapel’.22 In order to prevent similar court challenges the Army Chaplains Act gave army barracks an extra-parochial status.23 King’s Regulations was also orientated to the needs of the peacetime army. The regulations stated soldiers should attend compulsory church parades. The paragraphs relating to chaplains stated that COs should assist chaplains and treat them with the respect due to their rank and profession. Also COs ensured that chaplain’s conduct ‘becomes their office’. Senior chaplains only had spiritual authority over chaplains of their own denomination. The actual duties of regular chaplains were not specified, however the paragraphs relating to officiating chaplains state their duties as being: Sunday services, baptisms, churchings [of women after child-birth], funerals, attending the sick in hospital and reading prayers with convalescents, visiting soldiers under sentence in military prisons or detention barracks at least once a week, and giving special religious instruction to the children and enlisted boys during one or

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two hours in the week, besides attending generally to the religious instruction and welfare of the officers and soldiers and of their families.24 Finally, it was a part of international law that the chaplain was a noncombatant. Overarching this legal framework was a complex political and ecclesiastical arrangement. As Field Marshal Sir Richard Hull wrote chaplaincy history showed that ‘the Church, State and Army are inextricably interwoven’.25 The structure of the AChD reflected this relationship. The government minister responsible for chaplains was the Secretary of State for War. At the start of the war the Secretary of State was Lord Kitchener.26 He was responsible for policy and senior appointments within the AChD. Day-to-day administration of the AChD was undertaken by civil servants in the Parliamentary Under Secretaries’ Department under the authority of the Permanent Under-Secretary of State. This Department was responsible for legal, parliamentary, and personnel issues in the army. The Under Secretary of State, Sir Reginald H. Brade, was personally responsible for the AChD. He was a successful career civil servant and his legacy included the D-notice system which until recently censored the press on defence issues.27 The actions of Brade both in regard to the Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains and by the way he blocked the Catholic bid to appoint a Chaplain-General show that he felt antagonised by what he saw as church and chaplaincy interference in military and government affairs. The Chaplain-General was the most senior chaplain, and this post carried the army rank of Major-General. It was an unwritten convention that as the Church of England was the established church, the ChaplainGeneral should come from that denomination.28 The Rt Revd John Taylor Smith was Chaplain-General from 1901 until he retired in 1925. Before that he had been a missionary in West Africa. His first contact with the military was when he accompanied an expeditionary force as they attacked the Ashanti tribe in West Africa in 1896. The expedition included Prince Henry of Battenberg, the husband of Princess Beatrice, and son-in-law of Queen Victoria. Prince Henry fell terminally ill and Taylor Smith ministered to him. Taylor Smith returned to Europe carrying messages for Princess Beatrice and Queen Victoria. The Queen swiftly appointed him an Honorary Chaplain and he enjoyed a close relationship with the Royal household. This speeded his preferment the following year to Bishop of Sierra Leone.29 In 1901, the serving Chaplain-General retired and Sir Edward Ward, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the War Office,

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recommended that Taylor Smith be appointed Chaplain-General. Ward too had been on the expedition against the Ashanti tribe. Some doubts were expressed about Taylor Smith’s suitability due to his fervent evangelical views, but the Secretary of State for War, St J. Brodrick, was supportive. The other problem was that Taylor Smith was reluctant to leave his Diocese, but the efforts of Edward VII, Archbishop Frederick Temple, St J. Brodrick, and Major-General E. O. Hay, the Assistant Adjutant-General persuaded him. Hay claimed the army was actually ‘the largest missionary society in the world’.30 His main duties as ChaplainGeneral were liaison with the War Office and interviewing Church of England candidates wishing to become chaplains.31 His low church attitudes meant that he discriminated against high church clergy seeking to become chaplains. Below the Chaplain-General was the Principal Chaplain, a post that carried the rank of Brigadier. By convention, he was a nonconformist.32 The Revd Dr John M. Simms held this post from 1903. He was an Irish Presbyterian who had been appointed as a chaplain in 1887. He retired from the RAChD in 1922 and became Member of Parliament for North Down. The influence of Taylor Smith decreased, when Simms and Bishop Gwynne were also appointed to the rank of Major-General in 1915. The Church of England and the nonconformists were under the control of the Chaplain-General. Technically the Catholics were not under the command of the Chaplain-General, although in practice he had some influence over them. The Catholic chaplains reported directly to the War Office to ensure they did not come under the authority of Protestants.33 As well as being under military authority, chaplains were still under the authority of their respective churches. The control of chaplains was a complex issue and rested on precedent rather than procedure. In 1913, Colonel Pereira, a Catholic Guards officer, wrote a letter to Cardinal Bourne, the Archbishop of Westminster, explaining that if a chaplain committed a grave breach of discipline he could be court-martialled. For lesser offences he would be encouraged to resign. Pereira continued that ‘in addition to the above mentioned disciplinary control, purely military, but in which Ecclesiastical authority has its say, there is a purely Ecclesiastical power of suspension of faculties’.34 This basic system of dual control was common to chaplains from all denominations. The Wesleyan Methodist Army and Navy Board stated the same principle in 1915. ‘In recognising the authority of the War Office over all duly appointed Wesleyan chaplains, in all matters affecting their military service, the Board nevertheless points out that it is obviously impossible for the Wesleyan Conference to forego its authority over its ministers in any

16

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question affecting the doctrine and discipline of the Church.’35 There were differences to the way denominations related to the military. The Catholic insistence on not being under the authority of Protestants, and reporting directly to the War Office, suited their theology, but it was difficult to administer as they could not use military authority with the same ease that the Protestants could. As Bourne identified, ‘The Church of England Chaplains can refer any matter to their ChaplainGeneral, with a certainty of his being able to settle any grievance. The Bishop of Southwark has no official position, and as a result, everything, even a complaint of an ecclesiastical nature, is referred to the military authorities’.36 Whilst the disadvantages of the Catholics reporting directly to the War Office were clear, the Church of England also had problems with overseeing their chaplains. Unlike the Catholics, the Church of England did not have a single civilian bishop responsible for chaplains. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall T. Davidson and the Archbishop of York, Cosmo G. Lang, usually dealt with chaplaincy issues. Also the Bishop of Winchester, Edward S. Talbot, was the next most senior Bishop with a seat in the House of Lords and took considerable interest in chaplaincy affairs.37 The arrangements for nonconformist chaplains were developed in 1915 when the United Board was established to liaise between the War Office, the Admiralty Office, and the nonconformist churches. Unfortunately, for the nonconformists, the Wesleyans, who had most experience in dealing with the army, did not join the United Board. By the end of the war there were 12 nonconformist denominations in the AChD. Their lack of unity was a disadvantage, as was shown by their difficulty in agreeing who should represent them on the chaplaincy Interdenominational Advisory Committee. As the war progressed and the numbers of chaplains increased, clearer arrangements were needed for administration. By May 1915, a system was introduced whereby a Principal Chaplain was appointed to each Division who would liaise with the General Head Quarters concerning military issues (this post was not the same as the Principal Chaplain, the Revd J. M. Simms who was based at the War Office). Denominational issues would however be referred to the respective Church of England, Presbyterian, Catholic and Wesleyan senior chaplains within the AChD.38 The Church of England was unhappy with these arrangements, as their chaplains, with regard to military issues, could come under the authority of senior nonconformist chaplains. The Church of England started to seek a way to opt out of the new arrangement. Another difficulty was that there

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was no senior civilian Bishop responsible for the chaplains. The church historian, Alan Wilkinson, wrote that ‘the chaplains and men in France needed episcopal oversight on the spot, as the Bishops of London and Pretoria, Challenge, and the Guardian all urged’.39 Both problems were solved when the Rt Revd Dr L. H. Gwynne, Bishop Suffragan of Khartoum was appointed Deputy-Chaplain-General. Army orders outlined the new position and the arrangements for the other denominations: Dr Gwynne’s duties will be those of a Principal Chaplain, but his sphere of administration will be limited to matters appertaining to the Chaplains’ Department, connected with the Chaplains and troops of the Church of England. All matters affecting other denominations will remain as heretofore, under the control of Dr Simms the Principal Chaplain. In effect the change means the establishment of a Deputy Chaplain General to do duty as an additional Principal Chaplain but for Church of England troops only.40 Gwynne had extensive influence as he had military authority from his position as a Principal Chaplain and church authority as he was a Bishop and in charge of all the Church of England chaplains in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The appointment amounted to the splitting of the Protestant denominations in the AChD. For this reason the appointment was not approved of by one Church of England chaplain, the Revd H. W. Blackburne, who wrote, ‘The Bishop is not finding it at all easy at GHQ. He and Dr Simms, the Principal Chaplain, get on well but there has been difficulty in this splitting the Chaplains’ Department into two – C of E and other denominations. I wish that out here we could forget our differences and work together. I did not think like that at first but I do now.’41 The chaplains’ experience at the front inclined them to be more ecumenical than the home churches. The new arrangement increased the influence of Simms, who was now responsible for all nonChurch of England denominations, including the Catholics. To try and ensure they did not come under the authority of Simms, in regard to military issues, the Irish Catholics urged the Holy See to make a bid to appoint a Catholic Chaplain-General. Bourne at Westminster however opposed the bid. Nevertheless, the request was submitted by the Holy See and supported by the British Embassy in Rome who forwarded it to the War Office and Foreign Offices. The minutes summarising the War Office meeting held on 9 September 1915 state, ‘the proposed appointment of a Roman Catholic Chaplain-General with the British Military and

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Naval Forces was discussed and certain difficulties presented themselves’. The honest reason was noted in the first draft of the minutes but then crossed out, ‘Sir R. Brade stated that as at present organised there was very little for the Chaplain-General to do and unless some active employment outside were found for him he would probably be a cause of trouble at the War Office or he would soon cease to take any active interest in his duties.’ However, ‘it was arranged with Monsignor Bidwell that he should lay the facts before the Cardinal Archbishop and ascertain whether he wished to express any views on the subject. If so, probably a further conference between him and Sir R. Brade and myself would be desirable’.42 In effect, Brade had made his decision, but delayed telling the Catholics who continued to hope for a favourable outcome. By February 1917, however, their hopes were fading. Monsignor Bidwell wrote, ‘The absence of reply from the FO [Foreign Office] may make no matter after all. Cardinal Gasparri interprets prolonged silence as meaning unwillingness to accept any change but reluctance to say so.’43 Despite their privileged and separate status, the Church of England, like the Catholics, found engaging with the War Office could be a frustrating business. As mentioned above, individual Church of England Bishops had varying degrees of influence over individual chaplains and AChD policy. In an attempt to produce a unified system Church of England obtained War Office agreement and set up the Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains in August 1915. The Committee was chaired by Lord Salisbury and the other members were, the Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of Ripon, Field Marshal Lord Grenfell, Sir R. H. Brade, and St J. Brodrick, the former Secretary of State for War. Soon after the Committee was established, another Bishop the Rt Revd Henry R. Wakefield, made a two week visit to France. On his return he wrote to the Bishop of Winchester and criticised the way the committee was interviewing chaplains on leave in England as this could undermine discipline. He continued that Gwynne had ‘in my judgement ground for complaint against the Advisory Board at home’. He concluded, ‘the less the Board does now at all the better’.44 The letter was however ambiguous as to whether it was Gwynne or Wakefield that objected to the committee. It is clear that Wakefield approved of Gwynne’s appointment, but it seems unlikely that they actually met.45 This criticism angered the Bishop of Winchester who, in a terse reply pointed out that the committee had been approved by the War Office and the Archbishop of Canterbury and that enquiry was part of the remit of the committee. Brade then wrote to Lord Salisbury:

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I am sure that Dr. Gwynne cannot have originated the ‘growse’ but I may be wrong and if you like, I will write to him. Without mentioning the fact that any specific rumour had reached me, I could say that to prevent misunderstanding the Committee would like him to be assured that their operations are intended and are likely to help him. Personally I would leave the matter where it is.46 By restating the possibility that Gwynne was opposed to the Committee, Brade was undermining the Committee, rather than reassuring them. This interpretation fits in with Brade’s subsequent actions which show that he did not support the Committee. The Committee brushed aside the Bishop of Wakefield’s objections and set to work quickly. By the end of August they had produced two reports. The first report concerned the organisation of the AChD and recommended improvements. Because of the vast increase in the size of the army and the AChD, ‘The control of the spiritual ministrations to this nation in arms (preponderantly Church of England in religious complexion) cannot be exercised satisfactorily unless much of it is decentralised.’47 In fact this was partly already the case as since May 1915 Senior and Principal chaplains had been appointed. Decentralised command would of course reduce the influence of Taylor Smith. The report then made some implied criticisms of the way that Taylor Smith was discriminating in favour of evangelical clergy. Now that the emergency of the early months of the war had passed, the time had come for systematising the recruiting procedures which would give Taylor Smith more time for inspecting the AChD and liaising with the Church. The Bishop of Winchester used his position on the Committee to ensure that high church clergy of his own persuasion were not discriminated against by Taylor Smith. The second report was more controversial than the first. They wrote, ‘The broad conclusion… is that there must be an increase of numbers [of chaplains] and an improvement in organisation.’48 Brade tried to prevent the increase of chaplains and sent a note to Lieutenant-General Neville Macready, wearily writing that ‘the eternal Chaplains’ question is again prominently before us’. He disputed the Committee’s claim that the establishment of the AChD was too small. Macready picked up on Brade’s hints and two days later he replied, ‘As a matter of fact, the general opinion out here among Generals Commanding is I think that there are too many clergy already. … A good many parsons are really doing nothing, and to send more would be an absolute waste of men.’49 Macready also suggested that if the chaplains were issued with cars, it would be possible to actually

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reduce the number of chaplains. The actions of Brade and Macready only placed a short delay on the expansion of the AChD. They did, however, upset Lord Salisbury who protested to the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert H. Asquith, who was leading the coalition government. He grumbled that, ‘the most difficult thing in the world is to get prompt attention in the War Office. Everybody is very courteous but owing to circumstances I despair of getting much done. … I have been tempted to throw the whole thing up – but that is only a passing temptation speedily suppressed.’ 50 Salisbury and Asquith had at least two meetings to discuss the AChD. The Committee’s calls for an increase in the numbers of chaplains coincided with a wider campaign and eventually they were successful. The Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains was dissolved in 1920 by which time it had become marginalised by the Interdenominational Advisory Committee. This Committee was established because of nonconformists dissatisfied with the War Office and the AChD. Lord Balfour the War Office representative and Chairman of the Presbyterian chaplaincy committee thought the splitting of the AChD left Presbyterians at a disadvantage in comparison with the Church of England. In his resignation letter of 15 July 1916, he explained to Lloyd George, the recently appointed Secretary of State for War, ‘Differential treatment as regards the chaplaincy services with the English and Scottish Divisions respectively has been introduced, and I have felt it necessary to make very strong remonstrance against what is a National injustice. So far I am sorry to say I have done so without success.’ The complaint found a ready audience and Lloyd George wrote to the respective heads of each denomination with a proposal to set up a Committee to reduce inequalities between denominations. He asked the church leaders to indicate their views and nominate a representative for the Committee. The reaction of the churches was predictable. The Roman Catholics swiftly nominated Monsignor Bidwell. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, nominated Taylor Smith, but Davidson was suspicious that the Interdenominational Committee would encroach on the Church of England Advisory Committee. The nonconformists, having the most to gain, were very enthusiastic about the Committee, but could not agree who should represent their interests. The Revd J. H. Shakespeare answered on behalf of the United Board and wrote: The inequalities of treatment have become so serious in the case of non-Anglican Churches that there would be no hope of the Interdenominational Committee working harmoniously for the welfare of the troops unless these were put right to begin with. We

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have not to discuss these matters with the Church of England, or to beg our rights from it, but with the War Office and with this as a preliminary settlement, we should start on the level. Later in the month Shakespeare wrote again as he considered the men selected to nominate the Welsh representative to the Committee were hopelessly unsuitable for the task. The Presbyterian churches were, as usual, divided. Lloyd George urged English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Presbyterian churches to agree on a single representative. Balfour, the most likely candidate had other ideas, and suggested that Scotland needed both Church of Scotland and Free Church representatives. Once the chance of unity was lost, the five churches, two of them Scottish, then all insisted on their own representatives. Typical was the Revd W. J. Lowe, Clerk of Assembly and General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland who wrote to the War Office on 10 October 1916, ‘Our Church is larger than the Presbyterian Church of England and has a very large number of soldiers serving in the Army. In all fairness I think we are also entitled to have a representative on this Board.’ The War Office reluctantly accepted all five requests. However the Jewish request for a representative on the Committee was blocked. Brade offered an unconvincing explanation that the Committee was established to represent large denominations within the army and to avoid inequalities between those denominations. Jewish issues were unique and therefore outside the remit of the Committee.51 These arrangements gave the churches greater influence over the AChD than they had ever had before. At the start of the Great War there were 112 chaplains.52 There were 31 chaplains 1st Class, which carried the rank of Colonel. Of these 25 were Church of England, three Presbyterian, and three Catholics. There were five chaplains 2nd Class, which carried the rank of LieutenantColonel. Of these two were Church of England and three Catholics. There were 35 chaplains 3rd Class, which carried the rank of Major. Of these 29 were Church of England, two Presbyterians, and four Catholics. There were 37 chaplains 4th Class, which carried the rank of Captain. Of these 33 were Church of England, three Presbyterians and one Catholic. Also there were four Catholics on Temporary Commissions, this arrangement being unique to the Catholics.53 Promotion was done on the basis of time served, so there was no discrimination against Presbyterian or Catholic chaplains. Also this meant that the more senior chaplains were fairly old at the start of the war. In January 1913, the 31 chaplains 1st Class were all between 45 and 61 years old. Most of the senior chaplains in 1914 had experience in smaller conflicts such as the Boer War.54

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The majority of Church of England chaplains, 4th Class were low church evangelical chaplains who had been appointed by Taylor Smith. It was only the shortage of chaplains during the war, and pressure from church authorities like the Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains that resulted in a change of policy. As Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of York, complained, ‘The Chaplain-General … was unfortunate in his handling of the whole problem. He was, at least at first, resolved to choose Chaplains of his own way of thought, and even afterwards, when the demand increased, annoyed keen young men of another type by his methods of questioning them.’55 The volume and quality of evidence supports Lang’s view that Taylor Smith did discriminate against high church clergy until the demand for chaplains during the war was so great that he had no choice but to admit them. Early in the war the position of Anglo-Catholics who were appointed was vulnerable. In 1915, the Revd H. T. A. Pearcy, a member of the Society of St John the Evangelist, was cashiered by Taylor Smith for teaching soldiers about confession.56 G. Harold Woolley, a Territorial Army officer, commented on the social background of Taylor Smith and the Regular Anglican chaplains, ‘He was an extreme low churchman, and not, I think, very well-read. Perhaps most of the Regular Chaplains were of his type – many of them Protestant Irishmen.’57 From August 1914, the AChD was augmented by Acting Army Chaplains. For the duration of the war, only Acting chaplains were appointed. At the start of the war there were 112 chaplains from all denominations, who ministered to 298,923 soldiers. This gave a ratio of one chaplain per 2669 soldiers. In addition to the regular army, there were soldiers and chaplains in the Territorial Army. By the end of the war there were 3475 chaplains ministering to 3,817,837 soldiers. This gave a ratio of one chaplain per 1098 soldiers.58 As the war progressed the need for chaplains to conduct services, bolster morale, minister to the wounded, and bury the dead, increased. To meet this need, ordinands who had volunteered as combatants were commissioned as chaplains. One such man was R. J. Rider who volunteered just before completing his training to be a Wesleyan Methodist minister. He served as Corporal and was a signaller for an infantry battalion. As no chaplain was available Rider organised services for the soldiers.59 In September 1916, Rider was commissioned as a chaplain. The campaign to increase the numbers of chaplains had to overcome the opposition of Brade at the War Office. The different denominational approaches to this problem were very revealing about the character of the churches and their relations with government. Anglican efforts were for

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the main part directed through their Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains (as described above). The Catholics organised a more popularist campaign with questions in Parliament and articles in the Catholic press. A month and a half after the outbreak of war, Lord Edmund Talbot tabled a Parliamentary Question asking the UnderSecretary of State for War how many Catholic chaplains were serving with the BEF and if he intended to send more. The reply was that 12 was adequate and more would be sent if required later.60 In October 1914, The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper, blamed the War Office for the delay in sending sufficient Catholic chaplains to the front. Later in the month the Irish Catholic Bishops passed the following resolution, ‘The supply of chaplains for the Irish Catholic soldiers at the front is lamentably inadequate. … The dying Catholic is entitled to the last Sacraments, and he needs them. … A far larger number of Irish Catholic chaplains is urgently needed.’61 The nonconformist Free Church Council request that more of their chaplains be appointed was backed by Lloyd George.62 The increase in the number of chaplains altered the make-up of the AChD which before the war was dominated by low church Anglicans. The main changes caused by the war were the appointment of high church Anglicans and significant numbers of nonconformists. The total number of chaplains who served during the war was as follows: Table 1.1: Number of Chaplains in the AChD during the Great War Church of England Roman Catholic Presbyterian Wesleyan United Board Jewish Welsh Calvinist Salvation Army

1985 649 302 256 251 16 10 5

Source: Smyth, pp. 202–3.

Behind the lines it was possible for these chaplains to follow the traditions of the peace time army and the limited guide-lines in King’s Regulations. The chaplain going to the front was in a completely different position as there was no training or tradition to guide the chaplain as to what he should be doing there. As the Revd R. J. Rider wrote, ‘No one took over a position with less to guide him than a chaplain in those days.’ 63 Most developed a dual role as a priest and as an officer without portfolio who could perform a variety of odd jobs for the unit he was

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attached to. The balance between spiritual and practical worked depended on the military context, the denomination and character of the chaplain, the expectations of the officers, and the religious beliefs of the soldiers. It was settled parochially within regiments, bases, and headquarters and depended on officers and soldiers accepting that the chaplain had genuine officer status. Each chaplain would normally be responsible for two battalions, and would usually be of the same denomination as the majority of the soldiers in the battalions. The minority of soldiers from other denominations would be ministered to by chaplains covering the division. The work of a chaplain was significantly different depending on whether he was with a unit at the front or a unit behind the lines. In bases, chaplains were accommodated in the officers mess. When units were behind the lines or at bases soldiers would go to church parades. These were military rather than ecclesiastical institutions. Where possible different services were arranged for soldiers from different denominations. As stated in King’s Regulations, soldiers would only be compelled to attend services of their denomination. The compulsory element irritated some of the soldiers. A typical comment was from Private William Knott who served as a stretcher bearer. His evangelical beliefs meant that he objected to church parades. He wrote, ‘I trust we shall soon be privileged to gather again with people who congregate to receive blessing and help, not because they are driven to it like slaves.’64 Other soldiers like Private Bernard Britland enjoyed church parades and described them in letters to his family. The chaplain had preached on Luke 17.11–19. where Jesus healed ten lepers and only one of them returned to thank him. The chaplain suggested that the soldiers who returned safely from the trenches should be like the one healed leper and remember to thank God for their deliverance. Britland wrote, ‘It seemed to make a deep impression on most of us. I know it did on me.’65 Voluntary services were more popular with both chaplains and soldiers, as they were ecclesiastical rather than military institutions. The Revd J. Duffield, like most chaplains, would spend the rest of Sunday going around the base and talking to the soldiers.66 Another typical activity for chaplains was censoring the mail that soldiers sent home. The Revd Doudney worked at a base hospital. He joined a group of three NCOs and two Doctors censoring the mail. Doudney enjoyed the work as he could steal the chief censor’s tobacco. If he protested, Doudney threatened to resign. Also Doudney found the censoring gave him an insight into the thoughts of the soldiers. In particular he noted the Monday letters often included summaries of his sermon. The Revd Rider had an agreement with the gunners to lightly

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censor their letters to wives and sweethearts and by-pass the regimental censors. On one occasion he returned a letter to the writer as he had been offensive towards his wife.67 An individual chaplain had a great deal of autonomy and those with initiative could create a niche in the camps that allowed them to have extensive contact with soldiers and minister to their spiritual needs. The Revd King established three recreation tents at the army camp in Grantham, Lincolnshire. These were equipped with stationery, newspapers, books, and games. A concert would be held most evenings.68 The chaplain would visit soldiers who were ill or had been imprisoned. Also chaplains would spend the last night with soldiers who were due to be shot at dawn. One Anglican chaplain, the Revd L. MartinAndrews had served in Gallipoli and soon after his arrival in France he was ordered to inform a soldier he was going to be shot and to stay with him for the night. The soldier explained that he had deserted five times and that he could not face returning to the front. Eventually the soldier fell asleep after Martin-Andrews slipped some pills into a mug of tea. Next morning the soldier was about to be shot when he requested to shake hands with the chaplain, so, ‘I walked from the firing squad to this poor creature about to be shot and shook him by the hand and said I’d write to his mother as promised, bless you, with that I walked back. Then it was all over.’69 After the execution, Martin-Andrews buried the body. When possible, newly appointed chaplains would be sent to the bases first in order to acclimatise them to army life before they were posted to a unit at the front. At the start of the war, officers forbade chaplains to go right up to the front line fearing they would get in the way and if they were killed or wounded, this would lower soldiers’ morale. Chaplains were confined to the forward dressing station where they could minister to wounded soldiers. Catholic chaplains and civilian clergy were the first to demand a change to these arrangements. In October 1914 the Irish Bishop Cardinal Logue told his fellow Bishops that Catholic priests should be allowed to go into the front line so they could administer the last rites to dying soldiers. The senior Catholic chaplains always supported chaplains who entered the front line. On 21 December 1914, Father Francis Gleeson accompanied the 2nd Munster battalion when they counter-attacked at Givenchy. The Catholic chaplains considered that sacraments were the means of salvation so administering them was their most important duty.70 Nonconformist chaplains like the Revd O. S. Watkins served in the front line during the retreat from Mons, but this reflected military circumstances rather than nonconformist policy.71 Official policy remained that chaplains should not go beyond the forward dressing station. When the Revd E. C.

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Crosse arrived in France in the autumn of 1915, he was forbidden by the Senior Anglican chaplain to enter the front line. Some Anglican chaplains like the Revd Neville Talbot ignored this policy and visited the front line. However, by May 1916, orders were issued encouraging all chaplains to go to the front.72 The delay between Catholics entering the front line and Anglicans doing so, damaged the reputation of Anglican chaplains. Robert Graves and Guy Chapman had both been brought up as Anglicans, but in their war memoirs they were scathing about Anglican chaplains and complimentary about Catholics, as the latter identified with the soldiers by being in the front line.73 For the Church of England, however, the sacraments were only representative of the means of salvation and in the pre-war Church of England communion was a rare service and only those who had been confirmed could receive the elements.74 During the war, the Catholic model of frequent sacramental worship became increasingly popular with soldiers of all denominations. After the war Guy Chapman wrote, ‘The Church of Rome sent a man into action mentally and spiritually cleaned. The Church of England could only offer you a cigarette.’75 Commenting on the value of sacraments, Wilkinson writes, ‘In situations that are totally new and bewildering, rituals can supply boundaries and signposts, so reducing the sense of chaotic novelty.’76 Also the sacraments had a superstitious element about them which appealed in the trenches. Hence the growing desire of Anglican chaplains to use the Catholic practice of the reserved sacrament. Before the war the AChD was dominated by low church clergy, but the wartime influx of high church clergy and practices, imported the conflict in the civilian church between high and low church men into the AChD. Low church Anglicans like the Revd M. S. Evers dispensed the sacraments in the north transept of churches to distinguish himself from the high church and AngloCatholics who used the main altar in the east. A senior high church chaplain ordered Evers to use the altar. He appealed to Taylor Smith who quashed the order.77 The argument involving Evers was typical of conflicts within the AChD, as it was between chaplains from the same denomination rather than between denominations. This tendency was enforced by Anglican withdrawal from the united AChD. The most common priestly duty for chaplains was burying the dead. Where possible the service would be conducted by a chaplain from the same denomination as the dead soldier. The Revd Crosse usually conducted two burials a day. The number of burials was much higher after a major battle, or if the chaplain was attached to a medical unit. The service conducted by Church of England and nonconformist chaplains was usually a simplified version of the Book of Common Prayer ‘Order for the

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Burial of the Dead’ and where possible comrades of the dead soldier would attend the burial. Catholic chaplains, and some high church Anglicans also prayed for the dead. Finally chaplains removed personal items from the body which would be sent to the relatives with a letter of condolence. The letters chaplains wrote gave more details of the soldier’s death than the short notification from the War Office. On 25 June 1917 the Revd Rogers, chaplain to the 3rd Tyneside Scottish, wrote to Mrs Marshall and described how during a raid on a German trench, her husband had been killed, he ‘was one of those called upon to lay down his life’.78 In addition to their religious work chaplains carried out a variety of other jobs for the units they were attached to. The Revd O. S. Watkins, a Wesleyan chaplain, described the activities of chaplains during the retreat from the Mons, which included, washing the feet of tired soldiers, cleaning the blood-stained floor in forward dressing stations, carrying stretchers, and going ahead of the soldiers to find billets for the night. These activities would bring the chaplains close to the soldiers and open ‘their hearts to us so we could minister to their spiritual needs’.79 During combat chaplains would usually position themselves at the Forward Aid Post and assist medics and the wounded. Most Military Crosses and the three Victoria Crosses awarded to chaplains were for rescuing wounded soldiers in no-mans land.80 The churches and most chaplains agreed that chaplains should never accept a combat role and carry arms. In emergencies, however, some chaplains used their officer status to lead soldiers. The Revd John Groser, a high Anglican chaplain, was ordered by the CO of his battalion to lead a group of soldiers after the other officers had been killed. At first he refused, but when the CO insisted, agreed provided he did not bear arms. Robert Graves recalled how during the first battle of Ypres, the Revd F. Gleeson, a Catholic chaplain, removed his chaplain’s insignia then took command after all the other officers were killed. The Revd M. S. Evers, an Anglican chaplain, completely abandoned his non-combatant status, when a soldier manning a machine gun was shot by a sniper, he took it over. Afterwards, though, he was keen to relinquish his combat role.81 The work of chaplains at the front was valued by senior officers like Field Marshal Douglas Haig, who also found a chaplain to support him personally. These sort of close relationships gave the AChD influence at the highest level in the army. The historian Gerard De Groot concludes that, ‘It is a sad fact that, in order to win, Britain needed Haig and Haig needed religion. Losses needed to be justified, victory had to seem worthwhile.’82 Haig’s religion was supported by his personal chaplain, the

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Revd George Duncan, a fellow Presbyterian. They first met at a service on Sunday 2 January 1916, a month after Haig became Commander-in-Chief of the BEF. Haig recorded in his diary the impact that Duncan had on him.83 After the war Haig wrote to Duncan, ‘Yes it was very difficult to keep going all the time of the long War and I am frequently asked how I managed to do it. Well, I can truly say that you were a great help to me when I was C in C in putting things in perspective on Sunday’.84 On another Sunday, Haig noted in his diary: Mr Duncan preached from St John, ‘My peace I leave with you’. He spoke of life in general, how it is made up of anxieties and worries – and yet through it all, if we have only acquired certain qualities, we shall have that ‘peace’. The war has educated many of us, so that we have found that peace of mind.85 There are clear parallels between what Haig thought Duncan had preached about, and Haig’s attitude towards the war. Just before the Somme attack, Haig wrote to his wife, ‘I feel that every step in my plans has been taken with the Divine help – and I ask daily for aid, not merely in making the plan, but in carrying it out. … I think it is this Divine help which gives me the tranquillity of mind and enables me to carry on without feeling the strain of responsibility to be too excessive.’86 The assumption of Divine inspiration for the plan partly explains why the attack continued for days when it should have been clear a decisive break-through was not going to be achieved. ‘In another fortnight’, wrote Haig, ‘with divine help … some decisive results will be obtained.’87 The experience of war intensified Haig’s religious beliefs. Whilst they were a liability at times, they did give Haig a much needed confidence in ultimate victory in March 1918, when the Germans were close to a break through.88 Haig’s ability to carry out a war of attrition was partly facilitated by his religious beliefs. ‘The type of patriotic sermon’ wrote MacKenzie ‘which he was finding boosted his own self-confidence would, Haig reasoned, also inspire the men under his command’.89 So Haig and Bishop Gwynne planned one of the more selfconscious attempts to improve army morale. As the war progressed the need for more pro-active measures to maintain morale increased. By August 1917, the chief censor for the Third Army, Captain M. Hardie, reported, ‘In regard to morale it must be frankly admitted that the letters are showing an increasing amount of war-weariness. There is a tinge of despondency that has never been apparent before, together with a large amount of unsettled feelings about the continuation and conclusion and after effects of the war.’90 The clearest example that the soldiers were very

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close to breaking point was the Etaples mutiny in September 1917. Gwynne, ever searching for the opportunity to advance God’s kingdom in adverse circumstances, suggested to Haig that he write a tract emphasising ‘that it was the aim of all our sacrifices on sea and land to ensure a better standard of living for all our people’.91 Haig was enthusiastic and arranged funding for the printing. Ironically, Gwynne’s tracts were produced just in time to be captured by the Germans advancing in their offensive of March 1918. The chaplain’s views concerning their relations with senior officers were varied. The Revd Duncan was as complimentary about Haig as Haig was about Duncan.92 The Revd K. E. Kirk made a more general assessment of the relationship between officers and chaplains in his essay in Church in the Furnace. Officers felt pestered by the chaplain’s insistent demands for things like ‘transport and horses and services and readingrooms and chapels’.93 However, chaplains were valued by senior officers both for their ability to maintain their own morale and for their influence on the morale of soldiers. When Brigadier Sir John Smyth was researching for the official history of the RAChD, Field-Marshal Slim commented to him that a good chaplain was of the greatest value in raising the morale of the troops, whereas a bad one was worse than useless.94 After the Great War, Brigadier Morgan was very complimentary about a Catholic chaplain serving with a field ambulance unit. Morgan praised the chaplain’s pastoral and sacramental work. As the chaplain was prevented from attacking the Hun himself, ‘He found consolation in confessing the Irishmen before they went into the trenches: ‘The bhoys fight all the better for it,’ he explained’ (sic).95 Morgan and the chaplain were convinced that soldiers who had confessed would have a clear conscience and fight harder with less regard for their personal safety since they were sure of their salvation. The increase in soldiers’ morale due to the chaplain carrying out spiritual duties and giving practical assistance was commendable. More dubious was the influence Major-General Sir William Thwaites exerted over the chaplains. Before a major battle he ordered chaplains to preach bloodthirsty sermons based on the Old Testament. Thwaites noted with satisfaction that ‘a blushing young curate straight out from England … preached the most bloodthirsty sermon I had ever listened to’.96 Many soldiers resented that sort of sermon. Typically, Lieutenant Thomas McKenny Hughes noted in his diary his contempt for those displaying, ‘that vicarious fire-eating which has become such a feature of our national enthusiasm, and which is so gloriously displayed by our Bishops and Chaplains, by the Press and by the General Staff’.97 Despite all this, blatant attempts by senior officers to direct chaplains as to how they should relate

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to the soldiers were rare. In most cases, individual chaplains were left to establish their own relations with soldiers. The Revd E. C. Crosse described how at the start of the war, he and other clergy intending to become chaplains, romanticised soldiers. We pictured, ‘soldiers crowding into barns to hear [us] preach. We expected to be overwhelmed with men anxious to make their confessions, or to be converted. We dreamt continually of ministering to dying penitents.’ The reality of the war, as Crosse discovered, was very different.98 Chaplains success or failure depended only partly on their character, since the religious attitudes of the officers, NCOs, and soldiers were of greater significance. The majority of soldiers were recruited from the northern industrial towns where the churches in general, and the Church of England in particular, had marginal influence.99 The most authoritative figures, from the 1919 Army and Religion report, claimed only 11½ per cent of English soldiers and 20 per cent of Scottish soldiers regularly went to church.100 The pre-war divide between religious and non-religious men was deepened by their reactions to the experience of war. In a letter home, Lieutenant George MacLeod who was then serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders wrote, ‘I have heard it said that a man comes out of this war with a very real religion or no religion at all. That is a very common saying here, nowadays – personally I think that any man who sees this war must come out with a very real religion or cut his throat.’101 A similar view was held by Mr Donald Hodge who said soldiers either believed in God or fate and there was no in-between ground.102 The experience of war polarised soldiers between those who became devout Christians and those who believed in fate, in superstitions, or nothing at all. In his article on British army morale, S. P. MacKenzie wrote, ‘Memoirs suggest that the impression remained that, with the exception of the Roman Catholics (who sought to inspire faith and courage through personal example), chaplains were at best unaware of what the men were going through, or at worst outrageously hypocritical if they talked … of ‘scragging the Kaiser’.’103 The evidence that MacKenzie used to support his conclusion on chaplains came from C. E. Montague’s Disenchantment, and Robert Graves’s Goodbye to All That. Graves wrote, ‘For Anglican regimental chaplains we had little respect. If they had shown one-tenth the courage, endurance, and other human qualities that the regimental doctors showed, we agreed, the British Expeditionary Force might well have started a religious revival.’104 Wilkinson attributes the comments to Graves’s upbringing. Thus, ‘though even casual references to Anglican clergy in his memoirs were always derisive, he was always ready to praise Roman Catholics – no doubt in part a reaction to his background: his

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grandfather was Bishop of Limerick and he had several other relations in Orders.’105 In his memoirs, Graves explained that he had great religious fervour that lasted until just after his confirmation when he was 16. Wilkinson and MacKenzie do not consider how the experience of war moved Graves from extensive religious doubts to agnosticism. On Good Friday 1916, Graves went to church as, ‘not wanting to face a religious argument, I decided to humour my parents; if they believed that God stood squarely behind the British Expeditionary Force, it would be unkind to dissent.’106 By 1917, he had lost all his religious beliefs, although he was too embarrassed to admit this to a Catholic priest.107 The criticism Graves made of Anglican chaplains can be attributed to their occasional inept behaviour, whilst they were the most visible symbol of the religion Graves found wanting. Another veteran, Walter Williams, made a similar point, when he described how due to the suffering of the war, he could no longer believe in an almighty God. When he was asked whether his declining faith altered his views on chaplains, he replied, ‘Yes, I think that would do, especially as [you] didn’t see them very often where the danger was.’108 The link between declining religious beliefs and criticism of chaplains was not, however, considered by MacKenzie. One Anglican chaplain who did not fit the stereotype described by Robert Graves was the Revd Geoffrey A. Studdert-Kennedy. The parallels between the methods Studdert-Kennedy used as a parish priest at St Paul’s, Worcester and as an army chaplain are striking. St Paul’s was a very poor parish, so it was the sort of area where usually the Church of England had only a marginal influence. Rhoda Mansell grew up in St Paul’s. She described how when she brought beer for her mother she saw Studdert-Kennedy with the drinkers, ‘He would be sat amongst them and talking to them, and [would] buy them a drink; you were used to him being one of us’. Rhoda was vaguely aware that Studdert-Kennedy was critical of the government and the rich who neglected the poor. She thought his impact was considerable as, ‘He brought a good many souls to the Lord. His Christianity put the love of Jesus in them.’109 On 21 December 1915, Studdert-Kennedy was commissioned as a chaplain. The close identification with his flock and critical attitude towards authority was a feature of both his pre-war and war-time ministry. One soldier, Oliver Huskinson, of the Manchester Regiment, described how StuddertKennedy was often in the front-line, ‘He was brave, the others never came up to the line. You didn’t expect it from the padre, he wanted to be like an ordinary soldier, like you. He wouldn’t be very popular with the other officers for his views on discipline.’ Because of this soldiers ‘worshipped and idolised him’. Studdert-Kennedy was popular with and respected by

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both parishioners and soldiers. Despite this, as Huskinson said, ‘You didn’t think about religion anyway, no.’110 Studdert-Kennedy and many other Church of England chaplains were painfully aware that despite their best efforts, most of the ordinary soldiers, like Huskinson, were showing little interest in Christianity. ‘It is startling’, lamented the Rev. F. R. Barry, ‘no doubt, and humiliating to find out how very little hold traditional Christianity has upon men.’ He considered that the war had not created new problems, but rather had only stressed the old ones.111 While Barry and Studdert-Kennedy agreed that the pre-war church was deficient, the latter had a deeper appreciation of the thinking of soldiers. StuddertKennedy wrote, ‘The first and great difficulty of the private soldier is war. ‘Why does God not stop it? Any decent man would stop it to-morrow if he could, and God is Almighty and can do anything, then why does he allow it to go on?’‘ Studdert-Kennedy’s reply was that, ‘The Gospel of the Cross without the Resurrection would be a Gospel of despair, the revelation of a power-less, pain-racked Deity caught in the grip of creation and held fast.’112 The omnipotence of God was demonstrated by the resurrection of Christ, rather than by God stopping the war or protecting the devout from its worst effects. The temporal utility of God who merely empathised with the soldiers through the crucifixion was very limited so soldiers increasingly turned to a variety of superstitions, rituals, and habits in the hope that these would offer protection. Cyril Falls, who was not inclined to pray would, when under shell fire obtain similar benefits by repeating a school mnemonic for Latin adverbs, beginning ‘ante, apud, ad, adversus’. Considering that Studdert-Kennedy and other chaplains made it perfectly clear that God did not answer selfish prayers for survival, the adverbs seemed more helpful. Other soldiers took to carrying lucky talismans, Sassoon favoured an opal stone.113 Those who believed in talismans either did not believe in Christianity, or more commonly felt that it needed to be supplemented by superstitions to ensure survival. The impact of the war on the churches varied according to denomination. In the Church of England, the Anglo-Catholic movement was strengthened as practices of using reserved sacrament and of praying for the dead became common place amongst chaplains. The reserved sacrament, when communion elements were retained for use later, was forbidden by Article XXV of the Articles of Faith. However, by 1911 this position was softened when reservation was permitted provided the elements were only used for administering to the sick. This proved particularly useful for chaplains as it meant he could take consecrated elements with him for use in emergencies such as administering to dying soldiers. In France, however, many chaplains like the Revd E. Milner-

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White also used reserved sacraments at ad hoc services.114 Similarly during the war, many Anglican chaplains started praying for the dead, a practice abandoned by their church when it broke away from the papacy after the reformation (nonconformists never prayed for the dead). Anglican chaplains, concerned about the increase in spiritualism in Britain, urged the Church of England to revive the Catholic practice of praying for the dead. One wrote, ‘Here if anywhere the witness of France must be overwhelming. And we beg you and beg again, Church of the homeland, consecrate to perpetual English use the variations that by great instinct have committed the bodies of your sons, ten thousand times over, to their victorious bed of earth.’115 In 1917, partly due to the chaplains’ insistence, the Church of England allowed prayers to be said for the dead. Of all denominations, the Catholic Church was least changed by the war. Its ministry offered a coherent set of sacraments and rituals to soldiers and tangible objects like rosaries helped to bridge the gap between religious faith and superstition. Their approach was vindicated by being emulated by the Church of England. Catholic chaplains had the advantage of being more familiar with the ways of the urban working class than Anglicans. Also, the Catholic church as an institution, was used to relating to the army. When these two factors were combined, it is not so surprising that Catholic ministry seemed superior to other denominations. Even Wesleyans like the Revd R. J. Rider concluded, ‘the Roman Church had enjoyed many advantages during the campaign’.116 The nonconformist chaplains were the most visible symbol of a more tolerant relationship between nonconformists and the establishment. In January 1918, the Revd Shakespeare, Chairman of the United Board, protested that a disproportionate number of decorations were awarded to Anglican chaplains. A supplementary list was quickly issued. The incident was revealing, as it both looked backwards towards a nonconformist identity partly based on exclusion from the establishment, and forwards to the undermining of nonconformist identity when this exclusion came to an end. As Wilkinson has written, ‘Who would have predicted before the war that dissenters would be petitioning for more honours from the military establishment?’ In November 1918, the Free Church Council arranged an armistice thanksgiving service and for the first time ever, the monarch attended a free church service. Wilkinson argued that the nonconformist identification with the war effort contradicted some deep instincts and after the war left them confused and vulnerable to secularisation.117 One of the more positive influences of the war on the churches was the growth of ecumenical practices amongst chaplains and the civilian

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churches. In 1915, the Revd Spurr commented on the close relationship between Anglican, Catholic, and nonconformist chaplains in his Division, describing how they worked and prayed together and supported each others ministry. Spurr wrote, ‘When the war is over and khaki is discarded in favour of ordinary clerical costume, they may, and probably will, unless a miracle occurs (which may God grant), renew their differences quite openly. But never again can they be quite the same men as they were before the war.’118 Although less dramatic, similar ecumenical trends appeared in the civilian church. Before the war, a Baptist minister invited Edward Talbot, Bishop of Southwark, to the centenary celebration of his Sunday School. Talbot objected on principle as his attendance would be to countenance ‘the breach of unity which is so colossal an evil’.119 During the war, Talbot served on the Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains and afterwards he was joint convenor of an ecumenical group investigating the impact of the war on religion. Twenty eight men and women were part of the group and two of them were Baptists. The main impact of the war was to accelerate existing trends within society and the church. Before the war, 80 per cent of the population was at least nominally Christian.120 Although the numbers of nominal and practising Christians had declined slightly, the experience of war accelerated that trend amongst soldiers. Walter Williams described how the war affected soldiers’ attitude towards religion. After a year in the trenches and seeing their comrades were killed and maimed, soldiers lost faith in God, as he did not stop the war.121 Although there was very little the chaplains could do to prevent this process of secularisation, the civilian church hoped their experiences would prove useful in arresting the decline. Edward Talbot, now Bishop of Winchester, commented to his son the Revd Neville Talbot, who had served as a chaplain, ‘You have been through fire; which was just what we had not.’ This feeling of inadequacy left the Bishop in a receptive frame of mind to investigate what lessons could be learned from the war. The idea of a detailed investigation can be traced back to a meeting between the Revd Dr D. S. Cairns, Professor at the United Free Church College in Aberdeen and Neville Talbot at the Rouen base camp.122 Edward Talbot and Cairns established a committee to investigate the impact of war on Christian belief. There was a mixture of ordained and lay men, Anglicans, nonconformists, one Catholic, and a number of theologians. The funding for the research was provided by the Young Mens’ Christian Association. They held their first meeting in August 1917 at the home of the Marquis of Salisbury, who was one of Talbot’s colleagues on the Church of England Advisory Committee. There they considered the responses they

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received from a survey they carried out. The survey addressed three main topics: What the men are thinking about religion, including morality and society, changes caused by war, and the attitude of soldiers towards the churches. They received almost 300 written submissions from all ranks of the army, from Generals to Privates, chaplains, doctors, nurses, church hut leaders and correspondents at bases in England and France. The enquiry focused on English and Scottish churches. The committee had several meetings to analyse the evidence and make conclusions. The final 486 page report was mostly written by Cairns. However one, or maybe two, chapters on education were written by the Headmaster of Rugby School, the Revd Dr A. A. David. The chapter ‘Morale and Morals’ was a joint effort between Cairns, the Revd Dr Frere, and the Revd A. Herbert Gray, a former chaplain. Their report was published in 1919 entitled, The Army and Religion: An Enquiry and its Bearing upon the Religious Life of the Nation.123 The report agreed with an officer in a Scottish regiment who stated that the beliefs of 90 per cent of soldiers were patriotism, valour, and chivalry, which although it drew on Christian sentiments and emotions could hardly be described as religious.124 The committee hoped this sentiment could be capitalised on by the churches, while not confusing it with Christianity. The main difficulty for soldiers inclined towards religion was as a Sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps explained, of reconciling the reality of war with a belief in ‘an all-loving, all-wise, allpowerful’ God.125 While soldiers identified with the suffering of Christ on the cross, they had little notion of ideas like resurrection and atonement. The Committee discovered that during the war soldiers showed virtues like unselfishness, cheerfulness, sense of duty, courage, sincerity, and humility. One chaplain in a Scottish regiment expressed his surprise at these qualities and remarked that ‘unredeemed human nature is infinitely nobler than I had dreamed’.126 The paradoxes of human nature surprised the Committee as the very same soldiers were also prone to dishonesty, profanity, unclean speech, gambling, drunkenness, and the gravest evil of immorality. The report showed a certain naivete in attributing soldiers’ virtues to human nature and their vices primarily to the circumstances of the war. There was no consideration that war, and any resulting vices, were also products of human nature. One of the most valuable aspects of the report is the way it shows the differing reactions of soldiers and chaplains from different denominations to the war. For example a Scottish Presbyterian chaplain considered that Scottish soldiers were more fatalistic than other nationalities because of the influence of the Calvinistic doctrine of pre-destination in the Scottish

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churches.127 The report is the best evidence concerning soldiers’ changing religious beliefs since it sifted a large volume of evidence. It is valuable for indicating wider church responses to the war. In 1914, the Revd W. P. Paterson, Professor of Divinity at University of Edinburgh, proclaimed, ‘In this crisis, as so often in the past, the perils and uncertainties of war are leading us back to God’.128 He must have been disappointed as five years later he wrote the report which stated soldiers were not preoccupied with religious thoughts, which made ‘the highly-coloured pictures of a ‘revival of religion at the Front’ so untrue and so pernicious’.129 As The Army and Religion report, and other evidence from chaplains showed, the war had a great impact on the religious life of Britain. The Revd Frederick B. Macnutt wrote, ‘If once this period of upheaval passes, and the new world which is now in the making builds itself on foundations which are as hostile or indifferent to Christ and His Church as were the foundations of the age which has gone down in ruins, the future of the Church in this and its succeeding generations will be an unutterable darkness.’130 Some of Macnutt’s worst fears were realised. The Revd R. J. Rider described how after the Great War he anticipated seeing old comrades: But he waited many months. At first he excused the men for their delay on the grounds of their need of absolute rest and change. Occasionally he had the joy of grasping the hand of an old comrade dropped into a service to see him. But soon he realised he was going to be left alone in his job. Yet certain he was, that the men could not have suddenly become irreligious, and the Cause for which they had fought must still have their sympathy. The ministries which they had previously accepted so gladly, and which he as a minister was dispensing to his congregation, seemed to suffer when they had to pass through the medium of a Church, and the men showed no desire for them. He felt that while he had been taught to understand men better, he had failed to teach them to understand him or his work in the church. 131

2 The Interwar Years The interwar years were a difficult period for the RAChD, for although they were honoured for their wartime work, the churches’ interest in their work waned, and the pacifist movement capitalised on bellicose statements made by chaplains and senior Anglican clergy during the Great War. Partly as a defence against the criticism they were enduring, but also because the Revd A. C. E. Jarvis was an authoritarian and erastian Chaplain-General, on issues like the General Strike and Prayer Book reform, the RAChD drew close to the government and army, while weakening their links with the churches. Ironically, at the same time as the RAChD aligned themselves with the state, the actual duties of the chaplains were shorn of many of their military overtones. The chaplain’s work during peacetime became more like that of an ordinary priest, than that of a combined priest and officer. The immediate legacy of the Great War was honour for the Army Chaplains’ Department which became the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department. The change recognised ‘the splendid work which has been performed by the Army Chaplains’ Department during the present war’. The Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, Corps of Signals, Army Pay Corps, and Army Veterinary Corps were similarly honoured.1 More importantly, the Interdenominational Advisory Committee and the War Office started to consider how to re-organise the RAChD, and end some of the anomalies that had developed during the war. The precis they sent to the Army Council outlined the need for reforms. In particular the splitting of the Church of England away from all other denominations in the British Expeditionary Force, caused by the appointment of Bishop Gwynne, but the retention of a unified Department in the Eastern and Home commands created particular administrative difficulties. Before the split each BEF Corps had one Deputy-Assistant Principal Chaplain, but afterwards there was an Anglican Deputy-Assistant Principal Chaplain who had administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the Anglican chaplains, and a nonconformist or Catholic Deputy-Assistant Principal

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Chaplain who had administrative authority over all nonconformist and Catholic chaplains, but his ecclesiastical authority was limited to chaplains from the same denomination as himself. This complex pattern was duplicated at divisional level. In the words of the precis, ‘The present administrative machinery of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department is complicated to a degree, and while special considerations rendered its acceptance necessary during the war, it is imperative that some simplification should accompany the return to peace conditions.’ A return to the pre-war command structure was not possible as that would be unacceptable to the Catholics and nonconformists. During the Great War nonconformists had proved themselves to be suitable chaplains with the result that official discrimination against them was reduced and they wanted a more active role in the army than had been the case prior to the war. The precis explained chaplains had vindicated their place in the army by their wartime service: The experience of war has shown clearly that, given a suitable personnel and adequate opportunity, the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department can make a very much more effective contribution to the well-being and moral of the Army than had been realised before; the changes now being introduced … will it is hoped, enable the War Office to recruit and maintain such a personnel which, however, can only be fully utilised if it is guided and supported by a better administrative organisation than that which existed before the war.2 The army had come to value chaplains for their influence on the troops and now proposed to reward chaplains by integrating them into the army. However, the Adjutant-General, Lt-Gen Sir G. M. W. Macdonogh, and the Quartermaster-General, Lt-Gen Sir Travers Clarke questioned whether integration was a suitable reward and they wrote to the Permanent Under Secretary of State, Sir Herbert Creedy: Giving rank to chaplains, is either a farce, or if it is a reality, alters their character and lowers their purely spiritual status. At the same time, the rank acts a bar between them and the men with whom it is desirable that they should have the most unfettered spiritual and friendly intercourse. If their function were to command the grant of rank might be desirable. But their function is to advise and influence and for this, rank is a bar.

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Clarke criticised the defining the role of chaplains, namely that they had dual functions as priests and officers. He claimed that the temporal rights and responsibilities of an officer undermined the chaplain’s spiritual relations with soldiers.3 The ministry that General Clarke recommended the army accept, was similar to that already in operation in the Royal Navy. The rationale for Royal Navy chaplains not wearing uniform, emphasised the potential difficulties caused by army chaplains wearing uniform. Since 1843, when naval chaplains were commissioned, they had rarely worn uniform as they feared that taking rank would hinder their key duty of being ‘the friend and adviser of all on board’.4 In May 1920, Creedy replied to Clarke and defended the dual role of chaplains by pointing out that it had worked successfully during the Great War and was supported by all the churches. Whilst his point that a chaplain’s rank was only relative to other chaplains was technically correct, the subtleties of relative rank were not apparent to the soldier. As the Revd Oswin Creighton wrote, ‘The hardest line ever drawn in human society is that between officers and men … the chaplain lives in the officers’ world.’5 The views of Creedy were accepted by the Army Council who approved the restructuring of the RAChD. The chaplains themselves were happy with this outcome. In 1922 the Revds H. W. Blackburn and F. M. Sykes published their article ‘The Status and Work of a Chaplain’ in the first edition of the RAChD Quarterly Journal. ‘If there is something wrong’, they stated, ‘with the Chaplain’s status, it does not lie in the position which the Army gives him.’ They noted the Revd Neville Talbot’s strong argument that Christ, rather than be a chaplain, would have been a stretcher-bearer ‘truly among and of the men’. However practical experience proved this was not an option for chaplains. They emphasised how useful chaplains were: It may be that when some look back on the Chaplains they have known, their verdict will be no more than that ‘So-and-so was a useful fellow to have with us.’ If so, that particular Chaplain has presented his Church in a light which was somewhat unfamiliar to most men: he has presented it as a Church which is out to help men when they wanted helping, and being that is the first step to winning men.6 The difficulty lay with the subsequent steps. If the chaplains failed with these, the problem lay with their character or that ‘winning men’ was an unrealistic aspiration rather than their dual role as priest and officer. Considering how the sociologist, Gordon C. Zahn, the church historian, the Revd Alan Wilkinson, and more recently, the former Principal

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Catholic Chaplain, the Rt Revd Stephen Louden, criticise the dual role of chaplains, it is surprising that none of them consider how the debate was settled in 1920. During the 1960s Zahn carried out a survey among Royal Air Force chaplains, although he argues the findings could be extrapolated to the navy and army. He interviewed and sent survey forms to 51 chaplains. Several respondents stated, and others implied, that uniform and rank constituted ‘a real or potential ‘block’ in his dealings with the airman’. Zahn concludes that ‘this would seem to argue strongly against its retention’. Wilkinson who wrote The Church of England and the First World War synthesised his historical research with the more recent findings of Zahn. He argues there always were pressures ‘towards chaplains accepting an identification with the military establishment as a way of easing the tensions between being a priest and a uniformed officer’. The fragility of this approach was exposed by the American sociologist Abercrombie in his book The Military Chaplain. He points out that Zahn’s pacifist views led him to pre-suppose that there must be tension between the dual roles of priests and officers, and that his survey evidence was fitted to the hypothesis. Recently Louden added considerable weight to the speculative conclusions reached by Zahn and Wilkinson. Louden questioned the wearing of uniform and by implication the dual function of chaplains but stopped short of advocating abolition. He said, ‘Though it might have to be conceded that the wearing of uniform and even rank by chaplains seems historically to work best, such a submission need not force the corollary that a best option necessarily excludes dysfunctional elements.’7 One of the weaknesses of Zahn, Wilkinson, and Louden’s argument is that it failed to distinguish between chaplains’ work in war and peace. During the Great War, chaplains had assisted other very busy officers, whereas in the interwar years officers were bored rather than busy. As an antidote to the tedium of peacetime soldiering, officers filled their abundant leisure time with games and hunting.8 Chaplains kept their officer status, but there was less need for them to act as supplementary officers. The peacetime work of chaplains stressed their priestly role. In 1925, the Revd E. W. Green gave a lecture on ‘A Chaplain’s Work in a Large Station.’ Duties included holding daily services in the garrison church, and the parade service on Sunday. Priority should be given to work amongst soldiers, with the aim of building the congregation into a fellowship. The best way of doing this was visiting soldiers in their barracks and hospitals and contacting new groups of recruits as they arrived. Officers and families of the soldiers took second place. The main duties of chaplains towards soldiers’ families consisted of visiting the married quarters, which Green hoped would be ‘our best contribution to

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the christianising of home life in our country’. The work for the children included running the Sunday School, organising confirmation classes, and providing religious education in the army day schools.9 The following speaker at the conference was the Revd H. PeverleyDodd who gave a Wesleyan perspective on a chaplain’s work. The ways in which the methods used by Peverley-Dodd differed from those of Green are underpinned by different nonconformist and Anglican concepts of the ministry. Peverley-Dodd detected a danger in liturgical and prescribed form regularly used, a description that could easily be applied to Anglican worship. Also he wished to avoid the other extreme of extempore prayers consisting of stereotyped phrases and vain repetitions. Whilst Green stressed the importance of work among soldiers, Peverley-Dodd gave far more details of how the work should actually be done. The main difficulty was ‘to stand for what the men expect me to stand for, without frightening them away’. The way round this was to introduce religious themes into a conversation only after a relationship had been built up with small talk. He saw a split between nominal and practising Wesleyans. For the latter he introduced weekly meetings that included lay participation and discussion. Evidently this was successful as the numbers attending increased from six to 22. Finally, he organised a social club for young Christian soldiers and civilians. Summer activities included tennis, rambling, cycling, and picnics. This resulted in some soldiers marrying a rather better class of woman than could be found in ‘a palais de danse or a nondescript pub’. The Wesleyans were a temperate denomination and arranging ‘counter-attractions’ to pubs was an important part of their ministry. Despite all his efforts, he estimated that only 25 per cent of all the nominal Wesleyans actually attended parade services.10 Although both Green and Peverley-Dodd aimed to achieve a pastoral ministry that introduced the soldiers to Christianity, it appears that Wesleyanism had advantages over Anglicanism. The emphasis on lay involvement, and attempts to link soldiers with civilian Christian groups, were probably a better bulwark against secularisation. However the chaplains realised that whatever their small successes secularisation was increasing year by year. In 1929, the Revd J. H. McKew wrote in The RAChD Journal about ‘Work at Depots’. He commented on The Army and Religion report and lamented, ‘It is sad reading, for the very problems that confronted the Church in 1919 are the problems that still confront it. And from our experience in Depots the problem would seem to be as far from solution now as it was then.’11 Sufficient numbers of chaplains who served in the Great War continued to serve in the regular army up to and during World War Two to ensure continuity of practices between the World Wars. During the

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interwar period, the regular RAChD shrank considerably. By 1934 there were 11 chaplains 1st Class, 22 chaplains 2nd Class, 26 chaplains 3rd Class, and 76 chaplains 4th Class. Newly commissioned chaplains would be posted in the first instance to Aldershot where they received some instruction and guidance from more senior chaplains. Of the total number of chaplains, 31 were posted overseas, mostly in Egypt and the Far East.12 There are few clues as to the attitude of the interwar regular chaplains. When William Temple was Archbishop of Canterbury, one of the problems he had with the RAChD during World War Two, was the poor quality of clergy who joined during the interwar years and were now in senior positions. He considered that after ordination the best clergy went into parish work in large cities, rather than into the RAChD.13 Certainly some of the regular chaplains could be autocratic. The Revd Gethyn-Jones described the telling off he received from the Assistant Chaplain-General of Southern Command for wearing a tie rather than a clerical collar, ‘It was a biting but totally unjustified carpeting, resulting from the autocratic attitude, almost despotic at times, which was adopted and favoured by some of the very senior pre-war regular chaplains.’14 It must however be pointed out that the interwar army was a stony corner of the ecclesiastical vineyard and one likely to produce the sort of regular chaplains Temple and Gethyn-Jones objected to. Brian Bond described the boredom of peace time soldiering, ‘In short the life of the average army officer between the wars was within a fairly narrow and un-intellectual world; as the memoirs of the period reveal the emphasis was predominantly on the hearty as opposed to the aesthetic or intellectual side.’15 Although the work of most chaplains during the interwar years was mundane, chaplaincy politics was contentious. On 25 April 1925, Taylor Smith retired from the office of Chaplain-General. His successor was one of his evangelical proteges, the Revd A. C. E. Jarvis, whom he had appointed in 1908. Jarvis started his ministry as a Wesleyan but went over to the Church of England, the same year as he was commissioned. He was first posted to Jamaica. During the Great War he was Principal Chaplain for the army in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. He was awarded the Military Cross and made a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. After the war he was appointed Assistant Chaplain-General of Northern Command. When Jarvis was appointed the practice was established that the Chaplain-General would hold the office for seven years. The RAChD Quarterly Journal described him as ‘a man of broad sympathies, great intellectual gifts and lofty spiritual vision’.16 During his time in office it became clear that his sympathies were not broad enough to include high church practices. Soon

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after he was appointed he addressed the chaplains at a conference. He explained that the Chaplain-General could only hold office if he had the ‘confidence, sympathy and support’ of the chaplains. In case there was any doubt he added ‘obedience thus inspired is what I covet most’.17 The emphasis on his personal authority was a recurring theme during his tenure as Chaplain-General. As Chaplain-General designate, Jarvis was consulted about a proposal from the Church of England to issue Licences to chaplains. A civilian clergyman would make an oath of canonical obedience to the Bishop of the Diocese and then he would receive a Licence authorising him to administer the sacraments and preach. Army chaplains, unlike Royal Naval chaplains, were not issued with Licences. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, wanted to end the anomaly by issuing Licences to army chaplains. Jarvis outlined his views on the subject in a letter to Herbert Creedy, Permanent Under-Secretary of State in February 1925. Jarvis was opposed to the principle of issuing of Licences but used the issue to claim that the Army Chaplains Act of 1868 suggested the Chaplain-General should be a Bishop. He argued, ‘This and this alone will give the ChaplainGeneral all the ecclesiastical authority he needs and confer upon him an ecclesiastical status commensurate with his military rank. … I venture to hope the above question may be considered de novo and so presented to the Archbishops that it may receive sympathetic consideration.’18 Jarvis reinterpreted the Act in an attempt to secure a Bishopric. When the War Office asked the Treasury Solicitors Department for legal advice on the matter, they replied that the Act did not suggest that the Chaplain-General should be a Bishop. Creedy replied to Jarvis and outlined the arguments in favour of Licenses which Davidson had used at a meeting with Worthington-Evans, the Secretary of State for War. Jarvis realised he was unlikely to be granted a Bishopric so in his next letter focused on the issue of Licences. One of the purposes of the Licences was to bring the RAChD into closer union with the churches. Jarvis however feared that this would eliminate the RAChD as a separate entity. The Licences would do more than formalise the system of dual control, as by weight of numbers 40 Bishops could overwhelm the Chaplain-General. Both of these were spurious arguments as the Royal Navy had not encountered the problems Jarvis stated would arise. His conclusion was that ‘neither the RAChD or the larger spiritual needs of the Army, or the place we hold in the life of the Church are considered at all’. It is not clear if he actually believed the Licences would endanger the spiritual life of the army or if he was simply overstating the apparent weakness of the Chaplain-General’s ecclesiastical authority in order to gain more military authority for him to

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wield as a substitute. Subsequent events like Jarvis’s opposition to the wishes of the church on the issue of Prayer Book reform suggest the latter interpretation is more likely. One of the last acts of Taylor Smith as Chaplain-General was to recommend the issuing of Licences. Jarvis had no choice but to accept. In December 1925, all Church of England clergy received a Licence issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The duties expected of the chaplains were to preach the Word of God and perform the services in the Book of Common Prayer.19 The key phrase referring to ecclesiastical authority was that the Licence was ‘without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Bishop within whose Diocese the Chaplain may be resident or to whom he may apply for Licence or Permission to officiate’. Jarvis explained in a covering letter that the Licence was only valid in army churches, and that if the chaplain wished to minister outside these churches or have a part in the wider life of the Church of England, he would need to apply for a Licence from the Bishop in whose Diocese he was resident.20 Jarvis had made an inauspicious start to his period in office and through his engagement on the issue of Licences he had only drawn attention to church influence over the RAChD which was the very thing he was trying to reduce. Ironically, the change was essentially symbolic and as became clear during World War Two, the Church of England failed at this point to develop structures to influence the RAChD. A harmonious relationship between the army, government, churches, and RAChD, depended greatly on the ability of the leaders of those organisations to cooperate. The extent to which chaplaincy issues could become important within government was illustrated by parliamentary debates on church parades. When the Army and Airforce (Annual) Bill was presented to Parliament in April 1924, several MPs attempted to abolish compulsory church parades. A motion to that effect was tabled by Ernest Brown, a Baptist MP. During the debate he stressed that far from being motivated by a desire to undermine chaplains, he would be assisting them by ridding the army of church parades. He said, ‘I believe this Clause would advance the cause of true religion, and every chaplain worth his salt would get a great parade of men.’ During the debate the Clause was advocated by three ex-army officers, Major Moulton, Major Burnie, and Captain Benn. Their key argument was that compulsory parades violated the religious conscience of soldiers as ‘religion is mocked when you send men to churches in which they do not believe. It is not fair to the men; it is not fair to their souls.’ The Labour minority government, then enjoying a brief period in office from January to November 1924, opposed the amendment. Stephen Walsh, the Secretary of State for War, argued it would

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affect discipline in the army and Sir H. Croft, said that an unintended consequence of the amendment would be to deprive soldiers who wished to attend church of the opportunity to do so. When it came to the division the suggested change was rejected by 164 votes to 114 votes.21 Prior to the debate the government had agreed that all the amendments would be remitted to a Committee of Inquiry. The day after the debate the chaplaincy Interdenominational Advisory Committee met and the first item on the agenda was compulsory parades. The Catholic Bishop William Keatinge argued ‘that a man ought not be forced into church’. Dr Simms, an Irish Presbyterian, thought Parliament would concur with Keatinge, although he did not indicate his own views on the subject. The remaining seven men, all of whom (with the exception of the Chaplain-General) were the civilian representatives of their respective churches, argued for the retention of compulsory parades. It was considered that soldiers objected to the inspection rather than the church service. Bateson, a Wesleyan, commented ‘that the parade service contributed to the morale of the army and that compulsory attendance of the men was an advantage to the force as a fighting unit’, while Mcllvide, an English Presbyterian, feared unspecified ‘disastrous results’ if the parades were abolished. Whilst the Committee found disciplinary reasons for compulsory parades, religious reasons were conspicuously absent. Neither they nor the government rebutted the strong argument that compulsory parades were an infringement of religious choice.22 The arguments advanced by the Interdenominational Advisory Committee had some influence over the Committee of Inquiry and their reasoning was virtually identical. The Committee of Inquiry consisted of nine men and was chaired by Captain H. Douglas King (RNVR). The section of the report concerning church parades stated they felt unqualified to consider the religious aspects to the debate. This was convenient as the religious arguments pointed towards voluntary rather than compulsory parades. The military arguments led them to conclude that compulsory parades were ‘in the best interest of the service’. Moreover ‘well-conducted’ soldiers would either be sufficiently smart not to be inconvenienced by preparations for the inspection or be on weekend leave. The implication was that sloppy soldiers would unwittingly benefit most from both the inspection and the church service.23 The Committee also advocated the abolition of the death penalty for all military offences except mutiny. The amendment advocating that soldiers be given the right to conscientiously object to aiding the Civil Power (the government) during trade disputes was also rejected. This was of particular significance as the General Strike started in May 1926, just over a year after the Report was submitted.

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Although the General Strike did not have any direct impact on the RAChD, their comments on it are deeply revealing as to the attitudes within the Department. The civilian clergy were divided on the issue. Cardinal Bourne, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, declared the General Strike was ‘a sin against the obedience we owe to God’. The Archbishop of Canterbury took a more moderate position, but did not carry the majority of clergy with him in a call for the end of the strike and a return to the pre-strike status of limited government assistance to the coal industry and higher wages for miners. He had the unusual experience of being cheered by the working class in London, whilst those who opposed the strike felt betrayed. By July 1926 the General Strike had ended but the coal strike continued.24 The editor of the RAChD Quarterly Journal did not usually comment upon current events. However the labour unrest was such ‘a grim menace to our country’ that it merited special treatment. He wrote, ‘We can more than ever congratulate ourselves upon our nationality, and cherish righteous pride in our British stock. … Our volunteers were adventurous … exhibiting that spirit which animated the men who fought for us in the Great War. … We are convinced that the happy termination of an unprecedented crisis was in no small measure due to the prayers of good and faithful people.’ The role of the RAChD in these circumstances was to influence soldiers so that when they returned to civilian life they would be amenable to government control. The justification for this partial ministry deserves full quotation: Every year sees a very large number of men entering the Army, and annually there is a corresponding return to the ordinary life of citizens. Through the Parade Services and other opportunities of military life they can be reached by the ministrations of the Chaplains, and very much can be achieved by word and action to abate bitterness and to promote reconciliation and kindly feeling between various classes of our community. The yearly return of thousands of men resolved to exercise a kindly and Christian influence upon the relations of the different elements which constitute the nation would be a priceless benefit to the State. By the furtherance of this aim the Chaplains are in a position to render an inestimable public service.25 The RAChD associated themselves completely with the government’s aim of crushing the strike and assumed that any reconciliation between the government, the coal industry, and the workers would be on the terms of the former. There was no mention of the compromise suggested by

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Davidson. Neither was there any justification for the religious activities of the RAChD other than that they should continue the policy of the government by religious means. The situation was more complex than this, however, as the editor’s comments included a justification for church parades. These parades were an integral part of the chaplains’ identity, as they symbolised their place as priests in the army, and for this reason they could not distinguish between attacks on church parades and attacks on themselves. In part this explains why they were so willing to link their ministry to means of social control. The only other social issue that the RAChD Quarterly Journal commented on during the interwar years was a passing reference to the outbreak of influenza in April 1927.26 In the event of discord between church and state, as an institution the RAChD usually sided with the state. This pattern was repeated with the vexed issue of Prayer Book reform. The proposed Prayer Book attempted to take the Church of England in a high-Anglican direction, which ran against the predominantly low church theology of the RAChD. In particular rituals for permanently reserving the sacraments were introduced and greater flexibility in other areas of the liturgy was also proposed. The Anglo-Catholics were pleased with concessions in their direction. Broad church Anglicans hoped that concessions would wean Anglo-Catholics off practices like using the Roman Catholic mass. Low church evangelicals opposed the principle of reform, and expected that concessions would lead to greater excess rather than moderation among the Anglo-Catholics. Edmund Knox, formerly Bishop of Manchester, who was opposed to reform, argued that concessions were like ‘trying to turn tigers into tame cats by feeding them on buns’.27 The revised Prayer Book made a promising start as it was passed by large majorities in the Church Assembly. The Book was then transferred to Parliament for its approval. On 12 December 1927, a two day debate upon the bill began in the House of Lords and ended when it was carried by 241 votes to 88. The following day the House of Commons debated the Bill. The MPs opposing the Bill cited the widespread popular opposition to the proposed reform. Bishop Knox organised a petition with 300,000 signatures. The opponents of the Bill both outside and inside Parliament increasingly described the Bill as a covert Roman Catholic advance. Rosslyn Mitchell, the Labour MP for Paisley predicted the consequences of passing the Bill would be to ‘swing over all the children of England from the Protestant Reformed Faith to the Roman Catholic Faith’. No clear lead was given to MPs from the Cabinet. The Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, was in favour of reform, whilst other Cabinet

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members opposed the reform. Without a strong governmental lead, a minority of low church Anglicans when combined with Protestants from Wales, Scotland and especially Northern Ireland were sufficient to defeat the Bill. The Church of England then tightened the rubrics on reserved sacrament and re-submitted the Bill to the House of Commons where it was defeated again on 13 June 1928. Finally in July 1929 the Bishops declared that the revised Prayer Book could be used with the consent of the Diocesan Bishop and the Parochial Church Council for a given parish. This left the church with two prayer books, rather than one revised book, authorised by Parliament.28 Running in parallel with the church and parliamentary debates, the RAChD and government tried to resolve the issue. In August 1927, a retired General, Sir Beauvoir de Lisle wrote to the Ecclesiastical Committee of the House of Lords and pointed out that His Majesty’s forces had no representatives in the Church Assembly, the implication being that the views of the armed forces had not been considered by the church. Furthermore there was no provision for the armed forces to decide whether the Book of Common Prayer or the revised Prayer Book should be used. The Ecclesiastical Committee forwarded the letter to the War Office.29 The reaction of Jarvis was vigorous and predictable. His low-church views meant he was bitterly opposed to a prayer book influenced by Anglo-Catholics having any authority in the RAChD, so he wrote to Creedy asking, ‘Has the Chaplain-General any authority? Personally I do not think he has. By virtue of his rank he can enforce any order backed by the authority of KR [Kings Regulations] or the Army Act, but can he enforce an order which a Chaplain has another legal right (under the Act) to disobey?’30 The Great War had strengthened the Anglo-Catholic movement in the civilian church, as practices like praying for the dead and using the reserved sacrament became popular during the war. The opposition of Jarvis to prayer book reform demonstrated that as an institution the RAChD had not learnt some of the theological and pastoral lessons from the Great War. Jarvis’s worries must have been exacerbated when he received a letter from Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, telling him that, ‘I think I am probably right in assuming that many of the Chaplains and their congregations will welcome some if not all of our proposals and be anxious at least in part to avail themselves of the larger liberty and greater variety which it is now proposed to allow.’ Davidson noted that the Act assumed that clergy, unlike chaplains, were in a Diocese and partly answerable to Parochial Church Councils. He also acknowledged that the uniformity of practice was of greater advantage to

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the army than it was to the civilian church and proposed a one year period of grace so such matters could be fully considered. Jarvis drafted a letter to the Church of England chaplains which outlined the proposals for reform and then asked if they considered that uniform clerical vestments, common practices when officiating at communion, and strict adherence to the Book of Common Prayer were best suited to the needs of the army. The combination of these begged questions and the suspicion most low-churchmen showed towards the proposed reform, suggested that the replies were intended to demonstrate the opposition of most chaplains to the reform. However, Creedy blocked the letter on the grounds that it could ‘stir up religious controversy in the army’ and he considered that a more subtle method could be used to prevent the revised Prayer Book being used in the army. Earlier in November a briefing was sent to the Parliamentary Counsel with a request for their legal opinion. The briefing concluded: It is submitted that the above questions really involve an answer to the main question as to whether the Crown has power over Chaplains who are commissioned as Officers in the Army to give orders to them by regulations or otherwise as to the forms and ceremonies which they are to use in conducting services when acting as Chaplains irrespective of the latitude given to the Chaplains as Ministers under the Measure and the deposited Book. Whilst the revised Prayer Book was being debated in Parliament, the War Office were kept waiting for the response from the Parliamentary Counsel.31 On 18 April 1928, the War Office received the reply from the Parliamentary Counsel, H. M. Giveen wrote that the chaplains would be at liberty to use the revised Prayer Book, but, ‘If it is desired to cut down the discretion of Army chaplains so far as it affects Evening Service presumably this regulation would have to be altered.’32 Creedy wrote to Jarvis, ‘I think you would like to see this opinion of the Law Officers, which is very satisfactory to us in indicating that we are very largely the masters in our own ecclesiastical house.’33 With the tacit support of the War Office the outcome of the debates over the issue of Prayer Book reform increased the military and governmental authority, and reduced ecclesiastical authority, over the RAChD. The close links between the church, state, and army, were restated in early 1930 when the RAChD insignia were redesigned. A replacement for the square badges with a stylised cross in the middle was sought. Creedy wrote to Clive Wigram, the secretary to King George V seeking approval

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for a new design. He explained, the current badges were undistinguished and chaplains wanted badges that were more akin to other Army Corps. After correspondence over a couple of months, the King approved a new design with a cross in the middle and the motto ‘In This Sign Conquer’.34 The timing of this change and the theology underpinning it were very significant to RAChD history. The 1920s and 1930s were difficult times for the RAChD as they were threatened by a vigorous pacifist movement which criticised their work and theology. It was no coincidence that this was the moment when the link between church and state which surrounded the RAChD was restated by introducing insignia which referred back to the roots of an established church which was the settlement introduced following the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine. As Constantine led his troops south to battle with his rival Maxentius he had an instructive vision. He and his army witnessed a miracle when they saw a cross with the motto ‘In Hoc Signo Vincere’ (‘In This Sign Conquer’) attached to it above the sun. Constantine ordered his soldiers to mark their shields with a ‘X’ shaped cross and against all odds they routed Maxentius’s army at the battle of Milvian Bridge outside Rome. These events inspired Constantine to issue the Edict of Milan which altered Christianity from being a persecuted minority to ‘the most-favoured recipient of the near-limitless resources of imperial favour’.35 What was striking was not the assistance of a deity to a commander in a difficult situation, but that for the first time it was the Christian deity. By adopting the motto ‘In this Sign Conquer’ the RAChD was clearly drawing on the vision of Constantine and expecting God to assist with temporal affairs, by granting military advantage to those who believed in Christ. By implication they also welcomed the alignment of church and state that developed during and after Constantine’s reign. There were, however, limits to the level of state control that was acceptable to ecclesiastical authorities and the RAChD. This was highlighted when the Cabinet banned chaplains from saying intercessory prayers for Christians being persecuted in the Soviet Union. Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had designated Sunday, 16 March 1930, to be a day of prayer for Christians being persecuted in the Soviet Union. The nonconformists agreed to participate and the Catholics planned a similar day later in the month. The Labour Cabinet wishing to avoid controversy and perhaps showing surprising confidence in the effectiveness of intercessory prayers agreed on 12 February 1930 to block prayers by chaplains as, ‘His Majesty’s Government could not interfere in the internal affairs of a foreign state’.36 A subsequent meeting on 5 March 1930 sheds light on the government’s motives for suppressing the prayers. Noting the

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arrival of a report about the persecution of Christians by the Ambassador at Moscow, Sir Esmond Ovey, and a later telegram he sent indicating the awkward situation that would arise if the report was published, the Cabinet agreed that ‘it would not be in accordance with the interests of Public service’ to publish the report or refer to the contents elsewhere. The following item on the Cabinet agenda was ‘Anglo-Russian Commercial Relations’.37 The Army Council had to ratify the Cabinet’s wishes, and on 27 February, Creedy issued the first set of orders concerning the prayers, writing, ‘In view of the political character the controversy has assumed, that it is undesirable that intercessory prayers for Russian subjects should be read at religious services.’ 38 In response to the vigorous protests from the church he revised the orders by pointing out that they were only intended to apply to compulsory parades and not voluntary services, a nuance that was not apparent in the initial orders. The churches sensed the ambiguity and kept up the pressure, so on 11 March another set of orders was published that authorised the prayers when the service was conducted by chaplains outside barracks with the soldiers merged into the general congregation. Even so, the nonconformists were furious at this infringement of religious freedom. The Revd M. E. Aubrey, the Baptist member of the Interdenominational Advisory Committee wrote to the Secretary of State for War, Thomas Shaw, on 3 March. He included a copy of a press release that he issued: It appears, on the face of it, to be a regrettable interference with the liberty of the Chaplains in their spiritual ministrations and with their duty to bring home to those in their charge the recognition of the rule of Almighty God in all human affairs. … I protest respectfully but strongly against the course of action adopted. It is a most dangerous precedent.39 Even Jarvis, who previously had done much to make the RAChD amenable to government and military control, protested at the interference. He showed rare humour in his note to Creedy asking if he should ban certain readings from the Bible, general references to persecution, and hymns concerning martyrdom for the faith to ensure compliance with the orders. Even as far away as Moscow it was clear that chaplains were being provided with abundant opportunity to breach the spirit of the orders. The British Ambassador in Moscow sent a telegram on 14 March indicating that the Soviet Foreign Minister, Maxim Litvinoff, considered, ‘If not ordered to attend such services’, the forces, ‘would in practice have difficulty in not doing so.’40 Despite this obvious fact, the churches were

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angry as it was clear the incident undermined church authority within the RAChD. On 4 March the Daily Telegraph pointed out that the Licences issued to the chaplains confirmed the dual control of the RAChD with the church having authority over ecclesiastical issues and the War Office having military authority. ‘The question is whether in the present case the Government is not flouting the agreement arrived at with the Archbishop by seeking to prevent chaplains obeying the wishes of the Church.’41 After the day of prayer the Revd Aubrey wrote to the Prime Minister to try and get him to override Creedy’s decision that an emergency meeting of the Interdenominational Advisory Committee should not be held and to reaffirm the principle of dual control. Aubrey wrote: In the Army List it is laid down that in their religious ministrations Chaplains are under the oversight only of the representatives of their denominations on the Interdenominational Advisory Committee. A great many of our ministers hold pacifist views and it is difficult to secure young men for Chaplaincies not because the work does not attract them, but because they dislike being, as they put it, ‘within the military machine’. We have previously been able to assure them that, whilst holding the King’s Commission they are under Army discipline so far as the decision of their sphere of service goes and in regard to their conduct as officers and gentlemen, but that, so far as their religious ministrations are concerned it is definitely laid down that no one has any right to interfere with them except the appointed representatives of their denominations on the Advisory Committee. That has always enabled us to get over our difficulties. But now the action of the Government seems to have entirely changed the situation. … I wish to make it perfectly clear that the prayers objected to having been for Russian subjects is really only incidental. Although Aubrey failed to secure an emergency meeting of Advisory Committee he did manage to arrange a meeting with Creedy who said, ‘Despite the impression created, the Government had no intention of dictating to Chaplains the lines of their spiritual ministrations.’ He restated this position at the next meeting of the Advisory Committee which was held in November 1930.42 The restatement of the principle of dual control ensured that the outcome of argument was to place a block on the previous trend of government and military interference in the RAChD. Ironically, the pacifist movement had created a situation that encouraged the chaplains to seek a close relationship with the government, and

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although the debate ended with a affirmation of church authority with regard to spiritual issues within the chaplaincy, the incident provided the pacifist movement with ammunition they used four months later. In March 1931, some pacifist MPs, when debating the Army Estimates, tried to abolish the RAChD by stopping the £63,000 they were receiving from the army. The issue of economy was actually only a cover for an attack on the RAChD. The three MPs who spoke for the cut in funding were all involved in the pacifist movement. C. J. Simmons had served as a soldier in the Great War before being invalided out with an amputated leg. By March 1918, he had been imprisoned for sedition. In addition to his work as an MP he was a Primitive Methodist lay preacher. James H. Hudson had been a member of the No-Conscription Fellowship during the Great War. He was one of the founding sponsors of the Peace Pledge Union. A fellow pacifist described him as ‘the most pugilistic of pacifists’. The Revd Reginald Sorensen was the minister of the Unitarian church at Walthamstow. 43 During the debate Simmons implied that true Christian principles led to pacifism, revealing pacifist’s motive for attacking the RAChD. The presence of chaplains proved that the pacifists did not have a monopoly of Christian thought regarding war, although they claimed otherwise. Simmons started the debate and immediately stated he had moved the amendment to, ‘protest against the linking up of war with religion, and against compulsory church parades’. The chaplain was subject to official control and therefore prevented from preaching the true principles of Christianity. The Speaker tried to keep the debate focused on the issue of pay for chaplains rather than whether the principles of true Christianity led to pacifism as Simmons implied. Simmons’s speech alluded to the government blocking the prayers for the persecuted Christians in the USSR, ‘If the government pay, they control what the chaplains may preach and, in doing that, we are likely to have a repetition of what happened before when the Church crucified Christ on the Cross of Armaments’. At this point the Speaker interrupted. Sorenson then continued the debate. He criticised the dual role of chaplains as a waste of money: If we want certain officers to perform the task of seeing to the creature comforts of the soldiers and preach kindliness to the men we should make it plain that the money is being voted for that particular purpose. To engage these men as chaplains to preach religion and to circumscribe and indicate that they must preach a certain class of religion is to engage them under false pretences on the one hand and to impose blasphemy upon them on the other.

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The last speaker, Major George Davies, supported the chaplains and criticised the tone of previous speakers. The issue was not voted on, presumably because it was clear the amendment was only supported by a vocal minority of MPs.44 The attempts to abolish church parades and chaplains fitted into a pattern of politicised campaigning against the military. The assumption that underpinned this was that the way to prevent wars was to abolish the armed forces. However during the 1930s there was a shift of emphasis within the pacifist movement, in the words of the historian Martin Ceadel, ‘The difficulties caused by [the pacifist movement’s] orientation towards politics were appreciated, … and it was realised by its leading exponents that lasting pacifism was a faith rather than a political strategy.’ 45 If the pacifist movement had not changed direction, the RAChD would have been left in a uniquely vulnerable position as two former chaplains, the Revd Charles Raven and the Revd H. R. L. (Dick) Sheppard came to the forefront of the pacifist movement in the 1930s. Sheppard served in France as an army chaplain but returned to England two months later, physically exhausted and close to a mental breakdown. He went on to become Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, despite his career being interrupted by ill health. Left wing political beliefs and theological liberalism inclined him towards the pacifist movement. In his 1927 book, The Impatience of a Parson, he announced that he was a pacifist. In October 1934 Sheppard wrote letters for the newspapers inviting those readers who could support a pledge renouncing war to send him a postcard. Fifty thousand people did so. This formed the basis for the Peace Pledge Union which was founded in May 1936. Membership peaked with 136,000 members in 1940.46 Sheppard justified his pacifist beliefs in his 1935 book, We Say ‘No’: The Plain Man’s Guide to Pacifism. Sheppard imagined that the pacifist campaign had been successful in Britain, and then described the worst case scenario: Suppose that some Great Power, covetous of our wealth and possessions, takes advantage of our unarmed state, our pledge of nonresistance to declare war upon us. Suppose we lose, one by one, our Dominions and Colonies overseas, and that an enemy invades our shores. Does that mean that war is right, or that we were wrong when we decided to obey God’s Commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’? Right and wrong aren’t fluid. The moral quality of an action doesn’t depend on its results.47 Towards the end of the book, Sheppard considered how the church

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should minister to the armed forces, in the unlikely event of the pacifist movement failing to prevent a war. He argued that since soldiers are in ‘the Valley of the Shadow of Death’, they need religion. Chaplains should be replaced by ‘missioners’ who would be loyal to God and the church. This goal would be achieved if every church in the country demanded it. Clergy who had signed the Peace Pledge could not serve as chaplains, instead they should serve as ‘missioners’ and preach that war was contrary to the Christian tradition.48 Whilst Sheppard did much to organise the pacifist movement, Raven provided pacifism with a theological underpinning. Raven was Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, at the start of the Great War. After several unsuccessful attempts to enlist as a combatant, he finally joined as a chaplain. He was invalided out suffering from the effects of poison gas.49 He declared his pacifism in 1930 and by 1932 he was chairman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The Fellowship had been formed in 1914, but unlike the Peace Pledge Union, it never really tried to attract mass popular support. In 1934, Raven delivered a series of lectures under the auspices of the Sir Halley Stewart Trust. These were published the following year entitled Is War Obsolete? A Study of the Conflicting Claims of Religion and Citizenship. The book mostly concerned the religion and ethics of the individual, although the politics of the community was not neglected entirely. Raven concluded that Christians should become reconcilers and, ‘Convince the world that the power of the Spirit is stronger than the arms of the flesh and that in these days warfare is as obsolete and as intolerable as slavery.’50 Whilst Sheppard and Raven were advocating pacifism, the Great War record of other chaplains was being criticised by authors like C. E. Montague, Robert Graves, and C. R. Benstead. Certain themes recur throughout war memoirs like Montague’s Disenchantment, Grave’s Goodbye to All That, and C. R. Benstead’s novel Retreat. Graves criticised the Anglican chaplains for their lack of courage demonstrated by their unwillingness to go into the front line. In the safety of Amiens, Montague spotted a chaplain drunk in a restaurant on the eve of a major battle, although he conceded that generally chaplains ‘gladly frequented the least healthy parts of the line’. The central theme in all three works is that the chaplains gave priority to secular work and that they were ineffective as priests. Graves and Montague both suggested that chaplains were a good source of cigarettes, while the latter continued that the chaplains were adept commentators on football, rations, and the poor quality of Low Country beer. While Graves praised Roman Catholic chaplains and Montague singled out chaplains like Theodore Hardy, MC, DSO, VC as both a hero and a saint, the picture that

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emerged from the three works was that chaplains generally failed to meet the spiritual needs of the soldiers as their ministry was bellicose, irrelevant, or incompetent. In Retreat the Revd Elliot Warne forgot about Easter and did not hold any services for two months.51 Taken together, the three works provided a detailed critique of the war record of chaplains. However, evidence later emerged that suggested all three writers lacked objectivity. As noted earlier, Graves’s attitude towards religion prejudiced his views on chaplains. Moreover there is other evidence concerning the Royal Welch Fusiliers where Graves served that provides an alternative view. The Doctor attached to the Second Battalion, Captain James C. Dunn, collated his own papers and those of 50 other soldiers and officers, including those of the Revd E. R. Jones, who had served in the battalion. These were published in 1938 as The War the Infantry Knew. Dunn was critical of Goodbye to All That as it contained factual errors, hyperbole, and distortions of the truth. When Graves offered Dunn permission to use Goodbye to All That and other material, Dunn did not accept the offer. He explained in a letter to Siegfried Sassoon that there was nothing he could use. The general assessment made by Dunn was that, ‘The Battalion has never received chaplains gladly, but Padre Jones has enjoyed an unusual measure of goodwill.’52 A similar point about objectivity could be made about Montague. In 1917 he recorded in his diary, ‘To take part in war cannot, I think, be squared with Christianity. … Therefore I will try, as far as my part goes, to win the war, not pretending meanwhile that I am obeying Christ.’53 Once the war was over he hoped to obey Christ with compensatory vigour. Army chaplains, however, thought that they were obeying Christ by squaring Christianity with prosecuting the war. It was that attitude which Montague considered particularly reprehensible. In his recent article Keith Grieves writes Disenchantment was ‘emphatically partisan in motivation and content’.54 Whereas evidence that queried the veracity of Disenchantment and Goodbye to All That only emerged gradually, the chaplains were incensed by the contents of Retreat and resolved to refute the novel just after it was published. The central character in the novel was the Revd Warne. His short and uniformly incompetent ministry was terminated by madness, denial of God, flu, and death. One of characters in the novel, Doctor O’Reilly, said, ‘I used to think that nobody was indispensable in this world: some did the job better than others. But I’m not sure that it applies to parsons in the BEF- unless you invert it and say that no parson is really necessary out here; some are merely less unnecessary than others.’55 While the overall narrative was fiction, the novel included clear parallels with actions performed by the Revd G. J. Jarvis, chaplain of 14th

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Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery, which was the same unit Benstead served in. One vignette from the novel described how soldiers pulled a wounded civilian woman from a shelled building. As she was bandaged the soldiers made crude jokes and laughed, while the Revd Warne stood by and did nothing. The Revd G. J. Jarvis, who was the actual chaplain in Benstead’s unit, discussed the novel with the Chaplain-General and said that he assisted bandage the woman and then prayed for her. Numerous other incidents from the novel were according to G. J. Jarvis distortions of what actually happened. The Revd ‘Tubby’ Clayton, with the full support of the Chaplain-General, wrote two articles for the London Evening Standard newspaper which had serialised the novel. Clayton wanted to demonstrate the implausible framework created within the novel. No chaplain would have been posted straight to the front without spending a period behind the lines, and even supposing Warne actually got to the front, a senior chaplain would have either supported him in his unit or removed him within two weeks.56 Chaplains were convinced criticism of their wartime record and wider pacifist campaigning were linked. The Revd Noel Mellish VC, now back in civilian life after distinguished wartime service, was certain the factors were related. Just after Benstead’s novel was published, Mellish explained to the Revd ‘Tubby’ Clayton that a particular network had planned to abolish the RAChD when the Army Estimates were next debated, and that the network had established a stranglehold on some sections of the media so there was little hope of publishing a rebuttal of Retreat.57 The reaction within the RAChD to the criticism they received mixed concern, confidence in their role in the army, and amusement. The editor of The RAChD Journal wrote in January 1929 that the Chaplain-General had preached at University of Cambridge and that he addressed some of the misconceptions held by the general public: The country at large has never known very much about the Army; and as for our small part in it, its notions are sometimes peculiar indeed. We are sometimes looked on as imitation soldiers in collars, sometimes as pathetic Daniels in a den of lions. The Chaplain-General made it clear that we are trying to do in the Army the work our brothers are trying to do outside, and that it has been going a long time. This is in itself is worth pointing out. We remember meeting some who imagined we were a product of war – like poison gas.58 This extract shows that the RAChD was not indifferent to public

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criticism. Usually chaplains only justified their existence to the government as shown by a report written by the Chaplain-General and submitted to the War Office a week before a group of pacifist MPs tried to abolish church parades in March 1930. The report is significant because it went beyond the narrow issue of church parades and defended the role of chaplains and Christianity in the army. He stated that soldiers were only paraded to the church of their denomination and atheist or agnostic soldiers were not paraded at all. Furthermore the army was a collective institution, and the only place where compulsory worship was justified. Jarvis pointed to the historical precedent for chaplains who had been in continual existence since the Civil War. ‘The military profession,’ explained Jarvis, ‘can be consecrated to God as the lawful way in which a community protects itself against aggression and shields the weak from oppression.’ This was his answer to pacifism. Without the higher authority of God, the army would have to resort to lower and corruptible authorities of coercion and necessity. The defence of the RAChD was more convincing than the defence of church parades.59 During Jarvis’s term of office as Chaplain-General he placed great emphasis on military rather than spiritual authority, so the RAChD was closely integrated into the structure of the army. On issues like the General Strike and Prayer Book reform, the RAChD sided with the government and the army rather than the church. While this owed much to the character of Jarvis, it was also a survival strategy as the RAChD was threatened by the pacifist movement, and the state rather than the church offered more certain protection. Jarvis did not serve his full seven years as Chaplain-General, but left a few months early when offered the post of Archdeacon of Sheffield. The January 1932 edition of The RAChD Journal reflected on Jarvis’s achievements. They included, introducing conferences for regular chaplains, revising the mess dress and badges, establishing new churches, arranging barrack accommodation for chaplains, writing a series of articles for The RAChD Journal on former Chaplains-General, and, best of all, having the RAChD placed in a high position in the army table of precedence for regiments and corps.60 The Revd Ernest H. Thorold succeeded Jarvis as Chaplain-General. Thorold came from a clerical family, had read Classics at Oxford and enjoyed rowing. He was ordained in 1904 and joined the AChD in 1908. During the Great War he was in the field during the retreat from the Mons, and at the first battle for Ypres. After that he worked directly under Simms, Gwynne, and finally Taylor Smith as an assistant. After the war he was involved in the planning to reunify the RAChD and negotiate the terms of service and pensions for chaplains. In 1924 he was appointed

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Assistant Chaplain-General, responsible for first Western and then Southern Command.61 One regular chaplain, the Revd Timothy Heale, described how Thorold quietly undid some of Jarvis’s errors, but did not undertake anything progressive.62 His temperament and the fact he took office just as the pacifist’s critique of the chaplains abated meant that the RAChD was diligently and quietly administered in the 1930s. Whilst Thorold was successful, there was no obvious successor to him and his term in office was extended for an additional year and half. It hardly boded well for the future leadership of the RAChD.63 With the increasing aggressiveness of Germany, Italy, and Japan, the pacifist movement began to divide between pacifiers and absolute pacifists and there was a reduction in the hostility directed against the RAChD, but the chaplains remained silent on the international situation. The RAChD Journal refused to comment on current affairs. An exception to this was made in July 1935 when the journal included an account by the Revd L. G. Hughes of time spent in the Saarland. The Saar had been occupied by the French for 15 years after the Great War, but in 1935 a plebiscite returned the Saar to German rule. Hughes wrote, ‘We were billeted with some delightful and charming Jews. For them, the issue was of the greatest import and held dire consequences. Then, as the numbers kept coming in, their spirits sank, whilst outside, in the grey dawn, could be heard voices exultant in their gladness.’64 On issues like the Spanish Civil War, and the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, the chaplains were almost silent. In the January 1937 edition they made a vague reference to the fact that the Christmas message had been proclaimed in a ‘troubled and distracted world’ which was hardly a prophetic piece of analysis! 65 As the government and army started to plan for another war, so also did the RAChD. Churches were approached to ensure that there would be an adequate supply of clergy volunteering to become chaplains and many clergy joined the Reserve of Officers or Territorial Army which committed them to serve if war was declared. The main weakness in RAChD planning was a lack of provision to train the large number of chaplains in the Reserve of Officers, and a common army problem of little concept of how to operate during battles that were much more mobile than those which characterised the Great War. The policy legacy of the interwar years was ambiguous, for although quarrelling over issues like Prayer Book reform and prayers for Christians in the USSR ceased once Thorold became Chaplain-General and the pacifist movement weakened, the Church of England remained complacent about exercising spiritual authority over chaplains during peacetime, with the result that authority had to be re-established in the far more difficult environment of total war.

3 ‘Be Ye Therefore Wise as Serpents’: RAChD Politics during World War II1

In the foreword to the official history of the RAChD, Field-Marshal Sir Richard Hull wrote that the history of the RAChD showed that ‘the Church, State and Army are inextricably interwoven’.2 As with other areas of the British constitution, the mechanics of this relationship depended upon the four institutions, the personalities involved and ad hoc responses to the crises generated by the war.3 The main themes of this chapter show how this relationship functioned, how the wider agendas of the church, state, and army were mirrored in the politics and policies of the RAChD, how the RAChD worked with the other three institutions to serve their own ends, and the impact of policy decisions like the virtual abolition of church parades on the practices of chaplains in the field and in bases. Many issues that were debated during World War Two centred on the issue of which institution had authority over the chaplains, and where the dividing line between temporal and ecclesiastical authority lay. The aim of the army was defeating Britain’s enemies and they expected the chaplains’ spiritual ministry to further their military aims by raising the morale of the soldiers. The principle agenda of the churches was to maintain spiritual authority over their chaplains and adherents in the army. The denominations releasing chaplains into the RAChD had different relations with the government and diverse concepts of church authority. As the established church, the Anglicans had a closer relationship with the army and government than any other denomination. While this brought them and the nonconformists some benefits, namely that the RAChD accepted suggestions that chaplains should be trained and women appointed as Chaplains’ Assistants, paradoxically, it hindered the Church of England in attempts to maintain spiritual authority over their chaplains. The

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relationship between the army and the churches was coordinated by the War Office, which fed the government’s agenda into RAChD policies. The relationship worked fairly well, mainly due to robust personal relationships, but it was a politicised environment, and success sometimes required a willingness to wield temporal or ecclesiastical power, and to deceive other institutions. As the church historian Alan Wilkinson pointed out there was a Christian vocation to be a serpent, and certainly the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, showed considerable guile when negotiating with the government and military on chaplaincy issues.4 The final authority for deciding strategic and operational issues for the government and armed forces was the Chiefs of Staff Committee, consisting of the military heads of the three armed forces and the Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Winston Churchill.5 The Archbishop of Canterbury had a degree of direct contact with the Prime Minister. Cosmo Lang had a close relationship with Neville Chamberlain, and although Lang admired Churchill, he did not succeed in interesting the new Prime Minister in ecclesiastical affairs. After a meeting between Lang and Churchill on 1 August 1940, Lang recorded in his diary, ‘Evidently he knows almost nothing of the Church and its personalities, but his comments were entertaining.’6 Whereas during the Great War, the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was consulted on chaplaincy issues, there is no evidence to suggest that Churchill was ever involved with them, an indication of the declining significance of the church to political leaders.7 During World War Two there was a link between the Prime Minister and the Archbishop, but policy issues concerning the RAChD were always settled lower down the chain of command. Administrative arrangements for the RAChD were unusual as it reported directly to the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, the most senior civil servant in the War Office, and occasionally to the Secretary of State for War. As a result the character and attitude of these office holders had far greater impact on the RAChD than on other sections of the army because of the direct nature of their authority over the chaplaincy. With both ministers and civil servants the War Office was unpopular and it was unusual for the successful and talented to show much inclination to work there. The remark made by Sir Edward Grey during the formation of the Liberal government Cabinet of 1905 reflected an attitude towards the War Office that remained very resilient during the first half of the twentieth century, ‘If we enter it is not for pleasure’s sake, and we must take the most beastly things.’ Grey was relieved that he was appointed to the Foreign Office instead. Similarly in 1937, it was only the prospect of another war with Germany that led P. J. Grigg to accept the post of Permanent Under-Secretary of State when he

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returned from India. Grigg’s predecessor, Sir Herbert Creedy, identified one of the many vexing aspects of working in the War Office as ‘the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department with its special problems’.8 Grigg gradually took over from Creedy and stayed as Permanent Under-Secretary of State until 1942 when Churchill invited him to become Secretary of State for War. He was elected to the vacant seat of East Cardiff. Grigg came from a devout Congregationalist family, but this made little impression on him and by the time he was reading mathematics at Cambridge he was an agnostic. His Congregationalist background did however leave him with a fondness for including biblical allusions in his speeches and writing. He also held a deep suspicion of Roman Catholics and Anglicans. During the 1927 debate on prayer book reform he sat in the gallery ‘eagerly praying that the House would strike a resounding blow against Rome’ by rejecting the revised book. His autobiography was entitled Prejudice and Judgement (echoing his initials), and in a letter sent to Field-Marshal Montgomery, he provided a catalogue of his prejudices when he justified blocking the appointment of an army journalist for having a friend who apparently was, Austrian, Jewish, an Anglo-Catholic churchwarden, a homosexual, and a communist!9 His religious prejudices influenced his actions as Permanent Under-Secretary and Secretary of State when he was dealing with chaplaincy issues. He bitterly opposed an attempt by William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to appoint a Bishop with ecclesiastical authority over the Anglican chaplains. His view on chaplains was summed up when he refused to increase the pay of chaplains, ‘Let me end as I began, by saying that this attitude does not arise from any failure to recognise the worth of the Army chaplain’s work. It arises from the conviction that the best work of all is that of the combatant officer.’10 Although both the Permanent Under-Secretary of State and Secretary of State for War had great influence over the RAChD and held seats with nine other men on the Army Council which was the ultimate authority for administrative matters in the army, their authority was restrained by the churches and the RAChD. For example, once the churches and RAChD had decided it was desirable to appoint women as Chaplains’ Assistants, there was little Grigg could do in the Army Council to prevent the appointments being made. Under the authority of the War Office was the Chaplain-General. By convention he was an Anglican and following an arrangement established after Taylor-Smith retired, he held office for seven years. Just after the outbreak of World War Two, the Revd C. Douglas Symons succeeded Thorold as Chaplain-General. During the Great War, Symons had enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and then transferred to the AChD. In

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1918, he was posted to the staff of the Deputy Chaplain-General of the BEF. A common theme with the three Chaplain-Generals between 1925 and 1944 was that they all had junior staff postings to headquarters early in their careers as chaplains. This seems to have been the most significant factor in their subsequent advancement. Prior to the outbreak of World War Two, Symons was Assistant Chaplain-General in Aldershot. He was conscientious and devout, but at the time of his appointment as ChaplainGeneral he was weary and the strain of war took its toll. By 1944 a combination of alcoholism and ill-health forced him into early retirement. During the periods when Symons was incapable, the Revd A. T. A. Naylor would deputise for him.11 In September 1944, the discussions concerning who should replace Symons as Chaplain-General reflected the influences over the RAChD. Archbishop Temple was keen to appoint a Territorial Army or emergency commission chaplain as he considered the regular chaplains lost their spiritual authority after long periods in the army. Temple was impressed by the Revd F. L. Hughes, Deputy Chaplain-General of 21st Army Group, when they met in the summer of 1944 to discuss prayers for the D-Day invasion. Temple gave a clear indication to Grigg that he wanted either Hughes or Leslie Owen, the Bishop to the Forces, to become ChaplainGeneral. Two days before the start of operation Market Garden, Field Marshal Montgomery commended Hughes to Grigg. Montgomery shared Temple’s concerns about the poor quality of leadership within the RAChD and he criticised them for lacking inspiration, not offering guidance to junior chaplains and being, ‘out of touch with the practical realities of the battlefronts.’12 Smyth wrote in the official history of the RAChD that the appointment ‘caused a great sensation in the Department’, because a large number of regular chaplains were passed over when Hughes became Chaplain-General.13 Hughes himself had served as an officer during the Great War. He was commissioned into the 4th Liverpool Battalion, winning the MC in 1915. Later he was promoted to Captain and transferred to the General Staff. After the war he read history at Jesus College Oxford and was ordained priest in 1923. Four years before the outbreak of World War Two he was commissioned as a TA chaplain. When he met Montgomery in 1942, he was serving in the 8th Army (the relationship between Hughes and Montgomery is discussed in chapter six). His subsequent promotions reflected his organisational skills, willingness to provide spiritual leadership, and the patronage of Temple and Montgomery. After the war he became Dean of Ripon. What is clear is that policy issues concerning the RAChD were mainly

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settled between the RAChD, the churches and the War Office and further that the army had very little direct control over the policies of the RAChD, although the whole chaplaincy administrative system was premised on the army providing tacit support for the chaplains. Ironically, in a complete reversal of Grigg’s remark about the relative values of chaplains and combatants, Field-Marshal Montgomery said, ‘I would as soon think of going into battle without my artillery as without my Chaplains.’14 Montgomery’s views were essentially a colourful expression of the attitude many senior officers showed towards chaplains. The army was evidently satisfied with the efforts of the chaplains. In the official report on morale it was recorded soldiers became more devout during combat and, ‘By fostering these sentiments, and in many other ways, a good chaplain may help to raise and maintain the morale of a unit, particularly in action, as many commanding officers have testified.’15 Chaplains contributed to army morale by channelling the religious sentiments of the soldiers. While it was by-products of the chaplain’s ministry, like raising morale, that earned them their place in the army, it was the ministry itself which justified the churches releasing chaplains into the armed forces. The prerequisites for understanding this church interest in the chaplaincies include the attitudes of particular churches towards the war generally and the arrangements they made to maintain spiritual authority over their chaplains. Just before the outbreak of World War Two, Winnington Ingram retired from the office of Bishop of London. Despite his advocacy of compromise at Munich, he returned to his usual wartime ways and in 1940 published A Second Day of God, which alluded to his 1914 book, A Day of God. Even in the vegetable patch he was as bellicose as ever, and as he was digging for victory he pulled out a thistle and thought ‘there’s another nail in the coffin of Nazi-ism’.16 However, Winnington Ingram was hardly representative of the Bishops in either World War. At the opposite end of the spectrum was another atypical figure, George Bell, the Bishop of Chichester, who was bitterly critical of the Allies’ insistence on German unconditional surrender, and the use of area bombing to help achieve this aim. As early as 1941, he called on the British and Germans to agree to stop night-time bombing. His objection to the bombings were based firmly on the just war principle of proportionality, and in a speech he made in the House of Lords on 9 February 1944 he said, ‘There must be a fair balance between the means employed and the purpose achieved. To obliterate a whole town because certain portions contain military and industrial establishments is to reject the balance.’ Cosmo Lang, formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury, supported Bell in the House of Lords

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debate, whereas, in line with his attitude to the bombing of Coventry, which he regarded as a justifiable act of war, William Temple, the incumbent Archbishop, refused to condemn the bombing of German cities.17 These reactions are particularly revealing when placed alongside the differing attitudes of Lang and Temple towards praying for victory. Temple disassociated himself from Lang’s prayers for victory, as he explained to the Bishop of York in 1944: I was horrified when, in the exhortation inserted in one of the official forms, the words occurred: ‘Do not hesitate to pray for victory’; that came out with a note to say that it was issued under the authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Cosmo having in fact telegraphed to say that there wasn’t time to let me see the form and he was assuming my agreement! … I think the maintenance of the spiritual fellowship of all Christians is for the Church a concern that takes precedence even over the military defeat of Nazi-ism.18 While both Lang and Temple were convinced of the need to defeat Germany, they demonstrated that the Church of England was deeply unsure about which temporal and spiritual means the state and church should use to achieve this end. This was a confused picture, but in their different ways, neither Archbishop was willing to directly link the will of God with the destruction of Germany by any means. This was a much more tentative response than the church’s reaction to the Great War. The lack of Anglican wartime leadership gave the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Hinsley an opportunity to fill the vacuum. He was so successful in this role that Churchill remarked that the only men he trusted to speak on Britain’s war aims were himself and Hinsley.19 The extent to which Hinsley assumed the role of wartime Christian leader owed as much to the politics of the Catholic church as it did to those of the Anglican church. Hinsley was very keen to demonstrate Catholic loyalty to the British state to counterbalance the suspicions that his church was pro-fascist, a task that would have been a lot easier if the suspicions were groundless. In February 1939, Cardinal Hinsley spoke to the Birmingham Catholic Reunion and bluntly condemned Fascism, National Socialism, and Communism as pagan, adding, ‘It is inexplicable how English Catholics can wisely and safely adopt the label Fascist.’ But his own position was not so clear cut, as in the same speech he said, ‘I am not going to say anything in depreciation of the work of Mussolini.’ The same week as his speech was reported in the Catholic newspaper, The Universe,

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they carried a typical leader article supporting General Franco.20 The attitude shown by senior Catholic clergy towards particular regimes was determined primarily by that government’s attitude towards their church, rather than by any more general assessment of the ethics of the government concerned. This factor goes a long way towards explaining the Catholic reaction to the European totalitarian regimes. After the fall of France, and Italy’s declaration of war, Hinsley explained to his Bishops, ‘It seemed urgently necessary to show that we in this country were loyal. … I had reason to fear propaganda against British Catholics if steps were not taken to forestall it.’21 The means of forestalling it were demonstrations of patriotism including support for enlistment, clear and regular condemnations of Nazi Germany, and the launch of the Sword of the Spirit organisation. This organisation was led by a group of distinguished lay Catholics including Barbara Ward, Christopher Dawson, and A. C. F. Beales. What was remarkable about the organisation was that initially it was open to Anglicans and nonconformists as well as Catholics. On 10 May 1941, they held a rally in the Stoll Theatre in London on the theme of a Christian International Order. George Bell gave his speech, and then suggested to Hinsley who was chairing the meeting that he should lead them in saying the Lord’s Prayer, which he did! The very success of the Sword of the Spirit as an ecumenical movement caused alarm among some Catholic Bishops, and in August 1941, they forced Hinsley to exclude non-Catholics from full membership. The Anglican Church Times promptly published a leader article with the headline ‘Not Excalibur’. Although the movement floundered as an ecumenical initiative, it had fulfilled Hinsley’s immediate aim as it demonstrated Catholic loyalty, and it anticipated ecumenical developments after the war that included Catholics. Unlike the other denominations in Britain, the Catholic church was truly international and therefore its involvement and reflection on the events of the war was much more complex than the patterns seen with the Anglican and nonconformist churches. The Russo-German alliance which preceded the invasion of Poland, simplified the issues and clearly identified the enemy. W. R. Titterton’s article in The Universe stated, ‘There is no longer in any of us that uneasy feeling that we must embrace one enemy in order to fight the other.’22 A week later The Universe carried a leader article that denied there was any possibility that Italy would associate themselves with the Nazi-Soviet alliance: That Italy should be associated with such practices was inconceivable; and until there is an absolute change of heart in the German Government we believe that cordial relations between

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Italy and Germany are no more possible than they are for the countries which have gone to war in Poland’s defence. As a Catholic people, the Italians have reacted at once against association with Moscow, and they will react still more strongly against the crime inflicted on Poland.23 This position was maintained until Italy invaded France, and it was only at this point that The Universe hastily drew a line between Italy and the Vatican with the headline on 14 June, ‘The Pope may be a Prisoner’. The article pointed out that Italy was allied to a nation that was hostile to Catholicism, and hinted that the safety of the Pope was dependent on Italy observing the Lateran Treaty of 1929. The way Catholics shed their associations with right-wing regimes had parallels with the way nonconformist churches distanced themselves from the pacifist movement at the outbreak of war. This happened most dramatically within the Methodist church. Individual lay people, ministers, and the church as an institution abruptly reneged on their pacifist positions. Typical was an article written in The Methodist Recorder after the fall of France, which blamed the French for the rout, but also commented that the British government was at fault for ‘the unconscionable leisureliness with which the late government tackled the mobilisation and equipment of the new armies’.24 Yet in fact Methodists had hardly advocated the early re-armament necessary for Britain to have had a well equipped army in 1940. This sudden change of emphasis dismayed the convinced pacifists, but generally the churches reflected the mood of the nation and supported the war effort. Indeed if The Methodist Recorder is anything to go by, more so than any other denomination, Methodists were fascinated with all aspects of the war, including the conduct of operations, bomb damage to churches, and the work of chaplains. The only hint of the pacifist sentiments which gripped the church in the 1930s was extensive coverage given to the treatment of conscientious objectors. The war followed what had been a difficult decade for the nonconformist churches. During a period when the population increased, the number of Baptists declined from 416,665 in 1926 to 396,531 in 1936. Also the denomination had been troubled by an unsuccessful attempt to merge the Baptist Union with the Baptist Missionary Society. In the words of the Baptist historian Ernest Payne, ‘The Second World War came upon a denomination troubled in mood and somewhat uncertain [of] itself.’25 Similarly the number of Congregationalists had declined and the church was weak with regard to doctrine and sacraments. The Congregationalist Manual for Ministers revealed this lack of confidence and the Revd

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Nathaniel Micklem, Principal of Mansfield College sharply remarked that the manual was ‘careful to say nothing that might offend the least believing member of any congregation’.26 Similar to the Christian churches, the war came at a difficult time for the Jewish community. Acutely aware of the intensifying suffering of the Jewish community in Germany and subsequently in occupied Europe, the British Jews were uncertain how to respond and how far they should go in pressing the government to adopt policies to ameliorate the situation. The continental crisis was a practical, theological and political challenge that the British Jewish community found hard to address. Just in practical terms assimilating some 55,000 refugees within a community of approximately 350,000 was difficult.27 There were at least 20 organisations and charities assisting refugees and little coordination. Additionally, many of the German Jews were of the Reform tradition and more liberal the United Synagogue Jews. The Chief Rabbi Hertz and the honorary officers favoured allowing the German Jews to worship in German and in the manner to which they were accustomed. There was however significant opposition from other sections of the United Synagogue which in July 1939 prompted the honorary officers to resign because procedural irregularities which had arisen when the German Jews question had been debated. It seems extraordinary that when the misery of the German Jews was well known and on the eve of a major war, the United Synagogue should have got so immersed in internal procedural issues that it was temporarily unable to act. In the words of The Jewish Chronicle, ‘Heaven knows, they and all of us have a sufficiency of more immediate and formidable anxieties without wanting to add to them an unjustifiable domestic quarrel.’28 The quarrel can only be understood within a broader context. The historian Geoffrey Alderman described how during the 1930s issues regarding how the Jewish community should act within wider British society fragmented the Jewish community along religious, social and political lines.29 The extent to which the Jewish community should press the British government on accepting Jewish refugees from Germany and potential onward migration to Palestine exacerbated the existing divides within the Jewish community between Zionist and anti-Zionist factions. Was British Jewish identity rooted in nationality or religion? There was a concern that admitting large numbers of refugees would exacerbate anti-semitism within Britain. The Jewish community leadership was reticent about pressing the British government to do more to assist European Jews and focused on the safer ground of whole hearted support for the war effort. Once the full horrors of the holocaust were known, the more radical supporters of Zionism lost confidence in the British Jewish

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leadership. The common ground of whole hearted support for the war effort meant that chaplaincy and Jewish enlistment into the Armed Forces were actively encouraged by the Board of Deputies, the Chief Rabbi and community leaders. The interwar years and the war itself imposed a great strain on the British churches and the Jewish synagogues and for different reasons they lacked a promising starting point for their wartime ministries, including the administrative arrangements for their chaplains. One of the more practiced denominations was the Methodists. The antecedent for the Methodist Navy, Army and Airforce Board which operated during World War Two, was the Wesleyan Methodist Army and Navy sub-committee whose records go back to 1896, about the time that the first Wesleyan chaplains were appointed. In 1932, when the Wesleyans, United Methodists, and Primitive Methodists reunited, chaplains from the latter denominations left the United Board and were then supervised by a reconstituted Methodist Board. During World War Two the Board would usually meet three times a year in January, May and September. About 20 men, including chaplains, civilian ministers, and laymen would attend the meetings. The Secretary of the Board was the Revd George Standing. The Committee reported to the Methodist Annual Conference, which was the ultimate authority in the church. The Methodists had a strong lay tradition, and democratic structures operated at all levels, from the local church, to circuits, to district synods, and finally the Conference. The authority of the Conference over the Board was demonstrated in 1941, when the Conference over-ruled the Board and insisted that Methodist women should be appointed as Chaplains’ Assistants. In addition to this formal mechanism, the activities of chaplains and the work of the Board were regularly reported in the denomination’s weekly newspaper, The Methodist Recorder. A sub-committee of the Board was responsible for the selection and vetting of ministers intending to become chaplains. To the credit of the Board they managed to supply enough chaplains to meet the needs of the Methodists in the armed forces. Spiritual authority was maintained as the Board monitored the reports chaplains sent to them, and chaplains organised their own synods where they affirmed that they preached the doctrines and observed the disciplines of the church.30 The Board also coordinated the work of the chaplains with other aspects of the denomination’s war work like running canteens for soldiers, and supplying knitted items and gifts to the soldiers. The Board was efficiently run, apart from a typical Methodist tendency to create sub-committees for every conceivable purpose. Deciding who should be on sub-committees and

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reading their minutes occupied a significant portion of the Board’s time. In 1944 an invasion sub-committee was formed, which in turn sprouted another sub-committee to consider how many mobile canteens should be sent to France. Four days before D-Day, they recommended that two canteens and two cinema vans should be sent.31 The United Board consisted of the Baptist and Congregationalist churches in 1939. The Board was established on 20 November 1914, to represent the Baptist, United Methodist, Primitive Methodist, and Congregationalist churches when liaising with the War Office. During World War Two, the Congregationalist Secretary on the Board was the Revd S. M. Berry who had held that position since 1923. The Baptist Secretary was the Revd M. E. Aubrey, who was also Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain until 1951.32 He was in a very powerful position within the denomination as the Baptist President would only be appointed for one year, alternating between lay and ordained leadership. The Board would usually meet once a year in the winter. The numbers entitled to sit on the Board were increased from about 20 to 30 during the war, and they included serving and retired chaplains, officers, and lay men and women. The Board did not meet often enough to do anything other than monitor other policies that started to operate in the RAChD and to note the death, capture, decoration, or resignation of chaplains. This lack of spiritual oversight may explain why four United Board chaplains went over to the Church of England.33 Part of the problem was that final authority within the Baptist denomination lay with individual churches, so there were very few mechanisms for the denomination to supervise ministers. Therefore, arrangements to exercise authority over their chaplains were alien to the Baptist tradition. Another problem that hindered the work of the Board was that the Baptist Union headquarters were bombed in 1940. Although the United Board failed to supervise their chaplains, they did ensure that more than sufficient numbers of their ministers volunteered to become chaplains to the forces. Jewish chaplains had been appointed within the Armed Forces since 1892. In 1939 the Chief Rabbi, with War Office permission re-established the Jewish War Services Committee which among other duties was responsible for the administration of chaplains. It was chaired by Lionel de Rothschild and the chaplaincy was represented by the senior Jewish chaplain within the forces the Rabbi Dayan Gollop. Most of the funding for the committee came from the United Synagogue which also provided office facilities. Other sources of income included public donations, provincial synagogues and the Liberal Jewish Synagogue.34 As with the Christian denominations, the war fostered a more liberal and tolerant

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attitude and a liberal Rabbi, Dr Leslie Edgar was appointed to the chaplaincy. There were limits to this as became apparent when Gollop fell ill and a reluctant Edgar deputised as senior chaplain. As one airman complained to the Jewish Chronicle, ‘How can one honestly expect a Liberal Jewish chaplain to understand the needs, Sabbath, kashrut [laws relating to kosher food] etc, which have in considerable measure been abandoned by Liberal Jews?’ Edgar stepped aside in 1944 and returned to the army and Rabbi Brodie was transferred from the RAF to the army to become the senior Jewish chaplain.35 It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the Committee as I was not able to locate their records. In 1827, the first Church of Scotland chaplains were appointed and the Chaplains’ Committee of the Church of Scotland was established in 1860 when the church’s General Assembly ‘recognised the importance of attending to the provision for the spiritual interests of the Soldiers and Sailors, and maintaining correspondence with the Army chaplains’ and established a Committee to have authority over their chaplains.36 During World War Two, the Convenor of the Committee was the Revd W. J. Sym and he was very clear that his priority was the spiritual supervision of chaplains. He explained in a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, ‘As your Grace would be the first to acknowledge the spiritual is something we need to have enforced. I have constantly done this for my own Chaplains and it is a side of the Chaplain’s work which is of first importance, for without it he can do nothing worthwhile.’37 The Church of Scotland’s Committee was more efficient than other denominations’ committees regarding the supervision of chaplains. In April 1943, chaplains’ pay was increased which prompted the Committee to start an unsuccessful attempt to further increase the pay of chaplains on emergency commissions, who had served less than three years, from the 15s 4d a day they received. The Catholics also supported the increase but admitted their celibate priests had less need since they did not have to support a family. This request was supported by the Interdenominational Advisory Committee which was revived to consider the church’s request, but blocked by the Army Council in 1944. This was the only attempt by a denomination, other than the Church of England, to alter the policy of the RAChD. Although it was by no means clear that there was a good case for increasing the pay of chaplains, the lack of support from Temple hindered the attempt to secure an increase. When he discovered the Interdenominational Advisory Committee had been busy comparing the pay of chaplains with the officers in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he was exasperated and wrote to Geoffrey F. Fisher, the Bishop of London, and alluded to Revelation 6.10, ‘‘Oh Lord, how long?’ as the Saints

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beneath the altar justly wailed!’.38 By way of contrast, the Archbishops had a key role in the establishment of the Chester training school for chaplains and the appointment of women Chaplains’ Assistants, showing the importance of Anglican leadership in imposing church led policies on the RAChD. There were other factors that lay behind Temple’s comments. He was convinced that the RAChD was badly organised, that Symons, the Chaplain-General, was incompetent, and worst of all, that Anglican chaplains lacked spiritual supervision. While there is some truth in all those problems identified by Temple, they were also caused by the Church of England not making proper arrangements for chaplains. When Symons became Chaplain-General he received a document from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York that stated: We do by these presents hereby charge and commission you to exercise within these Provinces (subject to the rights and jurisdiction of the Bishops of the Dioceses therein) the spiritual supervision and direction of the Chaplains to His Majesty’s Land Forces and the general superintendence of the work of the Church of England among the officers and men of His Majesty’s Land Forces.39 But in practice it was not that simple as the Chaplain-General did not have the spiritual authority he was charged with exercising. Since 1925, when Jarvis had been refused a bishopric and licences had been introduced, spiritual authority had been placed within the church. The problem was that the change was symbolic, and the church had no practical arrangements to exercise spiritual authority over their chaplains. This was of course a far more pressing issue in wartime than peacetime as many more clergy were now in the RAChD. An opportunity to remedy the problem was missed in 1940. When the Revd Dr A. T. P. Byles was posted to Ascot in the Diocese of Oxford, the Bishop of the diocese, Kenneth E. Kirk, following the practice established in 1925 when licences were first issued to chaplains, sent the Byles a letter stating he could minister to the soldiers in the Diocese. Byles, with the support of the Assistant Chaplain-General, returned the letter claiming the Army Chaplains Act of 1868 (which gave barracks extra-parochial status) gave him all the authority he needed. The root of the problem was that the Act meant Anglican chaplains in army barracks were outside the authority of the bishops. However the licences had placed chaplains under the authority of the bishops and this potential problem had not occurred to

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anyone when Licences were first issued. In the ensuing correspondence with the Bishop of Oxford, one of the chaplains was not as deferential as the Bishop expected. The matter was finally resolved by Cosmo Lang who concluded, ‘I hope that now the Bishop will be assured on the point of principle and Chaplain-General assured on the point of practice there need be no further trouble.’40 The principle was that the church had spiritual authority over their chaplains, but in practice nobody had spiritual authority over the Anglican chaplains, least of all the Chaplain-General, whose lack of authority was made very clear in 1941 when he inadvertently used the form of words normally used by a bishop when he consecrated a garrison church. Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to Symons that whilst he was always anxious to magnify his office: I find it a little difficult to understand what it is you meant by your saying ‘By virtue of our sacred office in the Church of God.’ You have the office of a priest in the Church of God but your office as Chaplain-General is a matter of State rather than the Church of God. Would it not be better in such cases to use the words in the Form of Dedication of a church in these Canterbury Forms of Service, namely ‘In the faith of Jesus Christ we dedicate this Church in the name etc.’?41 Symons’s reply was suitably contrite, but the root of the problem remained unresolved. Any moves to establish spiritual authority over the RAChD would have to come from the Archbishop of Canterbury, but by 1941, Lang was 77 and increasingly feeling the physical and spiritual strains of office.42 He resigned in the spring of 1942 and was succeeded by William Temple. As Archbishop of York, Temple had become convinced that the RAChD needed reform and in September 1941, wrote to Lang, ‘If we can put a very large bomb under the Chaplain-General’s department at the end of the war it would be most useful – but you yourself intimated that such treatment of the entire Church of England might be salutary!’43 Temple was convinced that the army’s structure was unsuitable for the spiritual supervision of chaplains. Moreover, it seems chaplains realised that Temple was dissatisfied with the arrangements for the RAChD, and there was a very noticeable increase in the volume of complaints they made, during the period Temple held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. On 21 January 1943, Temple discussed with the bishops his idea of appointing a Bishop to the Forces within the RAChD. The letters the

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bishops sent to Temple after the meeting indicated widespread concern about the state of the RAChD and agreement that a bishop should indeed be appointed to take care of its needs.44 Temple then arranged a meeting with P. J. Grigg, the Secretary of State for War, and specifically requested that the Chaplain-General should not attend. At the meeting Temple suggested that the model of spiritual supervision that been used in the Great War when Bishop Gwynne was appointed under Bishop TaylorSmith, and took responsibility for Anglicans in the BEF, should be revived. The reaction of P. J. Grigg, the Secretary of State, the senior civil servants and the Chaplain-General was very negative. There were valid reasons for this as the appointment of a bishop as a Deputy ChaplainGeneral would confuse the chain of command and possibly have split the RAChD as it did in 1915. However, even after Temple submitted a revised plan that did not cause problems in the chain of command, Grigg remained resolutely opposed to the appointment of a bishop. His Congregationalist background left him resentful towards the Church of England, his attitude about the revised Anglican Prayer Book of 1928 being that ‘if a Church wanted to enjoy the benefits of establishment, it must put up with the drawbacks’, and this view underpinned his opposition to the appointment of a Bishop.45 In March, Grigg wrote to Temple and stated, ‘I do not see how the Chaplain-General can avoid being influenced by a desire to defer to the views of one who, though his military subordinate, is his ecclesiastical superior and in that event there is no doubt that the position and authority of the Chaplain-General will be gravely shaken.’46 Temple backed down and stated he would settle for a senior clergyman who was not a bishop. He indicated that the Revd Eric Abbot, who was the Warden of Lincoln Theological College, would be an ideal candidate. Grigg replied that this would be acceptable. He did however set two pre-conditions, these being that other denominations should be consulted about the appointment but that this should not inspire them to make similar claims. Grigg stirred up denominational rivalry as fulfilling both conditions at once would be impossible since the other churches were unlikely to accept a suggestion that the Anglicans should secure an advantage that they would be refused. On 29 June 1943, the Revd William Sym, Convenor of the Church of Scotland Chaplains’ Committee wrote, ‘In the event of the experiment proving a success the Church of Scotland might wish to make a similar appointment, and would naturally expect as the other great National Church of the country to receive from the War Office equal consideration to that given to your own Church.’47 Although the consultation exercise gave Grigg the opportunity to block the

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appointment, the response from the Catholic church gave Temple the idea for a better alternative plan. Temple was surprised to receive a letter from James Dey, the Catholic Bishop to the Forces, which commended Catholic spiritual authority and supported the Anglican plan. Temple realised he could emulate the Catholic arrangement simply by appointing a bishop outside the RAChD, but still giving him spiritual authority over the chaplains, and that if anybody objected, he could withdraw their Licence. Temple approached the War Office again and suggested that a bishop would look after the service ordination candidates, and almost as an afterthought wrote that he would be a ‘friend and advisor’ to the chaplains. Although Symons opposed the measure, as he privately admitted to the heads of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force chaplaincy services, he had no choice but to accept as Temple could withdraw the chaplains’ Licences. This in turn forced Grigg’s compliance. His thoughts on the matter were recorded in the file’s marginalia, ‘The Archbishop would have more suitably been a Renaissance Pope.’48 Grigg wrote that he would accept the appointment provided the church paid the salary of the Bishop. On 15 December 1943, when it was announced in The Times that Leslie Owen had been appointed the Suffragan Bishop of Maidstone, it was explained that: Especially at the present time the Bishop will be available to give pastoral and spiritual help to Chaplains with the forces so far as he is invited to do so. He will have no kind of official authority among them, but will be the representative of the Archbishop in his desire to help them in such ways as seem desirable. He will also, to which post he has just been elected, have the chief responsibility in relation to the training of candidates for ordination now serving with the forces and in civilian life.49 The final hurdle was raising the money to pay for the new bishop. Temple wanted to pay Owen at least £1200 and if need be up to £1500 per year. He approached a number of wealthy friends, including Lord McGowan who then approached three of his friends and between them they sent £400. The Deputy Chairman of Barclays Bank sent £700 spread over seven years. In total £1650 per annum was raised from 14 sponsors, so the appointment made a profit for the church. The only rejection came from Sir Thomas Royden, Chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company, who respected junior clergy, but, as he explained in his letter, was ‘wholly out of sympathy with many of the public utterances’ of senior clergy.50

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Although Temple was pleased that the Bishop to the Forces had been appointed, he did not think that this alone had resolved the problem, so in February 1944, he wrote a very blunt letter to the Chaplain-General. He explained that the bishops had done their best to recruit extra army chaplains, but that the clergy had a preference for service in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force where in the case of the navy, rank did not hinder them from their proper work of ministering to the men. He did not, however, think that any changes could be made during the war. His central objection was that the RAChD had adopted army methods which were inappropriate for spiritual work. Temple parodied the army chain of command writing, ‘But if I want to give advice to a Curate I don’t tell the Suffragan Bishop to tell the Archdeacon to tell the Rural Dean to tell the Vicar to tell the Curate!’ Included in the letter were a number of practical suggestions like allowing older clergy to accept commissions with the understanding they would only serve in the United Kingdom and permitting clergy to be released for one year’s service. The letter concluded by pointing out that he and the bishops were keen to support the chaplaincy services and that the letter was not written in a ‘hostile spirit’. It is difficult to imagine Symons interpreted the letter in this way, and on 11 March he replied writing that the Royal Navy and Royal Airforce had higher prestige in the nation, and naval chaplains were paid more than army chaplains, this explaining why clergy were avoiding the army. He claimed that army chaplains had greater opportunity than the RAF chaplains to minister to the men as they accompanied them in action, with the result that the casualty list for the army chaplains was longer. This was a spurious argument as some casualties were due to the chaplains having very little training in field craft. In answer to Temple’s point about rank, Symons agreed there was a good case for abolishing it, but thought that any changes would have to wait until the end of the war.51 Whereas the Anglican appointment of their Bishop to the Forces was hindered by the War Office, 19 years earlier, the War Office had invited that Catholics to make a similar appointment. In 1924, Bishop William Keatinge retired from the office of Principal Roman Catholic chaplain. He was invited by the Under Secretary of State to continue in the role of Bishop to the Forces, which he did until his death in 1934. He was succeeded by James Dey, who had been appointed as a regular chaplain in 1903 and won the Distinguished Service Order during the Great War. At the lunch following his consecration, his enthusiasm for his work as Bishop to the Forces and lack of tact was plain. He compared his situation with the bishops in civilian life as he could act unrestrained by a Chapter

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and there were ‘no devout females to worry him [and] no financial magnates to embarrass him’.52 Dey was under the authority of Cardinal Hinsley, the Archbishop of Westminster, and ultimately the Pope, but his relationship with the Catholic bishops was poor. The latter excluded him from bishops’ conferences except when the armed forces were being discussed and refused funding for his position.53 During World War Two, the Principal Roman Catholic chaplain was Rt Revd John Coghlan. At the outbreak of war, Coghlan posted himself to France with the BEF, leaving Bishop Dey in charge in Britain. After the fall of France Coghlan based himself at the War Office, with his assistant, Father Warne. The key difference between the Catholics and all the other denominations in the RAChD was that they had a separate structure that ensured administrative as well as spiritual authority over their chaplains was only exercised by Catholics. The only exception to this was with the BEF during 1939 and 1940, when a fully unified Department operated. This enacted an arrangement made by the Interdenominational Advisory Committee when on 5 November 1930, Bishop Keatinge agreed that in the event of war, the Roman Catholic chaplains would join the united department of the RAChD.54 The arrangement came into operation at the start of the war and two Catholics were promoted. The Revd J. P. Stapleton became Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General of IV Corps and the Revd P. Dorman became SCF in 5 Division. These priests had administrative authority over chaplains from all denominations. Similarly, the Catholic priests in other units came under the administrative authority of Anglican and nonconformist chaplains. The Revd A. T. A. Naylor, Deputy ChaplainGeneral for the BEF, indicated that the arrangement was initially successfully and plans were made to extend it to the Middle East.55 However, soon after the German invasion, something went badly wrong with the scheme. It is not clear what happened as the chaplains burnt their papers before evacuating the BEF headquarters at Arras. On 21 July 1940, Bishop Dey wrote to the War Office and said the scheme was unpopular with Catholic and Protestant chaplains alike, as they did not like supervising each other, or coming under each other’s authority. Dey alluded to the breakdown when he said, ‘If one could ensure that all concerned had a full measure of both tolerance and tact, it might be possible to run the machine smoothly – but I fear that often tolerance and tact are neither of them very strong suits among clerical men.’56 The Chaplain-General replied in a manner that suggested he was relieved to withdraw from a unified scheme. Coghlan wrote that the scheme failed as it was found to be impossible to separate administrative authority from

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spiritual authority and that the churches did not understand each other fully, so they could not supervise each other.57 The RAChD reverted back to the arrangement with Catholics having separate spiritual and administrative authority over their chaplains. As with the Sword of Spirit movement, the surprise was not that the scheme failed, but that it was attempted at all. All chaplains came under the spiritual authority of the churches that released them into the RAChD, but one of the differences between nonCatholic and Catholic chaplains was that the arrangements for the spiritual supervision of Catholics were much more codified with a system of Faculties that enabled chaplains to carry out specific actions. In addition to the normal Faculties available to priests such as celebrating mass and granting absolution, the chaplains had a number of special Faculties. These additional Faculties included permission to say three masses on Sundays and Days of Obligation and take non-alcoholic drinks between masses if failure to do so would reduce physical efficiency. The other important Faculty was authorisation to grant a general absolution. If soldiers were about to go into battle or if there were a group of wounded soldiers, rendering it impossible for the chaplain to hear individual confessions, he could pronounce a general absolution which would be valid provided the soldiers made an act of contrition, had a firm purpose of amendment, and made a full confession at the next available opportunity. This Faculty was authorised by the Sacred Penitentiary in Rome.58 Another Faculty was authorised by Roberts, the Bishop of Bombay, which allowed chaplains in Burma and India to confirm soldiers, as he was unable to visit isolated groups of soldiers to confirm them himself.59 This was significant as he delegated a Faculty that was usually exercised by a Bishop. The extra Faculties showed that the church adapted its work to meet the special needs generated by the war. The Catholic church was keen that the discipline they had over their adherents in civilian life should be maintained by chaplains in the army. A particular concern was that soldiers would socialise with non-Catholics which in turn would lead to mixed marriages. These were discouraged as they endangered the faith of the Catholic party, and because a lack of religious sympathy between husband and wife reduced the chances of a happy marriage. Dey and Coghlan were authorised to issue dispensations to soldiers requesting to enter into a mixed marriage.60 Despite its intentions the church was not always successful in its attempts to maintain spiritual authority over the Catholic soldiers. Sometimes soldiers claimed the wartime conditions rendered it difficult or impossible for them to carry out their obligations. Coghlan was not convinced by this excuse and

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bluntly wrote if a soldier were ‘to employ in his search for a church or chaplain a mere fraction of the diligence and time he uses to locate the nearest canteen or cinema’, he would be able to undertake all his obligations.61 The different mechanisms used by the churches to exercise spiritual authority over their chaplains varied according to the denomination. The Anglican and Catholic churches were both apostolic bodies in which spiritual authority rested with the Bishops. The church structures were sufficiently similar to allow comparisons to be drawn between the effectiveness of their supervision of their chaplains. During the war, some members of the Church of England became jealous of the position the Catholics had established for themselves and suggested they should emulate the Catholic arrangements. On 28 May 1941 the Lower House of the Anglican Convocation held a curious debate on a motion proposed by Canon H. A. King, ‘That the proper steps be taken to secure for the Army Chaplains of the Church of England the same privileges as are given to Roman Catholic Chaplains.’ He was concerned that Anglican chaplains were supervised by senior nonconformist chaplains ‘who could not understand perhaps the genius of the Church of England’ and in consequence interfered with Anglican ministrations. The examples he gave included Anglican soldiers being paraded to a service conducted by a nonconformist chaplain, and an Anglican chaplain being reprimanded by a nonconformist chaplain for not channelling a request to a Bishop to confirm soldiers through his office. The solution was for the Anglicans to split away from the united department, and like the Catholics, have exclusive military and ecclesiastical authority over their chaplains. The Dean of Bristol, the Very Revd H. W. Blackburne, who had served as a chaplain in the Great War, opposed the motion as the system generally worked, and produced only exceptional denominational conflicts. The Revd C. B. Mortlock concurred with Blackburne, but added a ludicrous reason of his own, claiming Catholics were waiting for a split, so they could unify with the nonconformists and enhance their prestige. The motion was withdrawn by King as it was clear it was not supported by a majority within the Lower House.62 Although aspects of the debate were ill-informed, it reflected a realisation that the Catholics had a good system for supervising their chaplains and the difficulties the Anglicans experienced were due to their position of being the established church. While this helped them generate policy initiatives, it hindered them in the day-to-day spiritual supervision of their chaplains, as they had to overcome the opposition of the War Office. Similarly, a disproportionate number of Anglicans were in senior positions in the RAChD, further

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reducing the number of Anglican chaplains available to minister to the troops. The disadvantages of establishment, in this context, were greater than the advantages. The Interdenominational Advisory Committee should have coordinated the relationship between the churches and the state, but in practice the War Office circumvented the Committee by taking advantage of the dotage of an Anglican clergyman. The Committee met in 1939, then lapsed until July 1943, when the Church of Scotland raised the issue of the pay of chaplains. Six months after that meeting, Temple received a puzzling letter from Canon J. G. Tuckey, the Church of England representative on the Committee who outlined their discussions. Temple was suspicious why they had not met more often and why he knew nothing about the Committee. Temple discovered that Tuckey was 80 and deaf and frail. When the Committee stopped meeting in 1939, Tuckey stopped reporting to the Archbishop. The Bishop of London identified the suspicious aspect of this when he wrote to Temple, ‘It is really rather absurd that in all your dealings and ours with the Chaplain-General, this should never come to light.’ Temple then wrote to the War Office and jokingly asked if any other denominations were represented on the Committee by someone who ‘had a private ark at the time of the Flood?!’ The dotage of Tuckey meant the War Office could easily deceive him and avoid Committee meetings. Tuckey unwittingly reported an example of this to Temple. The Committee had been due to meet in June 1944, but just before the meeting a friend of Tuckey’s at the War Office wrote and described a long journey he endured when the train was delayed by bombing. Tuckey then wrote to the War Office sending his apology for absence which provided the War Office with an excuse to postpone the meeting due to travel difficulties.63 The Committee met in October 1944 and then met regularly until the end of the war, and during this period the most pressing issue was demobilisation. The weakness of the Interdenominational Advisory Committee was highlighted by their lack of involvement in key policy decisions like the virtual abolition of church parades and the establishment of a training course for newly commissioned chaplains. On 17 October 1939, Mervyn Haigh, the Bishop of Coventry, wrote to Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and said he was concerned that chaplains were not getting any training. Haigh had served as a chaplain during the Great War so he was well aware of problems caused by lack of training. He thought that while the clergy were good at their own jobs, they needed some ‘instruction about army life’ before they were sent to units. Three days later Lang had a meeting with Symons who

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explained that all chaplains were under the supervision of a senior chaplain and that lectures at Aldershot and a long briefing letter were given to new chaplains. Lang was not convinced by this as the lectures and letter only concerned work in Britain during peacetime. He insisted on a residential training programme that was at least a week long and offered to find suitable clergy who had served as chaplains in the Great War to staff the school. Symons started to make the arrangements and consideration was given to locating the school at Woolwich, Aldershot, Westcott House Cambridge, and Chester.64 In June 1940, the first training course was started at Chester. The city had several advantages over the other options as Canon Stanley Astbury, the Principal of Chester Teacher Training College, had served as a chaplain in the Great War, college accommodation was available for the course, and the expertise of Western Command Headquarters could be used to help with the military aspects of the training. Although all denominations, apart from the Roman Catholics, were trained at Chester, the Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists did not lobby the Chaplain-General to start a school. The Roman Catholics refused to participate in the course and did not establish their own version. As a consequence their chaplains were making mistakes that would have been avoided if they had been trained. The Chester course soon became embroiled in controversy that threatened to terminate the experiment. Astbury established a pattern of daily interdenominational communion for the Anglican and nonconformist chaplains on the course which probably included nonconformists administering the sacraments to Anglicans. A group of five chaplains were delighted with this and signalled their approval with jointly signed letters which were sent to their respective denominational newspapers. Living, studying, and worshipping together had enriched their spiritual lives and the cooperation would be a good foundation for ‘winning of this country for our Lord and Master’.65 However, one of the chaplains on the course was horrified by intercommunion and wrongly thought that he would not be posted unless he signed the letter so he complained to Douglas H. Crick, the Bishop of Chester. The Bishop of Chester then wrote to Archbishop Lang who in turn contacted the Chaplain-General who threatened to close the school unless intercommunion ended. Astbury threatened to resign, but he was placated with the suggestion that the matter should be decided by the church rather than within the army. Moreover Astbury argued that the Chaplain-General had given him permission for intercommunion when he visited. When Symons wrote to Lang, he was vague as to whether or not he had authorised intercommunion, writing, ‘The explanation which Astbury

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gives is a very indefinite one, but I feel that it is a wiser course at the moment to accept it.’ Although Lang was probably inclined to ban intercommunion, it was not a decision he could enforce as Chester was in the province of York rather than Canterbury, and so the final decision was made by the more ecumenically minded William Temple then installed in York. He authorised daily communion following the Anglican rite and stipulated that nonconformists could attend if they wished, while one formal intercommunion service could be held for each course.66 Two years later, Temple visited the training school, now being run by the Revd Frank Woods in Tidworth, where he discovered that Astbury had left Woods with ‘a conception of what had passed concerning communion services which was rather seriously misleading’.67 Temple restated to Woods the position taken in 1941, a position which Astbury had ignored. Another significant change that took place during the war was that many of the semi official duties that chaplains undertook were stripped away between 1940 and 1942. The standing orders for chaplains in the First Army reminded chaplains that they must not accept peripheral duties such as becoming President of the Mess, and appointments such as unit welfare, censor, or entertainment officer should be refused.68 Although they continued to assist with welfare and sports, this was officially at least done on a voluntary basis. The chaplains were pleased to be relieved of such duties and cited the orders if other officers attempted to impose peripheral duties upon them. These changes in the chaplain’s role were made internally by the RAChD with little or no reference to the government, the army, and the churches. This policy shift and the training of chaplains contributed to a professionalisation of the RAChD and a much greater focus on the religious functions of the chaplain. During the war there were two major changes to the patterns of worship in the army. At home and overseas, compulsory church parades were virtually abolished and padre’s hours were introduced where chaplains could teach soldiers about Christianity. Both these changes were introduced locally before they received official War Office authorisation. In the spring of 1942, padres’ hours were started by the Revd J. J. A. Hodgins who was the SCF in the Airborne Division. Each unit would get religious instruction for one hour each week as part of their training programme. The classes usually included formal teaching and discussions. The scheme was successful, so it was adopted by the Assistant ChaplainGeneral of Northern Command, and with the support of the General Officer Commanding it spread rapidly in the home Commands and overseas.69 Before the arrangements were formally made to change church parades in 1943, some areas of the army had relaxed compulsory church

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parades by allowing soldiers to make their own way to church then checking at the church door to ensure they attended and were suitably dressed.70 Other officers abolished church parades. In some home Commands, the Generals turned a blind eye to this, but in others they reprimanded Commanding Officers. The chaplains’ war diary for Southern Command covering the period September 1939 to June 1941, reported that some COs were ignorant of King’s Regulations and held the delusion that they ‘had the privilege of deciding whether attendance at Divine Worship was compulsory or not’. The Assistant Chaplain-General approached Lieutenant General Sir Bertie Fisher who reminded the COs that King’s Regulations stated church parades were compulsory.71 Running parallel with the army’s attempts to alter compulsory church parades, were debates in the church newspapers. The Anglicans and Catholics did not generally grumble about compulsory church parades, but the Methodists and Baptists, who as denominations stressed the primacy of conscience, complained more frequently. One Private wrote, ‘A thinking man forced to go to church must come to the conclusion that its benevolent principles and teachings are in direct contravention to its practices, and he becomes disinterested and sceptical.’72 The views of the churches did not feed into the debate about church parades. Whereas in 1924 the churches had supported church parades at the Interdenominational Advisory Committee, during World War Two the War Office blocked the Committee, and decided to retain church parades, in a more relaxed form, without making any reference to the wishes of the churches, apart from consulting with the Chaplain-General. The official moves to introduce padres’ hours and relax church parades were coordinated by the Morale Committee of the War Office. The Morale Committee was formed in March 1942, at the nadir of the British military fortunes, and they were expected to identify the true state of army morale and suggest ways of improving it. There was a growing realisation that soldiers were essentially civilians at heart and that, in the words of one of the Committee’s reports, they thought one of the major functions of the army was ‘badgering the soldier about, for reasons which he does not understand’.73 The Committee therefore suggested that many aspects of army life could be relaxed, and pay parades were expedited by doing them by platoon basis, while sick parades were replaced with medical officers’ hours. Similarly, there was an implicit trade off with padres’ hours being substituted for the church parade services. The Committee investigated the morale of the soldiers by inviting them to reply to questionnaires, and in December 1942 they received a letter from a soldier in the Black Watch, who wrote:

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The forbidding display of compulsion and regimentation inherent in many church parades appears to be entirely wrong in relation to the fundamentals of true religion. Given the right methods of approach, especially from the welfare angle, and a padre who becomes the real friend of the men, an enormous success might well be achieved by developing the voluntary spirit to the fullest extent. The Church, through Army channels, has great opportunities and responsibilities concerning morale. On 9 April 1943, the Morale Committee met and considered this evidence and letters from other soldiers expressing similar sentiments. They did not consider that these amounted to evidence of widespread dissatisfaction, and had the Chaplain-General not intervened, it seems probable they would not have changed the system of compulsory church parades. He suggested there should be one parade service a month and that the rest of the services should be voluntary. He added that checking soldiers at the church door had proved very successful. A letter to this effect was sent to the Army Council.74 The Army Council noted that circumstances were very different to 1936 when they had recommended the retention of church parades as a means of impressing the general public and encouraging recruiting. They decided to issue guidelines to assist COs interpret King’s Regulations and they suggested that a system of marking in should be adopted as, ‘Parades before church sometimes are unduly long and made the occasion of excessive formalities; this has a harmful effect on the frame of mind in which the troops approach the service itself.’ The COs retained the discretion to have ceremonial parades on special occasions or to abolish them completely if circumstances demanded it. Although not quite abolishing compulsory church services, the army had moved decisively towards abolition, and increasingly viewed compulsion as a wartime measure. In the words of the Adjutant-General it was not ‘a suitable time to raise the general issue of compulsory attendance at church’.75 It was no surprise, therefore, that in 1946 compulsory services were abolished. What was unusual about the decision to virtually abolish church parades was that the churches were not consulted about a change which had a significant impact on the religious life of the army. This was unusual as the churches’ authority over the RAChD actually increased during the war. Overall it seems the RAChD had most authority in determining their own affairs, then churches with Anglicans having a pre-eminent role had considerable authority, the government represented by the War Office came next, and finally the army had least authority. Although this was a

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shifting relationship, a general pattern emerged, namely that if two out of the four institutions decided that a particular policy was desirable, this would provide sufficient weight to enforce their wishes. For example the decision to appoint women Chaplains’ Assistants was made by the churches and RAChD, and overcame the opposition from the government (see also chapter five). Similarly, the trade off between church parades and padres’ hours was made by the RAChD and the army, with the government being consulted and the churches being marginalised. An exception to this pattern was when they realised they actually had it, and chose to use it, the churches had absolute authority over purely spiritual affairs, as was illustrated by Temple’s decision to appoint a Bishop to the Forces. While the principle of church authority in the spiritual realms was clear enough, the Church of England had neglected the armed forces during peacetime with the result that during the war they had to battle to re-establish their authority over the RAChD. The nonconformist churches with their committees and Catholics with their Bishop maintained their spiritual authority during peacetime and wartime because they were more jealous about their rights than the Church of England which had lapsed into established complacency until Temple became Archbishop of Canterbury. The division of authority surrounding the RAChD sheds light on the wider issue of the actual division of power between the army and the state. Traditionally the army was under the dual control of the crown, symbolised by officers being granted a King’s Commission, and parliament who held civilian ministers responsible for the administration of the army. The aim of this arrangement, established in 1689, was to have an army that would be ‘terrible to a foreign enemy, and yet submissive to the civil power’.76 This arrangement remained relatively static until 1904 when the Esher report was enacted. Lord Esher (Reginald Brett) a royal courtier, had chaired a committee investigating army administration. He proposed that the crown should retain its influence, but that the army should follow the example of the Admiralty Board and unite civil and military authority. This was done and the Army Council, consisting of members from the army and government was formed to have integrated control over the army. In the words of Hew Strachan: Soldiers and civilians have come to operate through the joint bodies of which both the Committee of Imperial Defence and the Army Council were the precursors. That aspect at least of Esher’s vision has found fulfilment. But ultimately the corollary of that success has been to marginalize rather than to elevate the

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monarchy in military affairs. The army colluded in Esher’s vision of the future role of the crown in military administration because it needed a counterweight to the government. When it no longer needed it, the crown became redundant.77 The limited evidence available from secondary sources concerning the 1930s points towards the reality of integrated control. Within the War Office, civil servants had most authority, followed by serving officers, with the ministers having least authority.78 The policy debates surrounding the chaplaincy confirmed the reality of integrated control, with the important caveat that the influence of churches bolstered the authority of the RAChD in deciding their own affairs.

4 Clergy and Chaplains

One of the most tangible measures of the churches’ influence over the RAChD was the almost complete control they exercised over which of their clergy could become chaplains. The war imposed a great strain on denominations because it increased the need for chaplains but did not reduce the number of men needed to minister to the civilian population. Anglicans and Catholics were both apostolic churches and some of their bishops acted similarly in restricting the number of clergy from their dioceses entering into armed forces to ensure they could meet civilian needs. There would have been a shortfall of Catholic chaplains but the church drew on religious orders and Irish priests. The shortfall of Anglican chaplains presented Catholics and nonconformists with an opportunity to increase their share of chaplains in the army. Nonconformists could do this as their centralised committees allowed them to balance the needs of the armed forces with those of the civilian population and fill gaps with lay leaders. Catholic bishops encouraged priests to become chaplains, whereas Anglican clergy and nonconformist ministers volunteered themselves. Personal motives included patriotism, a desire to minister to men their own age, and a sense of adventure. Church authority and clerical habits meant that denominational patterns of ministry were carried over into the RAChD. As the pay of chaplains on emergency commissions was similar to that of curates, it does not seem that financial considerations influenced men to become chaplains. Nevertheless, the Church of Scotland organised a vigorous lobbying campaign to increase the pay of army chaplains. During the interwar years the number of regular chaplains was calculated on the basis of one chaplain per 1100 men, while the number of chaplains from any denomination was in proportion to the number of adherents from that denomination in the army.1 During World War Two, the calculation changed to one chaplain per 1250 soldiers, though the actual ratio was one chaplain ministering to 1232 soldiers. The most comprehensive set of figures concerning the number of chaplains and

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soldiers from each denomination for World War Two were generated in January 1942. Table 4.1: Denominational Ratios of Soldiers and Chaplains during World War II Denomination

Church of England Roman Catholic Church of Scotland Methodist United Board Jews Others Total /average

No. of soldiers 1,754,234 250,852 219,989 138,563 68,017 28,017 15,050 2,474,947

% of soldiers

No. of Chaplains

% of chaplains

No. of soldiers per chaplain

70.9 10.1 8.8 5.6 2.8 1.2 0.6 100

1129 401 214 150 98 22 – 2009

56.0 20.0 10.6 7.5 4.8 1.1 – 100

1560 625 1028 924 696 1273 – 1232

Source: PRO, WO/259/15. The number of soldiers included the women in the ATS, but did not include chaplains. The United Board consisted of the Baptist and Congregationalist denominations. The others included 6433. Salvationists, and presumably any declared atheists and agnostics.

Church of England bishops gave priority to maintaining parishes and never released enough clergy to meet their quota and the shortfall was made up by Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The prerequisites for understanding how this pattern emerged include, the differences between the four categories of chaplain; regular, Territorial Army, reserve of officers, and emergency commissions, the personal motivation of clergy wishing to become chaplains, and denominational attitudes towards military service. During World War Two, 3692 clergy served as chaplains.2 Of these, 174, were already full time chaplains, either regulars or on temporary commissions which would usually be converted to regular ones after three years service. Another 409 were serving in the Territorial Army or in the TA reserve. A further 240 were in the reserve of officers having indicated they were willing to serve if there was a war. Finally there were 2869 chaplains who were granted emergency commissions during the course of the war.3 The increase of the TA and reserve of officers in the late 1930s meant that 649 clergy were available to serve as chaplains, which met the immediate needs of the army when war was declared. A number of clergy who volunteered in the autumn of 1939 were disappointed not to be commissioned immediately. One Anglican clergyman wrote to The Church

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Times in December 1941 that he was still waiting for his commission.4 Similarly in November 1939, the Revd George Standing, who coordinated the recruitment of Methodist chaplains wrote that he had enough volunteers to meet the demand for a long time to come.5 The challenge for churches came when the initial supply of chaplains was exhausted and they had to consider how to meet the growing army’s needs. The solution denominations adopted depended on their structure and theology. The Church of England was well endowed with clergy. During the 1930s the supply of ordinands nearly matched the projected needs of the church. In 1930, the Commission on the Staffing of Parishes recommended that the church should aim to ordain 630 men each year. This should have produced 5,670 new clergy between 1931 and1939. In reality there were 5,090 ordinations during that period.6 Even so there were still 17,139 clergy when the church started considering the need for more chaplains in 1943. This pool of clergy was in principle large enough to meet the contingencies of war. The problem was converting this potential into reality. Part of the problem was that the structure of the church at the local level depended on having one vicar per parish. In rural areas several small villages might make up a parish, while in urban areas it was common for a vicar to be assisted by a curate. In theory the bishops had the legal authority under the Clergy (National Emergency Precautions) Measure of 1939 to close churches, merge parishes, and move clergy, but in practice they were reluctant to do so, even to release more clergy into the armed forces.7 If a vicar became a chaplain he would get his salary as a chaplain and the income from the benefice out of which he would pay for a locum to take his place in the parish. However this shifted clergy around rather than increasing the numbers available. Furthermore, the quality of some of the locums was poor, as the best clergy tended to have secure positions in parishes. When the Revd Henry Whiteman retired from the RAChD and returned to his parish of Carleton near Skipton, he discovered that his locum had acted in a childish manner, spread malicious gossip and turned the village against him. The locum left but the damage was such that Whiteman moved to another parish.8 By 1943 the Church of England had released 10 per cent of its clergy into the armed forces, but this was insufficient as the army was short of 450 Anglican chaplains. The 10 per cent figure highlighted differing attitudes to the needs of the armed forces. Urban dioceses like London, Birmingham, and Southwark released more clergy than rural dioceses such as Lincoln, and Exeter, because it was possible for the clergy to cover a couple of parishes in urban areas. But more significant still was the attitude of the bishops. For example, Liverpool and Manchester were

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similar urban dioceses, but Liverpool released 14.6 per cent of its clergy, in comparison with Manchester which released 6.7 per cent. Frederic Warman, the Bishop of Manchester, was unwilling to release married clergy as the consequences were worse than if a single man was killed. Only one of the 31 clergy Warman released had children.9 Similarly there were extensive variations between rural dioceses, with Ely releasing 12.3 per cent and Salisbury 5.6 per cent. The greatest disparity was between Derby and Southwell, which were neighbouring dioceses with a similar mixture of urban and rural geography. The Bishop of Southwell was the Rt Revd F. R. Barry, who served as a chaplain in the Great War and contributed an essay to The Church in the Furnace. His diocese released 16.4 per cent of their clergy to become chaplains, more than any other diocese in England and Wales. He resorted to unusual measures to fill gaps in his diocese including ordaining two refugee German Lutheran pastors who then preached the pure word of God which was ‘totally incomprehensible to a middlebrow English congregation’.10 By way of contrast the diocese of Derby only released 5 per cent of its clergy. Significantly, Derby and Oxford (7.7 per cent), both had Bishops who started their clerical careers as nonconformists before joining the Church of England. Also the Bishop of Oxford may have withheld clergy because he felt slighted by the RAChD during their disagreements over clerical licences. Although the Bishop of Birmingham’s pacifist convictions were clear from his unwillingness to pray for the armed forces he nevertheless allowed 11.2 per cent of his clergy to become chaplains.11 In July 1943, these figures were presented to the bishops of England and Wales so they could draw their own conclusions. It was pointed out that the armed forces were short of 564 chaplains, and that if all dioceses released 10 per cent of their clergy it would provide an extra 209 chaplains, while if the Church of England and the Church in Wales released 13 per cent of their clergy, the shortfall would almost be met. It was suggested that bishops review all clergy below the age of 50 and decide if any should be asked to become chaplains. The scheme was partly successful as by the end of 1943, an additional 346 clergy had been released, or were about to be. Of these, 146 went into the army.12 The figures were never made public, but confirmed what had been suspected by The Church Times for some time, namely that some of the Bishops were less than generous. ‘As in every other department of life’, stated The Church Times in November 1941, ‘the war is making demands which have never before had to be met. Nothing is normal, and if it were, it would be suspect. Indeed the Church is already open to the suspicion in that its organisation in so many ways remains virtually unaffected.’ They correctly pointed out that the bishops had

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control over the recruitment of chaplains, and not all the suitable men had been released. Moreover, the war was a great opportunity for the church as hundreds of men were requesting confirmation. The leader concluded that the church and the laity, ‘must assume a greater responsibility for keeping alive the spirit and activity of the Church in their own parishes, and so making possible the release of more priests.’13 Not only did bishops refuse to release enough clergy, a small number had encouraged poor clergy to volunteer for chaplaincy service. Towards the end of the war, dioceses indicated which clergy they wanted back and some showed a degree of candidness that was lacking when they recommended them to the armed forces. The diocese of Rochester which did not want one chaplain to return, explained, ‘Something of a scandal … [during] Curacy. Inadvisable to return to diocese.’ Similarly, the diocese of Gloucester indicated that one of their vicars had got into unspecified difficulties in his parish and would not do any good there if he returned. For these reasons the RAChD kept a black list of bishops who had a reputation for releasing unsuitable clergy. Most of the bishops, however, were keen to get chaplains back to their diocese, indicating that releasing unsuitable clergy was rare. About 2000 Anglican clergy served in the armed forces and the church wanted the armed forces to release 318 priests, 16 per cent of the total, immediately the war ended. There were 1604 who the church wanted back less urgently, whilst only 78 priests, 4 per cent of the total, were categorised ‘D’ meaning either they were not expected to return to the diocese, or they were not wanted. The figures indicate that the Church of England and Church in Wales released clergy of good or average quality, and that it was rare for poor clergy to be sent into the chaplaincy.14 One significant development within the Church of England was the appointment of black African priests as army chaplains in the King’s African Rifles. By April 1943, six priests from Central Tanganyika were appointed. The Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt Revd W. Wynn Jones said African Christians serving in the forces far away from familiar scenes and pursuits needed special shepherding. The following year three priests from Nigeria were appointed as chaplains. Their diocese presented them with chaplain’s scarves. As the army did not commission black men, they were appointed as Warrant Officers, rather than commissioned as Captains. Although the tone of the reports in The Church Times was slightly patronising and European officers were initially suspicious of them, the appointment of black chaplains, like the appointment of women Chaplains’ Assistants, showed that the army and the church was more innovative in wartime than in peacetime.15

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Other churches had far less trouble in meeting the needs of the armed forces. Because of their church structure, Methodists always managed to find sufficient clergy. In January 1940 there were 103 army chaplains and this rose to 202 in May 1943. This allowed the Methodists to exceed their quota of chaplains at the expense of the Church of England. In addition a further 1060 ministers worked as Officiating Chaplains to the Forces.16 This was achieved despite a shortage of ministers caused by a very selective ordination policy in the 1930s.17 What allowed the church to meet the needs of the army in wartime was that the structure of the church was ideally suited to coping with unexpected demands for ministers. At a local level, the denomination was organised into circuits which consisted of a group of churches served by a team of ministers and lay preachers, therefore it was possible to release a minister from the circuit into the armed forces provided everyone else worked harder. This meant that the Methodist Navy Army and Air Force Board could be selective when deciding whether or not a minister would make a suitable chaplain. Between September 1942 and January 1943, 44 ministers applied for chaplaincies, but only 37 were accepted.18 The Methodist church was similar to the Church of Scotland, in that both had centralised committees to supervise their chaplains and organise the church to meet the demands of war. In May 1942, the Church of Scotland Committee on Church and National Service agreed that the needs of the chaplaincy should be balanced with the usual need to maintain parishes and meet new demands generated by the war such as canteen work and factories. This was an impressively integrated approach that did not hive off chaplaincy issues from the need for fundamental reorganisation of the church to meet its declared aim of organising ‘its ministry to serve a people organised for war’. The church made efficient use of manpower and chaplaincies were supplied with an adequate number of clergy. By November 1942, 246 clergy were serving as chaplains, which was 8 per cent of the total number of Presbyterian clergy. As for other churches, 1943 was a critical year and renewed calls for more chaplains were issued. The chaplaincy committee admitted, ‘no compulsion could be used or would be used, but the utmost moral persuasion was exercised’. Because the church made efficient use of their manpower they could be selective when considering if a minister would make a suitable chaplain. When the Revd Hamish McIntosh renounced pacifist views and applied to become a chaplain, he was told to spend a month reflecting on his attitudes to ensure he was free of pacifist thinking. He approached the Committee again and was accepted.19 The United Board consisted of equal numbers of Baptist and

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Congregationalist chaplains. By January 1943, the United Board had 111 chaplains serving in the army. The Baptist church was organised with ministers usually looking after one church. What allowed them to meet the demands of war was that the dividing line between ordained and lay leadership was blurred. This meant that if a minister became a chaplain, the local church was strong enough to continue in his absence. When the Revd O. D. Wiles became a chaplain, his wife Olive Wiles gave up the housekeeping, started running the church and, ‘Since then I have preached twice on Sundays, conducted weddings and dedications, given addresses at funeral services, chaired deacons’ and church meetings, visited the sick, the dying etc. all work which in my judgement, should be strictly reserved for a man.’ Her experiences convinced her that generally ‘the ministry was not for women’. It was a conclusion which annoyed the Revd Violet Hedger who joined the debate in the columns of The Baptist Times.20 Although woman’s lay leadership did not become widespread, it illustrated how the Baptist lay tradition supported the work of the church, and allowed it to continue in the absence of ordained leadership. On theological grounds this was not an option for the apostolic Church of England and Roman Catholic churches. Of all denominations within the RAChD, the Catholics managed to supply the highest proportion of priests to minister to their soldiers. In 1942, 10 per cent of the soldiers were Catholics but 20 per cent of the chaplains were. One Catholic chaplain ministered to 625 soldiers, whereas an Anglican chaplain was responsible for 1560 men. After 1942 Catholics supplied plenty of priests to meet the needs of the armed forces and this favourable ratio increased slightly. In total 680 priests served as chaplains. Of these, 161 came from Ireland or the mission, 238 from religious orders in Britain, and 281 from dioceses in England, Wales and Scotland.21 The high number of chaplains from Ireland reflected the facts that substantial numbers of Irish priests worked in Britain normally, and that some 50,000 southern Irish men and women volunteered to serve in the British armed forces.22 Initially James Dey, the Bishop to the Forces, only approached religious orders like the Jesuits and Benedictines fearing the others could only supply unsuitable ‘pacifists or republicans or other odd fish’ but later he accepted men from all orders including Redemptorists, the Oblate of Mary Immaculate, Rosminians, Salesians, and Franciscans.23 With regard to secular priests, some bishops released a substantial number of priests, accepting the strains this caused in their diocese, while others made minimal contributions to the spiritual welfare of the armed forces. One Bishop who made great efforts to recruit chaplains was Henry Vincent Marshall, the Bishop of Salford. In his letters issued to clergy in

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November 1941, September 1942, January 1943, and February 1945, he called on priests to volunteer as chaplains. Typical was his call made in January 1943 when he asked for priests with at least five years experience to come forward. He indicated that he was hoping to meet the shortfall of priests by recruiting extra priests from Ireland, but if need be he would rearrange parochial duties to free priests to minister to servicemen ‘who are about to die’.24 Marshall worked within a system that was established by the governments of Britain and Ireland in September 1941 whereby the bishop would certify that a named Irish priest was coming to work in his diocese for at least a year. The Irish government checked that the priest would not pose a security risk before allowing them to leave. The tacit understanding was that the bishop would then release one of his clergy into the armed forces. This arrangement was suspended just before DDay, but reinstated later in 1944. This delay meant that by the time priests left Ireland again, priests in Marshall’s diocese who had volunteered earlier did not wish to go as the war was about to end. Nevertheless, by May 1944, Marshall released 47 priests into the armed forces, which was 12 per cent of his clergy.25 This contrasts dramatically with the Diocese of Southwark, where by May 1944 Archbishop Amigo had only released 17 priests, which was 5 per cent of his clergy. Dey was furious with Amigo and in August 1942 he sent a letter to Amigo and copied it to the other bishops and the Catholic press. The two Bishops had a stormy meeting on 14 July 1942 concerning the release of clergy. ‘‘COULD not’ is understandable’, wrote Dey, ‘‘WOULD not’ is outside my power of comprehension.’ He accused Amigo of ignoring Catholic service men and women who risked their lives defending their religion, country, and freedom. Dey attacked Amigo for burdening the more willing bishops and for ignoring the wishes of the Holy See which had established the office of Bishop to the Forces to ensure Catholics had access to the sacraments. Finally he accused Amigo of breaking faith with the government as in 1938 Amigo had called for ordination candidates not to be conscripted to ensure that later there would be enough chaplains.26 Towards the end of 1943, Dey wrote to the Pope urging him to encourage the bishops to release more clergy into the forces. He pointed out the variations between the dioceses and claimed that there were 100 vacancies in the RAChD which could be filled by Catholics. On 7 January 1944, the Apostolic Delegate replied indicating to the Bishops that His Holiness, Pope Pius XII was concerned about the spiritual welfare of the soldiers:

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They stand in urgent need of that consolation and help which only a priest can give. His Holiness is therefore confident that the Bishops will use every endeavour to provide the full number of chaplains which the British military authorities allow for the service of the forces; and he urges them to choose worthy and capable priests for this important and difficult ministry.27 While Dey was correct in arguing to the Pope and the bishops that some bishops were less willing than others to release clergy, he did not present the complete picture to them. He omitted to tell them that only 10 per cent of the soldiers were Catholics but 20 per cent of the chaplains were. This information would have undermined his argument. Dey was trying to increase his well staffed chaplaincy departments. Similarly, Coghlan, the Principal Catholic chaplain, wrote that he was usually 60 chaplains short of the War Office allowance and had to strip bases and lines of communications of chaplains to ensure the needs of front-line soldiers were met.28 It would have been in the interests of the Catholic church to have a mechanism for balancing the needs of the armed forces, alongside parishes, and other areas of work, as was done in the Church of Scotland. Instead Catholic bishops and Dey competed with each other, overstated their needs, and acted parochially. In addition to the movement of clergy from the civilian church into the armed forces, there was a limited amount of movement within the RAChD with chaplains switching denominations. As in the civilian church, nonconformists became Anglicans and Anglicans became Roman Catholics. The Church of England offered nonconformists a more robust set of beliefs and more satisfying liturgical patterns. In 1943 E. L. Allen wrote that many ordained Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Baptist friends were resurfacing as Anglican clergy, and asked, ‘Is it not time that we faced seriously this disconcerting fact of the drift towards Canterbury?’29 By 1943 the Ministerial Recognition Committee of the Baptist Union was concerned that on average six ministers a year were becoming Anglicans. It was suggested that ‘bold and consecrated leadership’ was needed to retain the loyalty of young men. If it really was the case that the ‘general quality [of the departing ministers] was not high’, one wonders why the Baptists were not pleased to be rid of them. Neither was it the case that they were too worried about the costs of training them since they declined to approach the bishop who accepted them for reimbursement.30 During the course of the war, at least four United Board chaplains became Anglicans. One of the Baptist chaplains who left was the Revd B. Vaughan Parry. He was ordained into the Baptist ministry in 1938 having

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trained at Cardiff Baptist College. Five hours after war was declared he wrote offering his services as a chaplain. By this time he had lost confidence in the Baptist ministry as his studies of church history convinced him that the doctrine of apostolic succession was correct. His Anglican SCF recommended him to the Bishop of Bristol who arranged for him to be ordained as an Anglican.31 He changed denominations because his theological views shifted. While service in the RAChD facilitated his change of denominations, his chaplaincy experiences were not the root cause of his change of denomination. It is not known if any Methodist chaplains became Anglicans, but there was an alarmist letter from the Revd J. H. Clay in The Methodist Recorder. He thought the rumour that 75 per cent of the Methodist chaplains were intending to become Anglicans was an exaggeration, but feared there was some basis to it. Some ministers were aping the Church of England, and their ‘interest in ecclesiastical millinery and ritual would be amusing if it were not so serious’. His solution was that Methodist ordinands should study the letters and sermons of John Wesley.32 Although the Church of England gained some clergy from the nonconformists, it also lost at least four chaplains who became Catholics.33 Table 4.2 Promotion Prospects for Chaplains during World War II Denomination

Number of chaplains

% of Total

% in Senior positions

Church of England Roman Catholic Church of Scotland Methodist United Board Jews

1138 474 251 174 121 28

52.0 21.7 11.5 8.0 5.5 1.3

70.1 9.5 10.0 5.6 4.4 0.4

Total

2186

100.0

100.0

Source: RCCA, Box 28, Dey to Lambert, 23 April 1943.

The numbers of Jewish chaplains expanded rapidly from two at the outbreak of war to 37 chaplains in the army and five in the RAF. They were mostly British orthodox rabbis but at least two liberal rabbis were appointed and some rabbis in Palestine also volunteered. As with the Christian churches, 1944 was a critical year and it was becoming increasingly difficult to fill all the available slots for Jewish chaplains.

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Shortly after D-Day, the Jewish Chronicle chastised synagogues for their unwillingness to part with rabbis.34 Due to the diffuse nature of authority within Judaism, it was impossible to give much coordination to the release of rabbis into the armed forces. Individual rabbis would volunteer and then their synagogue would find a replacement. The differences between the ratios of chaplains to soldiers between the denominations caused significant anomalies in the chain of command within the RAChD. Although the Church of England did not manage to supply enough chaplains to meet the needs of the armed forces, a disproportionate number of Anglican chaplains were in senior positions within the RAChD. In 1943, the Principal Roman Catholic Chaplain, the Revd Coghlan, attempted to secure an increase in the number of his chaplains in senior positions. Significantly, he did not request an increase in the total number of chaplains, which confirmed that he and Bishop Dey overstated the shortage of chaplains. Coghlan got figures from the War Office which stated the total number and percentage of chaplains, and the percentage of these in senior positions of 3rd, 2nd and 1st Class chaplains. The inequality between the number of Anglican chaplains in senior positions, and the numbers from other denominations arose during the war. During the interwar years, about 70 per cent of soldiers were Anglican, and the number of Anglican chaplains and senior chaplains was in proportion to the number of Anglican adherents in the army. During the war the Church of England failed to supply enough chaplains, so the structure of the RAChD became distorted. However, a disproportionate number of Anglicans were appointed to senior positions as the chaplaincy expanded. Partly this was because regular, TA and reserve chaplains were far more likely to be promoted than chaplains on emergency commissions, and since the majority of interwar chaplains were Anglicans they came to prominence in the RAChD during the war. However there was also systematic discrimination in favour of Anglicans. The promotion figures for chaplains on emergency commissions made no allowance for the fact that the Church of England had not supplied enough chaplains. During the war, half the chaplains on emergency commissions were Anglican, with the rest from other denominations. By October 1942, 14 chaplains with emergency commissions were promoted, of these nine were Anglicans and five were Catholics. But by July 1945, 68 chaplains with emergency commissions had been promoted. Of these 47 were Anglicans and 21 from other denominations. If the promotions had been made on an equitable basis, 34 promotions would have gone to Anglicans and 34 to other denominations. Quite simply, chaplains with emergency commissions were far more likely to be promoted if they were Anglicans.35

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Significantly, the other national church, the Church of Scotland, received virtually the number of promotions they were entitled to. Understandably, this situation would have caused jealousy with other denominations, but it was only the Catholics who checked the promotion figures and lobbied for more promotions for their denomination. In March 1943, Coghlan wrote to G. W. Lambert the Assistant Under Secretary at the War Office and requested that some of his chaplains should be promoted so that one SCF was supervising 10 chaplains and that most senior chaplains in the Commands at home and abroad should be promoted to 2nd or 1st Class. A month later the War Office replied stating they considered the issue had been settled earlier in the year and ‘any radical departure from it would not be understood by the other churches’. This point that any action would raise problems with other denominations was similar to the War Office’s objection to the Anglicans appointing a Bishop to the Forces. As a concession Lambert did offer two extra SCF appointments. Coghlan persisted and obtained from the RAChD the figures which showed a disproportionate number of Anglicans in senior positions. The War Office prevaricated and requested a list showing where each senior Catholic chaplain was posted and how many chaplains served under him. Coghlan got the information and requested 73 promotions to bring the Catholic branch into line with the United Department consisting of all the other denominations. The War Office quibbled with the details and carefully avoided addressing the overall inequality. Eventually an additional three promotions were permitted, but that still left the Catholics short of senior chaplains. In the Catholic branch one SCF usually supervised about 30 chaplains, whereas in the United Department one SCF was responsible for about 10 chaplains.36 Although the War Office made little effort to resolve the problem, apart from five token promotions, a slimmer command structure may have benefited Catholics. There was less bureaucracy and interference in the work of individual chaplains, so little time was diverted from ministering to the soldiers. Denominational policy had a significant impact on the total number of chaplains recruited but the system depended on clergy volunteering to become chaplains. Their motives were related to social background, experiences as clergy in the interwar period, and their attitudes towards war. By the late 1930s a number of clergy joined the TA in anticipation of war. A good example of this was the Revd J. Eric Gethyn-Jones who was a curate in Gloucester. He realised that the Diocese would expect him to volunteer as a chaplain in the event of war, so he joined the TA to ensure he would be mobilised with soldiers he knew and that he was familiar with army practices. He was commissioned in 1938.37

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In order to investigate the background and motives, and priorities of chaplains, I conducted a survey among former chaplains. Most Anglican chaplains came from professional families. From a group of 18 Anglican chaplains, 10 came from professional or commercial families, five had fathers who were clergy, and only three came from skilled working class families like tailors and clerks. This professional background meant that 15 were educated in private schools while only three went to state grammar or Local Education Authority schools. More Anglicans than Catholics or nonconformists went to private schools, where many were Cadets in the Officer Training Corps. Five Anglican chaplains indicated that one the reason they became army chaplains was experience in the Officer Training Corps. Afterwards, 10 studied at Oxford or Cambridge. One factor that broadened the experience of chaplains was that 10 of them worked between leaving school and being ordained. Such jobs included working as a clerk, teaching, and farming. The social background of the Anglican chaplains was reflected in their political attitudes. Before the war, 10 voted Conservative, two Labour, and six forgot which party they supported or were apolitical.38 Roman Catholic chaplains generally came from a different social background to the Anglican chaplains. Out of a group of five chaplains, only one came from a professional family, his father was a doctor. The other four came from skilled working class backgrounds, and their fathers worked as a publican, a clerk, a grocer, and a tool maker. Whereas over half the Anglican chaplains worked between leaving school and being ordained, no Catholic chaplains did. In the Catholic church, decisions on vocations to the priesthood were generally made when the candidate was an adolescent. Therefore, none of the chaplains went to university. Instead they spent six years training for the priesthood in seminaries. Once they were on the path towards ordination they were set apart from the wider community having virtually no contact with anyone outside the church. The Revd Ben Fenlon said Catholics were in a ghetto and that Ushaw where he trained was an enclosed community.39 Whereas Anglican chaplains were socially distinct from the majority of soldiers, Catholic chaplains shared similar backgrounds to soldiers, but they were spiritually separate from all but the Catholics, both in civilian life and to a lesser extent in the army. The social background of the Catholic and nonconformist chaplains were similar. From a group of six nonconformist chaplains, two came from commercial and professional middle class families and four came from skilled working class backgrounds including a tailor, a junior civil servant, and a boiler maker. The parental background affected the

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education patterns of their children. Two of the nonconformist chaplains went to private schools, including one who won a scholarship to a private Methodist boarding school, whilst the other four were educated in state schools. Two chaplains were apolitical, but of the other four, two had voted Labour and two Conservative. The education of the nonconformists and brief experience of secular occupations meant they were not isolated from the wider community like Catholic priests. The division between the nonconformists and the wider community lay primarily in leisure activities.40 The social background of chaplains was typical of the clergy, priests, and ministers from their denominations and did have limited impact on their work.41 The extent to which clergy were isolated from the wider community meant that some were extremely naive and many appreciated the opportunity in the army to mix with a wider community than could be found in civilian churches, even though they were not always ready for such experiences. For example, the Revd C. C. Lannigan, a Methodist chaplain attached to an infantry battalion in Italy, recalled how he believed that certain sins and sinners were easy to categorise, but during the war he realised, ‘Hard drinking, hard-swearing, sex-hunting NCOs and WOs proved themselves so often. Many of them would and did give their lives for others.’42 The Revd F. J. Brabyn, an Anglican, was posted to Iceland which he found a great strain because of the isolation. When he challenged a medic who was addicted to morphine, the medic said he became addicted after one injection. In an effort to demonstrate that morphine was not so addictive, Brabyn injected himself. This impressed the medic who apparently managed to curb his own addiction.43 This naive act could easily have led to addiction, and as the medic was posted away, he had no means of knowing if his reckless behaviour had any long term benefits. One thing many chaplains appreciated about army service was socialising with a broader cross-section of society than they could meet in the civilian church. This was a persistent theme that emerged in survey forms and interviews. One typical comment was made by the Revd B. V. Parry, who indicated that he became more broadminded and appreciated people of all types and different beliefs.44 Many chaplains realised they were socially isolated until they joined the army because of their upbringing, education, and vocation. However, as in the civilian church, the social background of the chaplains had less impact on their work than their training and experience after ordination.45 The chaplains who served in World War Two were aware of the legacy of the Great War. Most had relatives or friends who had served in the Great War, and one third of them knew Great War chaplains or had read

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books by them, Studdert-Kennedy’s works being particularly well known. One Methodist minister, the Revd David Izzett described how the chairman of his district he was in had served as a Great War chaplain and ‘kindled in me motives to become a chaplain myself’. Similarly an Anglican chaplain, the Revd Aidan Chapman described how he knew a chaplain who retreated from Mons in 1914, and how the memory of what he did helped Chapman during the BEF collapse in May 1940.46 This combination of historical knowledge about Great War practices, chaplaincy administrative structures that were largely unchanged between the wars and the fact that chaplains were trained by Great War veterans at Chester and Tidworth meant there was a high degree of similarity of attitudes and practices between the two World Wars. The motives of clergy volunteering to become chaplains were often unique, but denominational patterns emerged when former chaplains completing survey forms responded to the question, ‘Were there any particular reasons for your decision to become a chaplain?’ Three out of five Catholic chaplains indicated that their Bishop had asked them to become chaplains. This was in marked contrast to the Anglican and nonconformist chaplains who stressed personal motives for becoming chaplains. For three out of six nonconformist chaplains, the influence of the pacifist movement was significant in their decision to become chaplains. The Revd A. E. Gibbins indicated that a reason he became a chaplain was that he thought not enough Methodist ministers were volunteering to become chaplains because of their pacifist associations. Two other Methodist chaplains who both had links with pacifist organisations before the war renounced their pacifist beliefs. The Revd Leslie Skinner wrote that some thought his motive for being a pacifist was to save his skin, but more importantly he realised pacifism was not going to prevent war.47 The Revd David Izzett trained for the ministry at Wesley House, Cambridge, graduating in 1937. He vividly recalled the day he invited Charles Raven, one of the leading pacifists, to tea. Almost all of the ordinands at Wesley House were pacifists, ‘We were swept into the pacifist fold.’ At the time he thought pacifism was based on the teachings of Christ, but after graduating from Wesley House, Izzett won a scholarship to go to Berlin for New Testament studies. The militarism he saw in Germany when Mussolini visited, the jubilant atmosphere after the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the persecution of the Jews, horrified him. When he returned home he wrote a journal article and renounced his pacifist views. Although during an interview he played down the significance of his change of mind, he gave the impression that becoming a chaplain atoned for his pacifism.48 Since clergy were never conscripted

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into the chaplaincy and were vetted by their churches, no pacifists became chaplains. For these reasons there was little debate within the RAChD about pacifism. The Revd J. K. S. Reid, a Church of Scotland chaplain recalled the theological debates he had with other chaplains. He recalled that as volunteers, ‘we had no problem over whether the war was justified’.49 Dissatisfaction with the civilian ministry was not a significant factor in encouraging nonconformists into the armed forces. The motives of Anglican clergy who became chaplains were mixed. Unlike the Catholics, only one Anglican chaplain reported that he had been approached by his bishop, a factor which goes a long way to explaining the shortage of Anglican chaplains. However, once clergy decided they wished to become chaplains, they were usually supported by their bishop. Clergy like the Revd Raymond Bowers commented that young people from his church joined up and he wanted to follow them. This close identification with laity of their own age motivated a significant number of the chaplains. Three out of 18 Anglican chaplains wrote their main reason for becoming chaplains was patriotic. They believed in the justice of the Allied cause, while two indicated Germany and Japan were evil nations. Another curate wrote that he had, ‘A strong feeling that war against Nazi Germany was right, if all other means of overcoming an evil regime had been exhausted.’ He also indicated that he had disagreed with the priest who ran the parish, and in 1944, his diocese indicated they did not want him back.50 As noted earlier, it was easier for urban dioceses to release clergy than rural dioceses, but a factor which enforced this trend was the wartime experiences of urban clergy. Many chaplains were anxious about their ability to cope under fire, but those clergy who ministered during the blitz were confident they were ready for the army. The Revd Alan Gibson commented, ‘I also felt that having been under fire as an air raid warden in Battersea I could cope with it in the army.’ In 1938 at the time of the Munich crisis, the Revd W. Ronald George had indicated he was willing to serve as a chaplain. By May 1942, he still had not been called up and was uneasy as young men from his parish were conscripted. One day he was mailed a note saying ‘Your King and Country need you’ which was accompanied by a white feather. The resulting publicity and a renewed application to the RAChD meant he was commissioned later in 1942.51 In addition to the option of becoming a chaplain, at least 11 Anglican clergy volunteered to become combatants.52 Jewish rabbis were motivated by a profound sense of the threat that Nazism posed to the Jewish people. Rabbi Isaac Levy explained he was not motivated by a general sense of patriotism but rather that he viewed Nazism as a threat to democracy and his own people. This view was

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enforced by his experiences when ministering to refugees.53 Additionally a number of rabbis in Palestine were commissioned and for them at least, it is probable that a more distinctly Zionist motivation was at work. Catholic chaplains who returned survey forms were clear as to what their priorities as chaplains were. Three out of five indicated that their most important duty was administering the sacraments and conducting services followed by visiting sick and injured soldiers. The other two did not prioritise their functions. The other clear conclusion that can be drawn is the marked aversion Catholic chaplains showed towards peripheral duties like organising entertainments, doing odd jobs for officers, and serving as combatants. This pattern confirms that Catholic chaplains acted within Catholic theology and followed their standing orders. The greatest area of disagreement between Catholic chaplains concerned evangelism and conversion. The Revd Ben Fenlon held missions and indicated that evangelism and conversion was his third priority. Other Catholic chaplains either thought this was inappropriate behaviour or gave it a very low priority, i.e. thirteenth. The nonconformists who returned survey forms included four Methodists, one Presbyterian, and one Presbyterian Church of Wales. Also there was the Revd B. Vaughan Parry who joined the RAChD as a Baptist and then switched to the Church of England during the war (for purposes of analysis he was included with the Anglicans since his Baptist ministry aspired to Anglicanism). The forms that were returned by nonconformists showed diversity concerning their functions as chaplains, reflecting the autonomy nonconformist ministers had in their denominations and the fact that nonconformist denominations had slightly variant theologies. Most of the nonconformists indicated their first priority was administering the sacraments and conducting services although they gave greater weight to the services than the sacraments. Interestingly, four out of six nonconformists indicated praying for victory was inappropriate behaviour for chaplains. This showed a degree of ambivalence towards using spiritual means to advance the Allied cause and also indicated uncertainty as to what their Christian attitude towards war should be. Further evidence for this is the fact that no nonconformists indicated that they should preach a message of reconciliation. This contrasts directly with Catholics especially, and to a lesser extent with Anglicans, who did both pray for victory and preach reconciliation. The nonconformist unwillingness to link spiritual issues to the conduct of war is curious when placed alongside a fascination with all aspects of the war revealed in nonconformist newspapers like The Baptist Times, and The Methodist Recorder. The pacifist movement had greater influence over nonconformists than Anglicans and Catholics in the

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interwar years and perhaps this explains the ambivalence within nonconformity towards the war. Arguably nonconformist churches and chaplains masked this by throwing themselves into practical assistance like organising canteens, and entertainments for soldiers. The survey forms from nonconformist chaplains indicated a far greater willingness to assist officers and organise entertainments for soldiers than was the case with Catholic and Anglican chaplains. The survey forms also revealed that only the Revd Tommy Nicol, a Church of Scotland chaplain, gave priority to evangelism among the soldiers. Two of the others gave fairly low priority to evangelism, two left it blank, and one thought this was inappropriate behaviour for a chaplain. Overall the nonconformists were reluctant to engage in direct evangelism, preferring a more indirect approach with services and pastoral assistance. Of the 18 Anglican chaplains who returned survey forms, 11 indicated their priority was administering the sacraments and conducting services. The others indicated priorities like evangelism, assisting with morale related issues, or pastoral work, with services soon following on as second or third priority. In the context of the academic debate about role conflict within chaplains’ ministry it is significant that only two chaplains from any denomination indicated their priority was bolstering the morale of soldiers either directly or by using spiritual means and they were both Anglicans. This contrasts with most chaplains who indicated bolstering the morale of soldiers was part of their duties, but that it was secondary to their religious ministry. The divergence of answers reflected the broad spectrum of churchmanship within the Church of England, the best example of this being four chaplains who indicated evangelism was either their first or second priority. The fact that this was a minority confirmed that during World War Two the RAChD was recruited from a cross section of the Church of England, whereas during the Great War, evangelical clergy were predominant as the Chaplain-General recruited evangelical clergy like himself.54 When Geoffrey Lunt, Bishop of Ripon, visited the Middle East in 1942 and 1943, he was surprised by the cordial relationship between Anglican regular chaplains and those with emergency commissions. Regular chaplains had ‘far less freedom or scope for variety of ritual and outlook than is to be found in any ordinary rural deanery’ where the wartime chaplains were recruited from.55 Although Lunt did not give specific examples, he admitted there were exceptions. The Revd Martin W. Willson, a high church Anglican had established himself in Tripoli Parish Church and introduced dignified worship, music, and artistic excellence. The SCF in that area, the Revd W. D. Conwyl Williams, wrote to the Revd

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A. J. Wilcox, the Assistant Chaplain-General, criticising Willson for describing himself as a priest in charge rather than a padre, and showing intolerance towards nonconformists by refusing them communion. Hughes, then in charge of 8th Army chaplaincy thought that Willson’s success was promoting jealousy, and that if Willson was ‘not convinced that a passion for God is leading his SCF he will go his own way in God’s name, and the situation will ripen for trouble.’ Hughes suggested that Willson should be posted away, adding he would be delighted to have him in the 8th Army. The matter was settled when Willson at his own desperate request was transferred to a frontline unit. Although Hughes clearly respected Willson and wanted to get him into the 8th Army, he added a postscript to the letter he sent to Wilcox on 30 August 1943, ‘You will note that I do not regard the high tradition, which I respect and dislike, as a thing to be repudiated by the RAChD … just gently controlled.’56 The incident showed that conflicts caused by churchmanship were harder to resolve in the army than they were in the civilian church where parishes divided into types according to churchmanship and a military chain of command did not overlap with church authority. One area of contention was between regular chaplains and those on other types of commission. These conflicts being especially divisive when regular chaplains felt they had been passed over for promotion. One regular chaplain, known as ‘A. K.’, was bitter when the Revd A. V. Hurley, a TA chaplain, was promoted above him as Assistant Chaplain-General for 8th Army in Italy. He phoned Hurley and said he would not accept orders from a TA chaplain and would apply for a home posting. Hurley’s reply was succinct, ‘A.K. O.K. U.K.’.57 Some chaplains on emergency commissions criticised regular chaplains for being militaristic, badly organised, cowardly, incompetent and lacking in spiritual values.58 Meanwhile regular chaplains criticised some chaplains with emergency commissions for becoming militarised after they were promoted.59 Geoffrey Lunt identified the training courses for chaplains as one of the factors which contributed towards the smooth running of the RAChD. From October 1939, the Anglican Bishops pressed the ChaplainGeneral to establish a training course for chaplains. The group of chaplains who needed most training were those receiving wartime Emergency Commissions. Compared with chaplains drawn from the Territorial Army and the Reserve of Officers, chaplains with emergency commissions were generally younger and less experienced as priests and unfamiliar with army practices. Between September 1939 and the establishment of the Chester training course for chaplains, the 459 chaplains who were given Emergency Commissions, received little training, and in some cases none at all.

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This meant almost a quarter of all chaplains serving in January 1942 were not only inexperienced as priests but also lacked training concerning how to exercise their ministry in the army.60 The number of inexperienced chaplains was even higher because chaplains from the Reserve of Officers ranged from Great War veterans to recently ordained curates. One chaplain in this situation was the Revd Richard H. Hill. He was an Anglican clergyman, who was ordained in 1936 and worked in a parish near Leeds. In 1939, he was posted to Saighton camp near Chester and recalled: I had no instruction or training whatever for the job I was supposed to do. I had no idea at all what my duties were or what was expected of me; I had no knowledge of how the army was organised or administered and no information about protocol or about etiquette of an officers’ mess. I had to learn everything by keeping my eyes and ears open and by addressing questions to anyone who seemed to have a kind face. Indeed so profound was my ignorance that I had been puzzled by the initials RAChD on my railway warrant and did not even realise that I belonged to the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department.61 Hill learned what to do and soon he was conducting services, liaising with civilian clergy helping the Officiating Chaplains to the Forces (OCFs) to arrange services, and visiting soldiers in the evenings. One of the OCFs served as a chaplain during the Great War and Hill benefited from his advice. In 1940, Hill requested a posting to a deployed unit and on 7 May 1940, three days before the German invasion of France, he landed in Le Havre and joined the Royal Army Service Corps with the 50th Northumbrian Territorial Army Division. He admitted he made no contribution to the spiritual or material welfare of the soldiers whatsoever as he was ignorant as to what a chaplain should do during a battle.62 The expectation that chaplains could orientate themselves in the army was similar to what was expected of newly ordained clergy in civilian life. Hill commented that the vicar he was working with gave him no guidance and expected him to find his own way. As he admitted, ‘this would have been all right if I had a way’ but at that stage he was still seeking a way of working.63 Roman Catholic chaplains encountered similar difficulties due to lack of training. The difference was that whilst the united department eventually introduced a training course for their chaplains, the Catholic branch of the RAChD never introduced a course for their newly commissioned chaplains. This was their most significant policy failure during World War Two. Father Denys Rutledge, a Benedictine monk described the problems

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caused by the lack of training. Just after war was declared he applied for a commission and was immediately posted to the 6th Cameronians. A local priest who had served in the Great War gave him some advice, but this was no substitute for proper training. Rutledge wrote in his journal: It seems remarkable that there should have been no ecclesiastical equivalent of the Military Staff College, something on a very modest scale, where, for at least a few days, one might have learned the basic formations of an army, the organisation of the medical services, the customs and traditions of an officers’ mess, and even just how, when, whom, and where to salute, instead of being thrown in at the deep end and left to sink or swim.64 The problems caused by lack of training got Catholic chaplains into trouble with other officers and senior chaplains. One chaplain was reprimanded for smoking in his truck and failing to report to the President of the Mess when he was late for meals.65 These mistakes would have been avoided if Catholic chaplains had been trained. It seems probable that if the experiment with Catholics and the united department working in the BEF had proved successful, then Catholics would have trained alongside their Anglican and nonconformist colleagues. However, the unification scheme failed in the same month that the Chaplains’ School was established. The first course for chaplains from the united department started on 11 June 1940, at Chester Teacher Training College. The Principal of the College, the Revd Stanley Astbury, became Commandant of the Chaplains’ School. During the Great War he served as a chaplain and won the Military Cross. He was a forceful and ecumenically orientated priest. There were also two instructors both of whom had served as combatants during the Great War. Canon Ronald S. B. Sinclair was a Canon in the Chester Diocese, and gave particular help with organising the devotional side of the course. The other assistant was the Revd John J. Arthur who was mainly responsible for the military aspects of the training. The RAChD became concerned that the Chester course was out of touch with the conditions in which chaplains operated after they completed their training. Neither Astbury nor his staff had served with frontline units during World War Two. In January 1942, this problem was partly resolved after refresher courses started. These gave Astbury an opportunity to incorporate new material concerning the problems chaplains faced into his lectures, but the Revd L. G. Hughes, the Assistant Chaplain General of Western Command, argued that this was not enough. In October 1942,

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The Revd Frank Woods, recently posted to Chester, succeeded Astbury as Commandant of the Chaplains’ School. Soon after Woods took over, the Chaplains’ School was transferred to Tidworth on Salisbury plain where it remained until the end of the war. Chester College was then used to billet the ATS.66 The course at Chester followed a fairly fixed pattern, the newly commissioned chaplains arriving in groups of between 15 and 20. Between June 1940 and March 1942, 649 chaplains were trained at Chester. Two chaplains who attended courses in August 1942 kept extensive notes. The Revd Norman Bainbridge was an Anglican clergyman who arrived on 1 August 1942. The Revd A. I. Dunlop arrived with a subsequent intake on 30 August 1942. He was a Church of Scotland minister, and there were 16 chaplains on his course including four others from the Church of Scotland, six Anglicans, one Baptist, and four Methodists. Students would arrive on Sunday evenings when the structure of the course was explained to them. This was followed by a discussion of the place of the chaplain in the army. One of the instructors compared the situation in the unit with the relationship between Christ and the Apostles, adding, ‘You cannot get away from your congregation because you live with them.’ Specifically military aspects of the course included anti-gas training, map reading, military law, and the structure of military units. It was remarkable that chaplains received only five hours training in military subjects before they were posted to units. Chaplains were normally posted directly to bases and rear areas before going into the line. The terms and conditions of chaplaincy service were explained, including that if they died their widows would get a pension of £100 per year with an extra £30 for each child. Bainbridge calculated that his family would get a £160 pension if he was killed and made a note to himself to ‘Notify Insurance Company’. Outside speakers were brought in to lecture on the soldiers’ moral welfare. Bainbridge made notes while Major Radcliffe was lecturing. The value of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmens’ Family Association was stressed, as they could visit a soldier’s wife if their marriage was strained by separation. When the Revd John Morrell, the Secretary of the Moral Welfare Council, talked to a group of chaplains he said that promiscuity was a problem in the army as tension and monotony were far more common than they were in civilian life. Woods lectured on service overseas. He warned the chaplains that conditions on the troopships were grim, ‘Conditions below decks can be appalling. There are no portholes open so you cannot tell whether it is day or night. The men sleep in hammocks. The difference between officer’s and the men’s accommodation is very noticeable aboard ship … the chief enemies are drink and organised

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gambling.’ Once overseas, standards could slip quickly, however, the soldiers were also far more receptive to the gospel message. The chaplains received extensive training on how to present the Christian message to the soldiers, both overseas and at home.67 The days at Chester started with Morning Prayers and ended with a devotional address. The worship was intended both to provide examples of the theories expounded in the lectures and to build up the spiritual life of chaplains so they were ready for active service. Sinclair, published his devotional addresses in 1941 and entitled them A Religion for Battle-Dress. It was excellent advice as it linked the theology and practice of the church with the work of being a chaplain. In a talk on the temptations of Christ in the wilderness he reminded them of Christ’s answer to the devil in Matthew 4:4, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ He told the chaplains to prioritise their spiritual work, rather than odd jobs and secular assistance: The Church is always being asked to pander to men’s bodily and material needs: to be a kind of relieving officer. And it is temptation which is going to be very strong for those of us who are chaplains. War makes big demands on men’s bodies, and it is fatally easy for a chaplain to slip into the way of being content to give men only the bread which perishes: just to be content to minister to men’s bodies: to be a dispenser of comforts, of cigarettes, of chocolate – all very necessary, and all part of our work. … To do these things will win us a certain amount of favour both from officers and men. … But it is not what we were commissioned for. We may use the bread which perisheth not as an end in itself, but as a means of contact, and of friendship, in order that we may satisfy the deep-seated need of the soul for Christ Himself.68 It was some of the best advice the chaplains were given as to what their role in the army was as it gave a theological underpinning to chaplaincy standing orders reminding chaplains not to get too involved peripheral duties. Frank Woods realised the course could be improved and at Tidworth he introduced a number of changes. Ten lectures were devoted to chaplaincy duties, a significant increase on the number given in Chester. The number of lectures on first aid, military law, and map reading were increased. Also a number of new topics were introduced including security, and the ATS which was given by Miss Sykes a Chaplains’ Assistant. The Tidworth course was more intense than Chester, but

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Woods considered there were still gaps. Woods explained to Archbishop Temple that there was a lack of physical training as he was unsure ‘what clergy straight from sedentary life in parishes can stand’ and it was important that students were not too tired to cope with the intellectual aspects of the course. Secondly, there was not enough time for military training, as it was unacceptable to curtail Bible studies and devotional periods. Finally, the course was too theoretical as there was not enough time to practise the recently acquired skills.69 Essentially the course was too short. Nevertheless, the chaplains on the courses at Chester and Tidworth realised that some training was better than none. In January 1942, the Revd Ronald Edwards wrote to his wife, Olive, and commented that the instructors were Great War veterans, ‘After the wealth of experience we get here we shall be old sweats when we come out.’70 Most of the chaplains who were trained at Chester or Tidworth responded favourably to the course. Out of a group of 13 chaplains who completed survey forms, one considered the training was vital, 10 indicated it was useful, one wrote it was unhelpful, and the Revd Leslie Skinner said it was useless. He was very critical of the Great War veteran instructors as they failed to appreciate the differences between the World Wars and he found their use of dated army slang irritating.71 The Revd B. V. Parry, who switched denominations, was trained at Chester as a Baptist and at Tidworth as an Anglican. He contrasted the two courses and wrote that Chester was disorganised in comparison with Tidworth where more emphasis was placed on first aid and physical training. Both the courses stressed spiritual teaching. The training courses at Chester and Tidworth met an important need and contributed towards the professionalisation of the RAChD. Chaplains were not trained during the Great War, but the chaplains’ courses during World War Two were dominated by staff who had served either as chaplains or combatants so there was a degree of continuity between the two World Wars. Woods was rightly concerned about lack of time for military training at Tidworth. But his concerns were only addressed in 1944 as the casualty rate for chaplains increased. Ninety six chaplains were killed during World War Two. The RAChD became concerned that some were killed as they took unnecessary risks, so an order was circulated to chaplains and doctors telling them to leave wounded soldiers behind if their own lives were in danger.72 In early 1944, a more helpful approach was adopted when chaplains were sent on battle training courses; this being just as well as many chaplains ignored the first order. The courses for chaplains were similar to courses for soldiers which started in 1942.73 The first battle course for chaplains started as a local initiative and it was similar to the

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courses already being run in the army. In 1943, the Revd I. D. Neill was posted from Aldershot to become SCF of 43rd Division. Concerned that he had not done any field craft since Dunkirk and, further, that many of the chaplains in his division were in a similar position, he arranged for his chaplains to visit Chatham Military Hospital where they watched operations and also they attended a five day battle course at Tenterden in January 1944. Topics included vehicle maintenance, cooking, radio communications, avoiding mines and booby-traps, camouflage, security, first aid, map reading and night marches, and soldiers’ welfare.74 Neill submitted a report about the course and it was decided by the Revd J. W. J. Steele, Assistant Chaplain-General of 2nd Army, that all chaplains taking part in the Normandy landings should undergo similar training. The battle school for chaplains was established at Church Stowe in Northamptonshire and ran during February and March 1944. There were 11 instructors and two chaplains running the course and chaplains would arrive in groups of about 35, staying for five days. About 200 chaplains attended the course in total. Given that Catholic chaplains did not participate in the initial training courses for chaplains at Chester and Tidworth, it is surprising that they probably attended the Church Stowe battle course.75 Accommodation was provided in a requisitioned rectory and the chaplains worshipped in the village church. The course was designed to prepare chaplains to cope with the conditions of intensive warfare. Topics included mine lifting, digging slit trenches, identifying battle sounds to distinguish between rounds passing close by and the general noise of battle, a night navigation exercise, evacuating wounded soldiers, and a vigorous assault course.76 The assault course included crawling under barbed wire with machine guns firing overhead, jumping into a stream, and crawling along trenches. This type of realistic training carried with it a high risk of accidents, and unfortunately, the Revd Geoffrey L. Treglown was blinded and had his hand blown off when he used his helmet to smother a stick of explosive that fell in front of him, rather than going off near the trench.77 Chaplains who failed the course did not take part in the invasion, but were posted to bases or lines of communication.78 The Revd Gethyn-Jones wrote that the course prepared chaplains physically and mentally for the ordeal of battle. Although three out of 13 chaplains in his division were killed, Gethyn-Jones thought that the casualty rate among chaplains who completed the battle training course was lower than the casualty rate for chaplains who had not been trained.79 The only other group of chaplains who received specifically military training were chaplains attached to the Parachute Regiment. MajorGeneral Browning the commander of 1st Airborne Division was

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determined that chaplains should complete the same training as soldiers and officers in the Division and he eventually obtained permission from the War Office.80 Browning also showed support for chaplains by introducing padres’ hours in his Division. The chaplains, like everyone else in the Parachute Regiment were volunteers. Periodically, circulars were sent to chaplains inviting them to consider transferring to the Parachute Regiment. They were motivated by a mixture of adventurism, a wish to test themselves, or dissatisfaction with their current positions. Chaplains were keen to escape from bases and lines-of-communication and volunteering for the Parachute Regiment was one way to ensure posting to a combat unit provided the chaplain passed the tough selection procedures.81 Prospective parachutists spent two weeks training at Hardwicke near Chesterfield. This section of the course included runs up to 10 miles, assault courses, and gym training. The chaplains participated in all aspects of the course including milling where the Revd Goode earned a reputation for, ‘smiting his opponents in the boxing ring in a most unclerical and unbrotherly fashion.’82 Another stage of the selection process was interviews with psychiatrists to ensure that men were mentally robust enough for airborne operations. If candidates passed that section of the course they proceeded to RAF Ringway near Manchester for the parachute training. The first couple of jumps were made from a hot air balloon, then jumps from aircraft. The heightened ecumenical feeling between chaplains that was present at the front also became apparent during parachute training, for as McLuskey wrote, ‘While one denomination or another might be held most efficacious for man’s upward ascent, Church and Chapel, Protestant and Roman, bow all alike to gravity and fall with equal force.’83 Once the jumps were completed chaplains were awarded their wings. Browning’s insistence on chaplains doing the training was vindicated by the enthusiastic response from chaplains who found it was easier to relate to soldiers. As the Revd Bernard Egan, one of the first Catholic chaplains to complete airborne training, wrote: There was no doubt that the position of a parachute chaplain made all the difference to his relations with the men. He could truly say that he was one of them, and the men, for their part, liked to feel that the chaplain was undergoing the same trials as themselves, and their mutual feelings of discomfort, nervousness, and exhilaration, were equally shared. Personal relations with the men mean so much to a chaplain that he feels, these having been so well established, that the difficulties he is likely to encounter have been more than halved.84

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The final factor relating to the recruitment and training of chaplains is the terms and conditions of service. These improved slightly during the course of the war reflecting repeated attempts to increase the pay of chaplains. At the start of the war chaplains on emergency commissions were paid 15s 4d per day, an annual salary of just under £280. TA and regular chaplains, after three years service received a higher rate of pay of 19s per day, an annual salary of just under £347. Those who were promoted to 3rd class were paid 27s 2d per day, just under £496 annually. Chaplains also qualified for the same family allowances as other officers, so the wife of a chaplain with three children would be sent 10s 6d a day. The basic pay for chaplains was slightly less than the annual salary of skilled office workers who could earn £300. In April 1943, the government increased the pay of chaplains. They decided that after three years service the pay of chaplains on emergency commissions should be increased from 15s 4d to 18s 2d. The announcement was made in the House of Commons on 22 April 1943, after a short debate which provided MPs with the opportunity to state the case for increased pay and to praise chaplains. Dr Russell Thomas, the MP for Southampton, reminded the House that chaplains were usually older than other officers and that, as members of ‘a learned profession’ many had attended Oxford or Cambridge. He suggested that the War Office was open to the accusation of taking advantage of the strained financial circumstances of the churches by paying the chaplains the same as the poorest curates. Thomas praised the work of the chaplains as they gave guidance to soldiers and fortified them against evils at home and abroad. He concluded that if the soldier made the supreme sacrifice, the chaplain ‘gives him that spiritual help and comfort that allows him to die with peace in his heart’. Francis Freemantle, MP for St Albans, rose to support chaplains. ‘Those who take a long term view of the matter and are in command’, he told the House, ‘are fully aware that the essential thing at the bottom of victory is the morale of the men.’ High morale was ultimately based on religion, and he feared that Britain was drawing on its religious heritage rather than storing up such assets for the future. He feared that all the attempts of the army to improve the welfare, morals, and morale of the army would prove insufficient unless backed by religion. The only dissent came from Austin Hopkinson, the MP for Mossley, who sarcastically remarked that the House and the tax payer should provide the ‘modern apostles’ with as many shoes as they needed. Arthur Henderson, the Financial Secretary at the War Office concluded the debate by stating that the pay of chaplains would be increased and ‘that is not a bad Easter offering’.85 The tone of the debate was very

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different from the previous consideration of the finances of the RAChD in 1931 when pacifist MPs attempted to abolish the chaplaincy. The wartime record of the chaplains had enhanced their prestige. The debate in parliament prompted the Church of Scotland to examine the pay of army chaplains, and they concluded it was insufficient. They presented an argument to the War Office which revived the chaplaincy Interdenominational Advisory Committee (which had been moribund since the outbreak of the war) to consider the matter. On 28 July 1943, the Revd Sym, who represented the Church of Scotland on the Committee, said there was an inequality between chaplains pay and similar professional officers in the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, and the recently established Army Educational Corps. The minimum chaplain’s pay of 15s 4d was even less than infantry Captains who got 16s 6d. The representatives of other churches were unanimous in their support for an increase.86 However, the Church of Scotland proposals were based on selective evidence as became clear when the Army Council considered the bid for an increase on 8 October 1943. Sir Frederick Bovenschen, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for War, who had chaired the meeting of the Interdenominational Advisory Committee, guided the discussions of the Army Council. He thought that the fact that Captains in the Educational Corps were paid 19 shillings would support the case for an increase in the pay of chaplains, but the answer to the question varied according to who the chaplains’ pay was compared with. Some infantry Captains were paid more than chaplains, but unlike the chaplains, they did not achieve the rank of Captain on enlistment. Many combatant officers on emergency commissions never reached the rank of Captain. Moreover, men from other professions were conscripted into units where they had no chance of fulfilling their vocation or of gaining promotion from the ranks. What did concern Bovenschen was that army chaplains were paid less than their counterparts in the navy and RAF. Furthermore this difference would increase if the Air Ministry’s proposal to increase the pay of their chaplains was accepted. The Army Council could either add their support to the Air Ministry application and demand parity with them, or make it clear to the Treasury that they did not back the Air Ministry, then wait and only demand parity if the application was successful. They chose the latter option.87 On 16 June 1944, after the Treasury blocked the Air Ministry application, the Army Council briefly considered the pay of chaplains and concluded that they should not increase their pay.88 The matter was raised again in parliament on 7 December 1944, by Lt Col Thornton-Kemsley, the MP for Aberdeen and Kincardine (Western).

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‘It has been my privilege’, he told the house, ‘to meet many padres of all denominations since the beginning of the war. Some of them, unfortunately, have been killed for the padre has never hesitated to go where the fighting is thickest.’ He called for the pay of chaplains to be raised to the same level as that of the Captains in the Army Education Corps, an increase of 2s 8d. The following speaker was Lt. Com. Hutchinson, the MP for Edinburgh (West). He pointed to the shortage of chaplains and said that their pay should be sufficient to attract clergy into the armed forces. Significantly, four out the five MPs who spoke during the debate came from Scottish constituencies, which suggested the Church of Scotland had influenced them to suggest the pay of chaplains be increased. P. J. Grigg, the Secretary of State for War, rejected the calls for an increase in pay, a decision which was in line with the decision of the Army Council. Grigg quoted from the parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20, ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way.’ Grigg’s point was that chaplains had agreed to the terms of service when commissioned. He stated that unlike other professionals, such as doctors who would have to rebuild practices when they returned to civilian life, chaplains could return to their church immediately the war ended. Grigg summarised: Let me end as I began, by saying that this attitude does not in the least arise from any failure to recognise the worth of the Army chaplain’s work. It arises from the conviction that the best work of all is that of the combatant officer. Nevertheless, nothing would induce me to underrate the value of the Army chaplain’s work – it would be foolish and worse, ungrateful. But it remains true that this work cannot be valued in terms of earthly remuneration, and I am sure most chaplains recognise that. Although Grigg valued chaplains, he valued combatant officers more. Ironically, the pay of chaplains, while lower than that of other professional officers, was virtually identical to the pay of combatant officers.89 Although Grigg said he valued combatants above others, it was not reflected in their salary. The key question from the debates about the terms and conditions for chaplains and the recruitment of chaplains was could the shortage of army chaplains be attributed to the alleged lack of pay? The Chaplain-General argued there was such a link when he explained to the Archbishop of Canterbury why Anglican clergy were more inclined to serve in the navy or airforce, but he was trying to divert attention from the perception that

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the RAChD lacked practical and spiritual leadership.90 It is unlikely there was a direct connection since the shortage of chaplains was a Church of England problem, but the most persistent calls for an increase in pay for chaplains came from the Church of Scotland. Although chaplains grumbled about COs, church parades, and other matters in denominational newspapers, they did not complain about pay, and none of their memoirs suggested that this was an issue. The shortage of Anglican chaplains was mainly caused by the unwillingness of bishops to release clergy. In contrast the nonconformist churches relied on their tradition of lay leadership to fill the gaps left by their ministers who became chaplains, and the Catholics recruited chaplains from Ireland and the religious orders. The Church of England did not utilise their potential advantage of the sheer number of clergy at their disposal to supply chaplains to the armed forces. Although denominational influences were significant in shaping the total number of chaplains, the recruitment system depended on volunteers coming forward. The Anglicans and nonconformists were motivated by a mixture of patriotism, desire to minister to men their age, and adventurism. Although pacifism was part of nonconformist culture during the interwar years, its hold on churches was soon shaken by war, and sufficient ministers volunteered. The individual motives for Catholic chaplains were less prominent, as they were usually prompted by their bishop. Despite the shortage of Anglican chaplains a disproportionate number of Anglicans on emergency commissions were promoted into the senior ranks of the RAChD. It was an advantage the Anglicans gained because of their position of being the established church, rather than through meeting the spiritual needs of the army. The shortage of Anglican chaplains stripped bases and lines of communications of chaplains to meet the religious needs of frontline units. The impact of this policy is examined in the following chapter.

5 ‘Those Inglorious, but AllImportant Directions’: Chaplaincy Work in Bases and Lines-of-Communication

‘Sometimes the SCF’s patient and tactful approach’, wrote the Revd J. M. Clarke, a Catholic SCF, ‘is called into play to convince Father X that, although DSO [medal]s do not lie around the quays of a dock area … their talents and apostolic abilities are better directed to those inglorious, but all-important directions, than to Brigades and Battalions in the front line.’1 Clarke worked hard to persuade his chaplains to serve in bases and lines-of-communication as they preferred to minister to frontline units where soldiers were more responsive to religion. Moreover, due to the shortage of chaplains, the RAChD policy was to strip chaplains from bases and lines-of-communication to supply frontline units. The shortage of chaplains in these areas meant that the religious needs of soldiers frequently had to be met by Officiating Chaplains to the Forces and lay workers including Army Scripture Readers and women Chaplains’ Assistants. Churches also made a substantial contribution to the war effort in bases and lines-of-communication by organising canteens, rest rooms, and hostels and supplying knitted comforts, games, and books. In addition to releasing chaplains, churches, especially Methodists with their sense of social responsibility, supported the war effort by mobilising their spiritual and physical resources. For most of the war, the majority of army units were based in Britain, initially to repel an expected German invasion and later training for operations in Europe. When the army returned to Europe there was a long tail of supporting units. Before D-Day it was calculated that 25,000 soldiers were needed in rear areas to support a frontline division of 16,000

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men.2 Life in lines-of-communications had more in common with bases than it did with the frontline. In Britain there were six separate Commands and two Districts commanded by a General Officer Commanding.3 Attached to Command headquarters would be an Assistant ChaplainGeneral. He was a 1st Class chaplain, the equivalent of a Colonel. In Scottish Command the Assistant Chaplain-General would always be a Presbyterian, and a nonconformist would usually be in charge of Western Command covering Wales and north west England. Further down the chain of command there were usually several Deputy Assistant ChaplainsGeneral, who were 2nd Class chaplains, the equivalent of LieutenantColonel. Finally within army divisions, chaplains would report to a Senior Chaplain to the Forces (SCF) which was the equivalent of Major. The chaplaincy chain of command ran parallel to the army chain of command which was why there were so many layers to it. Chaplains in these administrative positions were told to resolve their own problems and not annoy other officers with their difficulties. Middleton Brumwell, the Deputy Chaplain-General at the War Office reminded them, ‘Keep your GOC [General] and staff officers well informed of all your work. They want to be informed, but not worried.’4 Chaplains outside Command Headquarters would do their own administration, but Assistant ChaplainsGeneral had staff chaplains to assist them and some clerks. An exception to this was the London and Northern Ireland Districts where the Deputy Assistant Chaplains-General also had administrative support. The work of Assistant Chaplains-General was to minister to staff on the Command headquarters, arrange the posting of chaplains to units, monitor the work of chaplains by studying their monthly reports and organising conferences, appoint Officiating Chaplains to the Forces, and resolve any disputes between chaplains or between chaplains and officers. The majority of their time was spent touring their Command and having meetings. Scottish Command was fairly typical with one Assistant Chaplain-General responsible for 150 chaplains. During World War Two, Assistant Chaplains-General interviewed prospective chaplains who had been recommended by their churches. Whereas during the Great War, the Chaplain-General, Taylor-Smith had interviewed all chaplains and discriminated in favour of evangelical clergy, this did not happen during World War Two as more men interviewed prospective chaplains.5 Therefore the RAChD was more representative of the civilian church during World War Two than it had been during the Great War. In January 1942, the Revd H. W. Todd became Assistant Chaplain-General for Southern Command. Previously he held a similar appointment in the Far East where due to the dispersion of his chaplains he operated a

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decentralised command structure. A month after his appointment he introduced a similar structure in his new Command and delegated a substantial number of his powers to the Deputy Assistant Chaplains-General under him. These included giving Deputy Assistant Chaplains-General and SCFs authority to grant leave and post chaplains within their own areas without consultation. Deputy Assistant Chaplains-General were instructed to provide battle training for their chaplains and decide which units they should join in the event of German invasion. Although Todd continued to appoint OCFs, they were to be monitored and directed by the Deputy Assistant Chaplains-General. Six weeks later he meet his Deputy Assistant Chaplains-General and reviewed the scheme.6 Although the scheme was successful, there is no indication that other Commands copied it, so minor decisions continued to be made far up the chain of command. In January 1943, one SCF sent an anonymous letter to The Church Times: It is not generally realised that chaplains as a rule have no help and encouragement from the heads of their Department. The criterion of a chaplain’s work is the little or no fuss and bother that comes from him. If he dares to raise a query or make demands for those under his care to his Department, he is either smoothed over with references to the ‘difficulties of the present situation,’ or else moved on and told not to be a nuisance.7 This cumbersome chain of command had its origins in the personality of Symons, the Chaplain-General. An ATS confidential clerk for the Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General of London District, criticised the ChaplainGeneral for obsession with paperwork, and that his inaccessibility when combined with his unwillingness to delegate minor decisions hindered the work of his Department.8 These criticisms were very similar to ones made by William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The confidential clerk provided a useful insight into the workings of chaplaincy offices during the war. She had promised her fiancée not to join the ATS, but after he died when his destroyer was sunk, she enlisted. She completed the basic one year ATS clerks’ course and then had an additional six months special training to enable her to assist MI5. In May 1943 she was posted to the office of the Revd Hugh Norton the Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General for London district and chaplain to the Brigade of Guards. The routine work of his office included visiting the families of Guardsmen who had been killed, organising services at the Guards chapel, liaising with OCFs, and organising the postings of chap-

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lains. Work during wartime was difficult, in May 1943, their office was bombed. Documents were destroyed and it took a week to reorganise the office in a different part of London. Later the same year, she was injured and two of her colleagues were killed by German bombing. She made a partial recovery and returned to work in May 1944. On Sunday 19 June 1944, the Deputy Assistant-Chaplain General, R. H. Whitrow, and 120 members of the congregation were killed when a V1 flying bomb destroyed the Guards chapel. She helped the next Deputy Assistant-Chaplain General, John Steele, compile the casualty list and rebuild a temporary chapel in the ruins of the old one. She was very impressed with Steele as soon after he arrived he briefed her explaining he wanted to be a servant to his chaplains and said they had massive responsibility as they were working for ‘our Lord and Master’. They remained friends long after the war.9 One significant insight from the confidential clerk concerned MI5 monitoring of the RAChD. Sometimes she was telephoned by Lieutenant Colonel Winterbottom, an M15 officer, who gave her the name of a chaplain, who was considered to be a security risk, and asked her to find out where and when he was posted. MI5’s interest is surprising but it is corroborated by other evidence. The Revd Selby Wright, a Church of Scotland chaplain, was seconded to the BBC and made the Radio Padre broadcasts. He was also approached by Winterbottom who asked him to send coded messages to POWs during the introduction to his talks (ironically, prisoners in Colditz depended on another chaplain, the Revd Heard, to listen to the broadcasts. He supplied them with a part from the organ to power the radio10). Also when chaplains had breakdowns, MI5 were notified. Typical was a chaplain wounded at Dunkirk who later lapsed into alcoholism. His distraught wife telephoned the Deputy Assistant-Chaplain General’s office and the confidential clerk and the staff chaplain discreetly took him to an army psychiatric hospital. The chain of command in lines-of-communications was similar to that in bases. An Assistant Chaplain-General or more commonly a Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General was responsible for rear areas in theatres of war. Mostly the chaplaincy chain of command was distant from individual chaplains who had considerable autonomy when organising their work. Usually chaplains would see their SCF individually each fortnight and attend monthly conferences for chaplains in that area. Chaplains were sent to bases or lines-of-communication immediately after they completed their training at Chester or Tidworth. It was unusual for newly commissioned chaplains to be sent straight to the front. Physically unfit chaplains were also restricted to rear areas. The Revd R. D.

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Saint John Smith who was due to take part in the Torch landings in North Africa, failed his pre-embarkation medical and being categorised as grade B he was posted to Catterick, Yorkshire instead. He later built up his fitness and was posted to Burma.11 Similarly some chaplains who failed the battle training course at Stokenchurch were kept away from the front, ‘Some of them were overweight and had to be helped to keep upright in the water; some never managed to climb the obstacles; and some found the whole event just too nerve racking.’12 Finally, chaplains who failed, or who annoyed senior chaplains or officers were usually sent back to Britain. The difficulties of staffing the lines-of-communications were exacerbated as the best chaplains were sent to units at the front. The Revd S. H. Moody, the Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General for the lines-ofcommunication of 21st Army Group in Normandy, sent nine of his chaplains forward to the front. One of them, the Revd A. C. Kerr had been running a canteen: But with the present shortage of chaplains, whatever the wishes of the Comd [Command] in this direction, and useful work though it may be, chaplains cannot be expected to spend a great deal of their time handing out cups of tea. I am under the very strong impression that Mr. Kerr has devoted too much of his time and attention to this, although there are a large number of troops in the immediate vicinity of Bayeux. He is Category ‘A’, young and vigorous, and I feel that he should be serving with men in battle.13 Not only did this reveal the staffing pressures on lines-of-communication it also demonstrated that attitudes within the RAChD had changed since the Great War. The Revd Blackburne recalled a conversation he had with the Deputy Chaplain-General, Bishop Gwynne, ‘I rather moaned to the Bishop that I had to spend so much of my time looking after buns but he cheered me by saying, ‘Never mind, they are sanctified buns’.’14 The shortage of chaplains was most acute in rear areas. By January 1945, 21st Army Group was 136 chaplains short, frontline units were short of 30 chaplains, but the lines-of-communications were short of 106 chaplains.15 Whereas in Britain, the Officiating Chaplains to the Forces could go some way towards meeting the religious needs of the army, this was not an option in the lines-of-communication. The work of chaplains in bases and lines-of-communication followed fairly fixed patterns. Religious work took up a lot of the chaplains’ time, but they also assisted with a variety of other jobs as well. Denominational attitudes towards worship were reflected in the types of services Anglican

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and nonconformist chaplains arranged for soldiers. Over a five week period in 1943, in North Africa, the Anglicans held 276 services and the nonconformists 200.16 The Anglicans placed greater emphasis on the sacraments than the nonconformists, and although only a minority of Anglican and nonconformist services were compulsory church parades, the Anglicans held more of these services as their chaplains were more accepting of compulsory parades than nonconformists. Although chaplains and many officers favoured church parades, soldiers were very cynical. In 1942, the magazine World Review printed an amusing satire about church parades, the theme of the chaplain’s sermon being David and Goliath: ‘Temptation’ he says, and repeats it twice. ‘In the Army, my friends, we have to fight several Temptations’. We wriggle excitedly; he’s going to talk about women! Or is he? But no! ‘There is, for instance, the temptation of bad language, BAD LANGUAGE’. … Or the temptation of drink, Drink, DRINK. (This to men who cannot, out of 17s. 6d. a week, afford more than half a pint a day, even when there is any beer to be had). ‘There are many other temptations’ – the curate looks evasively at the roof – ‘I needn’t go into them. They are the Goliaths of our Army life’ – (Clever! now we’re back on the text again!).17 The satire mocked chaplains’ attempts to identify themselves as friendly fellow soldiers, their lack of knowledge about the actual conditions soldiers lived under, and the attempt to preach a Biblical message that was relevant to the lives of soldiers. Like the best satires, it was plausible. Private James Sims, a 17 year old gunner, did not understand the theme of a chaplain’s sermon and asked an old soldier, ‘What’s fornication?’ Within minutes the whole congregation was laughing.18 The greatest indictment of church parades was that some devout Anglicans worshipped with nonconformists to avoid the feeling of compulsion and the cynicism of the reluctant worshippers.19 By 1943, the army doubted the value of church parades and officially reduced them to one per month. Chaplains had some curious reasons for defending church parades. Writing just before church parades were scaled down to one a month, the Revd P. Middleton Brumwell, the Methodist Deputy Chaplain-General, wrote that soldiers would not object to church parades if they were not inspected before the service, and he was pleased that inspections had been scaled down since the outbreak of war. He continued that if church parades were abolished an unintended consequence would be that it might

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become impossible to hold compulsory medical inspections, physical training, and education classes. It was as if army discipline depended on church parades. There was a risk that if church parades were abolished, officers would block voluntary services by arranging other duties on Sundays. He agreed with Father Paul Bull who said, ‘Compulsion is the only safeguard for freedom’.20 Religious justifications for church parades were suspiciously absent. Brumwell’s erastian argument was all the more surprising coming from a Methodist, whose denomination stressed primacy of conscience. One Anglican chaplain who favoured church parades was the Revd A. R. C. Leaney. In 1942, he was with the 6th Royal Sussex Regiment. After two of the NCOs grumbled to him about church parades, Leaney discussed the matter with the Commanding Officer: Like me he could not regard monthly observation of King’s Regulations as too great a burden, and said, very truly, that one must deal with the men as with children: in other words they must be made to do what is really good for them. (He never made any secret of his belief that my services and ministrations are good for them).21 Some chaplains pressurised reluctant soldiers into attending church parades. One Anglican soldier was keen to avoid church parades so he told the Revd Henry Whiteman that he wanted to become a spiritualist. Whiteman agreed to this, but spoke to the Regimental Sergeant Major who ordered the soldier to clean the latrines on Sunday morning. After three weeks cleaning the soldier decided he wished to return to the Anglican fold. Whiteman considered his approach was vindicated as later he ‘prepared that foolish young man for confirmation’.22 Although there was a potential problem with officers scheduling other duties at the time of services, chaplains could overcome this by using King’s Regulations and holding voluntary or parade services. One Anglican chaplain, the Revd R. D. St John Smith was frustrated that duties were scheduled on Sunday mornings preventing soldiers from attending voluntary services. His solution was simple, ‘If you got an obstructionist CO you could at last resort shake King’s Regulations at him.’23 Similarly, the Revd Ben Fenlon a Catholic chaplain reported that he had done something similar when the CO of a Scottish Regiment, which was predominantly Presbyterian, attempted to restrict Fenlon’s services for Catholic soldiers. Fenlon reminded him of King’s Regulations and arranged his service.24 These incidents demonstrated some of the advantages for

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chaplains of being uniformed commissioned officers. Officiating Chaplains to the Forces lacked the option of using King’s Regulations in this easy way. As chaplains were commissioned it was harder for officers to discriminate against them on religious grounds. This was a particular assistance to Catholics, nonconformists and Jewish chaplains working in an army environment that was predominantly Anglican. Jewish chaplains faced particular challenges in organising their ministry. Whereas Anglican, nonconformist and to a lesser extent Catholic chaplains were interchangeable, Jewish ministry was discrete. Moreover, Jewish soldiers were scattered widely around units and Orthodox chaplains could not travel on the Sabbath. Where possible Jewish soldiers would be brought together for the major festivals of the Jewish calendar such as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Chanuckah which was particularly popular because of its military connection with the Jewish defeat of the Greeks, and Passover. Jewish chaplains went to great lengths to organise these festivals and to obtain the correct food and unused cooking equipment.25 As mentioned in a preceding chapter, there was an implicit trade off between church parades being scaled down and the introduction of padres’ hours. However chaplains were unaware of this trade off and often grumbled about the virtual abolition of church parades while enthusing about padres’ hours. Padres’ hours originated in the Airborne Division, spreading rapidly in the Home Commands with the support of Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Adam, the General Officer Commanding of Northern Command. Overseas they became a regular feature in the Middle East lines-of-communication by early 1944.26 The chaplains in the Airborne Division copied the current affairs education programme that Adam started in his Command in 1941 to bolster the morale of his soldiers. S. P. MacKenzie comments that chaplains chose not to participate in the current affairs programme, ‘With the Army Educational Corps already in existence and memories of the now much-regretted aggressiveness of the Churches in the Great War still strong, chaplains this time around did not want to take on any propaganda function.’27 Chaplains copied the methods of the current affairs programme and focused instead on religious education in padres’ hours. This impulse towards religious rather than secular work mirrored the professionalisation of the RAChD that took place during World War Two. The hours were a success as although they were part of the training programme for soldiers, unlike church parades they were not preceded by inspections and there was a higher level of participation. Whereas soldiers resented compulsory worship, compulsory discussions about Christianity were acceptable. A typical

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class would consist of a platoon, 30 men, meeting with a chaplain once a week. Classes consisted of a short talk by the chaplain, with soldiers joining in the discussion. A cottage industry rapidly developed to supply teaching material to chaplains. The production of teaching materials was coordinated by the interdenominational Churches’ Committee for Supplementing Religious Education Among Men in HM Forces. As The Church Times wryly noted, ‘Its title alone almost constitutes a brochure’.28 By March 1944, the Committee had 12 booklets. One of them by Professor T. E. Jessop was typical. It was based on a series of radio broadcasts and was published in India entitled Questions Soldiers Ask. The talks included: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

Why shouldn’t we Eat, Drink and be Merry? Isn’t it enough to be Decent? Can’t a Man Live without Religion? Isn’t belief in God out of date? Why I believe in God What is the Use of Worship? Can’t a Man Worship God on his own Hearth?

The booklet started with a Christian critique of alternative world views like hedonism before moving onto a presentation of Christianity. The booklet, if it succeeded, would take soldiers from, ‘the view that we should pluck from every passing moment whatever pleasure we can’ to an acceptance of God and a desire to worship him.29 Most chaplains used padres’ hours to present the basic truths of Christianity to soldiers. The discussions provided soldiers with an opportunity to let off steam about aspects of army life that upset them, talk about religious issues with the chaplain, and voice their fears about going into action. Chaplains benefited as the hours bridged the gap between speaking to individual soldiers and preaching to soldiers at services. Reflecting on his experiences during World War Two, the Revd G. T. H. Reid admitted, ‘Whether or not my talks did the men good, their views and ignorance proved a long over-due eye-opener for myself.’30 The experience of chaplains during padres’ hours suggested that their churches had not absorbed the lessons from The Army and Religion report of 1919 which had identified the obvious fact that most soldiers had, ‘an extraordinary misunderstanding as to what the Christian religion really is’.31 One of the more perceptive chaplains, the Revd Leaney confided in his diary, ‘I am exercised in mind as to when I can turn to some of these men and invite them to accept and not merely discuss Christianity.’32 That

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was of course the crux of the issue, but it was only a minority of chaplains, including evangelical ones, who identified the question Leaney considered, and a smaller minority still who directly challenged the soldiers to become Christians. The Church Times while commending padres’ hours was concerned about interdenominational teaching material and interdenominational instruction, ‘He who would find and hold Christ, and be held by Him, must find Him in the Church He instituted.’33 Nevertheless, padres’ hours had some impact, the most tangible of which was that a minority of soldiers wished to be baptised or confirmed. Certainly there was great potential for confirmation classes. In a typical group of 53 Anglican soldiers, only 10 were confirmed.34 The Revd Leaney wrote on the difficulty of ministering to soldiers, ‘I have not the smallest idea how the gap can possibly be bridged between the day-to-day mind and the God-haunted mind. ‘Feed my sheep.’ But they will not look up. They are not hungry.’35 Leaney admitted there were obvious exceptions, and it was with these that the chaplains had their greatest success. One evening he met Sergeant Rowan in the canteen and while playing shove penny they discussed baptism and confirmation. Rowan was inspired by his wife who was being prepared for confirmation. Leaney later baptised Rowan and arranged for him to be confirmed. Confirmation classes were a constant part of the chaplain’s work in bases. In 1942, the Revd J. M. Lloyd SCF of 9th Armoured Division organised a four day preconfirmation course. Lectures and discussions were led by chaplains with the assistance of the Bishop of Jarrow. To his surprise Leaney admitted the soldiers ‘heard unexpectedly satisfactory expositions of points of Christian doctrine and answers to their questions.’36 The course was considered a success and it was emulated in other Commands. The Revd W. D. Maxwell, SCF of 15th Scottish Division organised three confirmation courses which were held between December 1943 and May 1944. The programme was supported by divisional commander, Major General Gordon Macmillan who ordered his staff to assist the chaplains and spoke on the course himself. Over 1400 men were confirmed into the Church of Scotland or the Church of England. This represented about 10 per cent of the soldiers in the Division which was a significant achievement for the chaplains.37 Leonard England, one of the Mass Observation writers in the army, was suspicious of results like those achieved in the Scottish Division writing, ‘Confirmation in the army is something of a racket, frequently pressure being brought to bear on the unconfirmed, and equally frequently time off being allowed for classes’.38 While his second point, that soldiers enrolled on courses because they were bored and wanted novelty was probably true, evidence from Scottish course contradicts England’s

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argument about coercion. Sixty three out of 100 Anglicans were confirmed, suggesting they had a choice in the matter. One advantage that Church of Scotland chaplains had over their Anglican colleagues was that they could confirm candidates themselves. This did not hinder the Church of England in England, but overseas it was a problem as visits from bishops were unusual. One chaplain, the Revd Frank Woods, was stationed overseas and sent an alarming letter to his father, the Bishop of Lichfield, warning him that unless a bishop arrived soon to confirm soldiers, ‘we shall lose yet more men from the C of E to the free churches.’39 Chaplains organised their religious work but often found officers prevailed upon them to assist with a variety of odd jobs, and in the case of the Revd R. H. Hill extra duties hindered him from carrying out his religious work. He was President of the Mess for a RASC supply column and organised waiters and cooks who did the actual work, but they consulted with Hill about everything and he felt like a hotel manager. He sorted out mess bills and considered any complaints or suggestions the officers made. Hill resented the work, but he did enjoy a sideline which was officer in charge of swine. The unit purchased four pigs and fattened them up for six months on mess swill, his letters home were full of details about pig rations and weight. When they reached an average weight of 16 stone 7lbs they were sold at Smithfield market for a profit of £33.15.6.40 If all this was not enough, he was also deputy entertainments officer. The CO of the supply column, Major C. R. L. Capel-Smith had, ‘a mania for the welfare and entertainment of his troops, which unfortunately sometimes had the opposite effect from the one desired, as his provision of such things surfeited the men.’ That was of course written with hindsight and Capel-Smith found his chaplain to be a willing and able helper. Hill really enjoyed organising entertainments apart from a disastrous dance evening. It took Hill a week to plan the dance and he expected 200 dignified guests. However on the evening, 400 guests arrived including, ‘painted brainless and flirting shop girls and crowds of men of all units under the sun.’ The bar was packed and the floor was covered with beer and broken glass. The CO arrived with his wife expecting to make a dignified entrance, but because of the crowds she got wedged behind a swing door. The evening ended with a police raid as they did not have a licence to sell alcohol.41 In a survey form Hill indicated that his priorities were conducting services, visiting sick soldiers in hospital, pastoral work especially counselling, and only then organising entertainments. While this was what he intended to do, his memoirs suggest that entertainments took up so much of his time that, ‘I am sure I failed to see so many oppor-

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tunities [for spiritual work].’42 He realised that part of the problem was that he had no training and certainly his ministry would have benefited from the warnings Ronald Sinclair gave during the chaplaincy training course at Chester about getting too involved in secular activities at the expense of spiritual work.43 Between 1940 and 1942 the RAChD issued sets of orders to prevent chaplains being side-tracked in the way Hill was. Peripheral duties such as becoming President of the Mess, and appointments such as unit welfare, censor, or entertainment officer should be refused.44 Although chaplains continued to assist with welfare and sports, this was officially at least done on a voluntary basis. Officers were accustomed to chaplains performing duties like running canteens and organising entertainments, so the change of policy caused problems when officers insisted chaplains should continue these duties. For example, in January 1943, the Revd Norman Bainbridge serving in Algiers received a request from Brigadier H. C. T. Strong to become welfare officer for the district: This I refused to do, on the grounds that this was a full time job, involving the organisation of football matches, canteen etc. The question of opening a canteen for the men was raised. I offered to do so – or attempt it – on condition that he would supply a suitable NCO who would become manager. This he could not do. It was agreed that Camp and myself would go into the matter of the canteen.45 Bainbridge investigated the possibility of starting a canteen but concluded it was not viable due to a shortage of equipment and personnel, also there was no point in competing with a successful canteen organised by the American Red Cross. The orders that were issued to chaplains struck a balance between chaplains being overwhelmed with secular activities and withdrawing from them completely. The Revd St John Smith was sure that there were advantages in doing some welfare work. At Catterick he organised most of the entertainments. The main value of this was that it was a point of contact between him and the soldiers: It formed a bridge that you can get across to somebody. There is always a bridge there if people are in trouble but very often there’s no bridge if they are all enjoying themselves and are healthy and happy. Therefore if you can get a niche in the entertainments you see them and get to know them when they are enjoying themselves just as well as you can when they are in trouble or sorry.46

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With such arrangements, chaplains benefited from contact with the soldiers, officers were assisted by chaplains who were frequently more competent at welfare and entertainment than they were, and some of the tedium of soldiers’ life in bases was ameliorated. Another factor that reduced the amount of secular work chaplains did was the appointment of welfare officers and the expansion of the Army Educational Corps who were expected to cooperate with chaplains.47 It should also be noted that before the war, most Anglicans and nonconformists participated in activities like organising youth clubs, performing plays, becoming school governors, Scout Masters, Air Raid Precautions Wardens, and commanding Home Guard units. It was therefore natural that chaplains were willing to undertake peripheral duties like organising sports and entertainments, becoming President of the Mess, and running canteens. It is by no means clear that this dual role of chaplains was the problem Louden claimed it was. He is surely mistaken to claim that such activities were unique to chaplains, or that they were attempts by chaplains to justify their place in the army, when it was clear that civilian clergy became involved in many peripheral activities.48 Exceptions to this included the Catholic branch of the RAChD and the Jewish chaplaincy which discouraged chaplains from carrying out extra duties. This tendency mirrored the Catholic church as a whole, where priests had a less pronounced social role. One senior Jewish chaplain declined the funds for welfare work. As he explained to Sir Robert Cohen, ‘there is a real difference between secular and spiritual welfare. I can see no purpose for which chaplains, Jewish or otherwise, will be required to spend money on welfare.’49 For the most part, officers and chaplains had similar concepts of what chaplains should prioritise and a balance between religious and secular welfare work was established. The relationship between chaplains and officers shaped the ministry of chaplains. This relationship included personal factors, but the officers’ assessment of the chaplain’s relationship with soldiers was more important. Between 1996 and 1999, 18 officers who had served during WW2 completed survey forms indicating what priority they thought chaplains should give to different aspects of their work. Eight indicated that chaplains’ first priority should be religious, stressing conducting services and administering the sacraments, with two emphasising evangelism. Six officers wrote that pastoral work like visiting sick and injured soldiers was most important. And four expected chaplains to bolster the morale of soldiers. Significantly no officer wrote that the first priority of chaplains should have been to assist them with their duties, a factor which explains why it was possible for the RAChD to scale down their secular activities

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without offending too many officers. Although chaplains, as would be expected, gave greater priority to religious work than officers did, expectations overlapped sufficiently for there to be a high degree of mutual satisfaction and support between chaplains and officers. The attitude of officers towards chaplains was largely determined by how they perceived the chaplain’s relationship with ordinary soldiers. There were differences between the way officers and soldiers evaluated chaplains. The soldiers’ perception of chaplains was largely determined by their personal religious beliefs, whereas officers were mainly concerned with the spiritual and pastoral qualities of a chaplain, and their personal religious beliefs were secondary to their professional evaluation. Personal relationships between officers and chaplains were sometimes strained by immorality. The Revd H. C. C. Lannigan, a Methodist chaplain serving in North Africa, refused to let a Brigadier read the lesson during a service because he knew the officer had visited a brothel the day before. The Brigadier laughed about the incident and still respected Lannigan.50 Another chaplain, the Revd Norman Bainbridge, refused to let his CO read the lesson and indicated he would refuse to serve him communion as the CO boasted about his sexual immorality in the mess. Despite this, the CO still attended services and sat in his usual position at the front glaring at Bainbridge. The deadlock lasted two weeks until the CO accepted Bainbridge had no choice but to refuse communion while he persisted in his sin and refused to repent. What made these incidents so difficult for chaplains was that exercising church authority brought them into conflict with military authority. Bainbridge was subjected to persuasion, reasoning, threats and sentimental appeal, but he refused to give in. The pastoral situation was all the more difficult as soldiers realised what was going on, but they respected Bainbridge for his firm stand and 85 attended a confirmation course. As Bainbridge wrote in his journal, ‘This was easily the most profitable time since joining up.’51 When Bainbridge returned to the unit after sick leave he discovered the CO had built a splendid church tent, perhaps as penance. Of the 18 officers who returned survey forms, only one was manifestly dissatisfied with chaplains.52 Lieutenant J. H. Frankau was very critical of all the army chaplains he met. When he was serving with the Royal Engineers in 1940, he singled out a particular who he described as a lazy parasite as there were no church services and he declined to meet soldiers. Frankau and other officers held knock about discussions with soldiers during the lunch-time break from training and Frankau was disappointed when the chaplain refused to join in. Evidently the CO shared Frankau’s sentiments as he ordered the chaplain to become President of the Mess so

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that the unit would get some benefit out of him.53 It seems the chaplain subsequently adapted himself to army life and four years later, he was praised for his work with 62 Anti-Aircraft Brigade.54 Officers judged chaplains by the same criteria they used for themselves, and ‘not good with soldiers’ was the ultimate condemnation of any officer’s prospects.55 Some of the best evidence concerning the relationship between chaplains and soldiers, mainly in bases in Britain, was compiled into a Mass Observation report. In 1943, Leonard England, a serving officer, wrote The Chaplain to the Forces which used evidence from Mass Observation monitors in the armed forces, interviews he carried out with chaplains, officers, and soldiers, and wartime publications. His first report on a religious subject concerned the film Pastor Hall which was made by the Ministry of Information. He considered ordination but the coordinator for service ordinands was cautious and after the war England worked with Mollie Tarrant forming a market research company Mass-Observation Ltd.56 About 15 soldiers sent England information when he was compiling his report on chaplains. Caution should be exercised when using Mass Observation material since observers tended to be left wing and those, ‘with an interest in literature and the arts, agnostics, members of organisations, highly educated people, clerical workers, [and] scientists.’57 However monitors were expected to be objective while report compilers were used to sifting and evaluating evidence, and England’s own religious beliefs helped off set any bias among monitors. Within the confines of the evidence, he wrote a report that was sympathetic to chaplains. He concluded, ‘Chaplains are almost universally respected as sincere. But they are out of touch with their men mainly through different attitude of thought and through use of a ‘strange language’. One of the main bars to greater success is the rank and authority of chaplains in Army and Air Force.’58 Certainly the report confirmed the difficulties chaplains faced in bases. If chaplains gave the impression of being sheltered and intellectual soldiers criticised them for being ‘other worldly’, but jovial and blunt chaplains left soldiers wondering over appropriate clerical behaviour. Similarly if sermons were learned they would go over the heads of the soldiers, while if he simplified them soldiers felt patronised.59 Although England had the evidence, he did not investigate whether the religious beliefs of soldiers influenced their reaction to the chaplain. One of England’s correspondents divided the soldiers into three categories; interested, apathetic and hostile. He noted that a disproportionate number of religious soldiers tended to be nonconformists or Catholics rather than Anglicans. Evangelical soldiers resented chaplains who did not propagate the gospel in a manner they recognised. A Brethren medical

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orderly tended a mortally wounded chaplain and wondered, ‘Did this Army Chaplain have a link with Christ? … Some of these were embarrassed when the personal Name of Jesus was mentioned to them.’ The orderly asked the chaplain if the name of Christ was precious to him and was delighted when the chaplain said it was.60 The best example of how personal beliefs influenced attitudes to chaplains was provided by the life of Cliffe Collinge. He came from an Anglo-Catholic background. Just after war ended he assisted the Revd Ken Oliver who was Assistant Chaplain-General in Persia and Iraq. Collinge was confirmed in 1946 and respected Oliver. Later in life after he was born again he criticised Oliver for his lack of evangelical zeal.61 A similar pattern was identified by Duff Crerar in his history of Canadian chaplains during the Great War. Devout soldiers, ‘while sympathetic to the padre … could also be his sharpest critics’.62 The Mass Observation correspondent noted most soldiers were apathetic to religion as they grew up with parents and friends who were irreligious. They thought churches were out-of-date and did not understand their interests and problems. This analysis is corroborated by Crerar’s research, ‘The majority of soldiers [had] an agnostic tendency that kept them from trusting unreservedly in the padre or his message yet [this] did not prevent them from drawing upon his acts and words of encouragement whenever they were needed.’63 Another Mass Observation correspondent wrote that apathetic soldiers were impressed by socially adept chaplains who organised games and entertainments, stood up to officers, understood their troubles, and preached robust sermons. Unlike interested soldiers, they were not especially concerned about the spiritual dimension to the chaplains’ work. While chaplains only had some success with apathetic soldiers in army bases, as the confirmation classes show, apathetic soldiers were far more responsive to chaplains at the front. Finally, there was a group of soldiers who were hostile towards the church and chaplains. Their dislike was focused on church parades and they often held left wing political views. On account of the chaplains’ rank these soldiers usually kept their disdain to themselves. Soldiers who were rude to chaplains were reprimanded.64 Although soldiers and officers had a variety of religious views, chaplains formed opinions about which units were receptive to a religious message and which ones were not. The Royal Sussex battalion was considered to be the best of a bad lot, and the South Wales Borderers was considered to be the worst in the Brigade. When Leaney was editing his memoirs he changed ‘worst’ to ‘most difficult’.65 The religious work in army bases in Britain was not just carried out by

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chaplains, but was shared between chaplains, officiating chaplains who were civilian clergy working with the forces on an occasional basis, and lay workers including Army Scripture Readers, and women Chaplains’ Assistants. The work of Officiating Chaplains to the Forces (OCFs) was the most established of these schemes. OCFs were civilian clergy who worked on a part-time basis conducting services, visiting soldiers in hospitals and prisons, and occasionally conducting padres’ hours. All denominations were represented including, 2700 Anglicans, 750 Methodists, and 370 Baptists. Catholics priests served as OCFs but I found no evidence indicating how many were involved. The number of OCFs is difficult to determine since church sources do not differentiate between the involvement of OCFs which ranged from those who were paid for their work, unpaid volunteers, and clergy who were given permission by the Assistant Chaplains-General of Home Commands to minister to the troops. Middleton-Brumwell stated there were 3,000 OCFs, but this figure probably only included paid OCFs.66 Compared with the Anglicans, a disproportionate number of nonconformists became OCFs, which was similar to the recruiting pattern for chaplains. The Assistant ChaplainGeneral for Southern Command recorded in the war diary, ‘As soon as war was declared the office was deluged with applications from the Methodist and UB Boards for the appointment of Officiating Chaplains all over the Command. Evidently instructions had been sent out through the medium of the nonconformist press that wherever there was a body of troops in a town or village, the local minister should apply immediately for an appointment.’67 This nonconformist eagerness contrasted with an Anglican vicar, the Revd Baynham, who was criticised by another vicar for neglecting the soldiers in his parish, surely he ‘could have been more persistent and paid a visit!’68 Army Scripture Readers (lay evangelists), certainly showed far more persistence. The origins of the Army Scripture Readers can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century when the Soldiers’ Friend, the Army Scripture Readers Society, and the British Army Scripture Readers Society, all of whom were carrying out lay evangelism in the army on a semiofficial basis were merged. The Revd G. R. Gleig who was ChaplainGeneral between 1846 and 1875 was instrumental in obtaining for the Readers an official place in the army and placing them directly under the authority of his chaplains. He warned the Readers that they would cause ‘the greatest mischief’ if they allowed ‘their zeal to outrun their judgement’. They were not permitted to make war upon Roman Catholics, and denominational proselytising was forbidden also. Gleig established arrangements for Readers that have remained more or less unchanged to

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the present day.69 The appointed Readers mainly served in army bases in Britain and throughout the Empire. They accompanied soldiers during the Crimean and Boer wars. During the Great War, the number of Readers was increased to 64, and of these 36 worked in France and Belgium behind the lines. The Readers capitalised on the situation and reported many conversions, one Reader claimed, ‘The one and only thing the men wanted to know was how to get their sins forgiven, and to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Friend and Saviour.’70 At the same time that the chaplains were worrying about the rampant secularisation they discovered in the army, Readers simply reported their successes. In 1938, the Army Scripture Readers merged with the Soldiers’ and Airmens’ Christian Association. Although both groups had similar evangelical doctrines, their work had different emphasis, with the SACA being an independent organisation who tried to build up Christian fellowship in the armed forces. Some SACA members were suspicious of Readers, regarding them as chaplains’ servants, and thinking that chaplains were prepared to compromise on scriptural truths in order to preserve their appointments. In March 1938, the Readers holding their conference reported God directed them to Isaiah 54:2, ‘Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations.’71 In the context of discussions between Readers and the SACA, this text was accepted as God’s approval of amalgamation. On 29 September 1938, the two groups merged and adopted the unwieldy title of Army Scripture Readers and Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Christian Association. They moved into 35 Catherine Place, London. The building was named Havelock House after the Baptist army officer Henry Havelock, famous for his stand during the Indian mutiny of 1857. For most of the war the Chairman of the Association was Brigadier-General H. Biddulph and the Secretary Captain A. L. Perry. Final authority lay with the Association Council which consisted of 20 men, of whom 18 were serving or retired army and airforce officers and two were senior chaplains. The Council met monthly to decide policy issues and maintain oversight over Readers. Readers were also answerable to their appointed Superintendent who would usually be a chaplain, or if none were available an officiating chaplain, or a sympathetic commissioned officer. Each Reader would send a monthly report of his activities to the Council and his Superintendent.72 The Association was not under the authority of the denominations, but they were always careful to stress that the loyalties of Christian soldiers should always be directed primarily to their denomination, rather than to the Association. While Readers encouraged conversion to Christ, they were not supposed to engage in denominational proselytising. So, for example, a Brethren

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Reader would encourage a lapsed Methodist to return to his denomination rather than become a Brethren like himself. The work of the Association was funded entirely by donations from individual Christians and they received no financial support from the state. The Association and individual Readers were under the authority of chaplains and the Readers were always careful to acknowledge the support of chaplains.73 Whereas the motto of the RAChD, ‘In This Sign Conquer’, under a cross, symbolised the extension of the kingdom of God on earth, and a church and state link, the Scripture Readers’ motto, ‘In His Sign Conquer’, represented the more directly evangelical approach of winning souls for Christ. The fundamentalist stance of Readers irritated some chaplains who did not usually hold such views. The Readers were very reticent about these sorts of conflicts and the only documented example was a brief minute that a chaplain had objected to a Reader distributing the tract The Reason Why, so the Reader deferred to the chaplain’s wishes. Part of the reason for the lack of evidence concerning such conflicts was that the Readers were ordered, ‘not to comment upon the Chaplain’s work, his preaching, remarks, visits, or any other matter.’74 Evidently, this was a tendency that needed to be counteracted. The appointment procedure for Readers included an application form followed by an interview. Successful candidates had to be former servicemen (this policy changed at start of war), not currently eligible for military service, but most importantly of all they had to be born of God, familiar with the Bible, and called to personal evangelism in the forces.75 The insistence that Scripture Readers be born of God favoured candidates with dramatic conversion experiences. Mr A. W. Brockies had this experience and as he explained in his application form he ‘was definitely converted to God in [the] Gospel Hall’. He was appointed as a Scripture Reader in June 1939. The following year Stanley Leech, who worked as a lay missionary in the Church of England applied. His application was rejected, and the interviewer left a large question mark by Leech’s statement on his conversion that he was ‘baptised as a child in Church of England and remained therein’.76 Applicants holding certain theological beliefs including pacifism and Pentecostal views on speaking in tongues were automatically rejected. During the 1920s and 1930s conservative evangelicals were deeply suspicious of the Pentecostal movement.77 The interview included a daunting number of questions concerning some of the more obscure sections of the Old Testament. The ideal candidates were, ‘Not necessarily a theologian in the technical sense, but one who knows his Bible and is able to use it to practical advantage.’78 Readers were expected to present a simplistic gospel message that was easily understood by the

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soldiers, and if they were manifestly not inclined to enter into theological disputes, this was viewed as an advantage. At the start of the war there were 65 Readers. Numbers increased dramatically and in 1943 there were 182 Readers, of these 90 were fulltime and 92 part-time. Seventeen of them were Lady Scripture Readers. The denominational background of the Readers was not representative of the civilian church. Of the 182 Readers serving in 1943, an incredible 71 came from the Plymouth Brethren! Thirty six declared themselves to be interdenominational or un-denominational, 28 were Anglicans, 19 Baptists, 11 Presbyterians, and the remaining 17 came from other denominations.79 The figures showed a disproportionate number of Plymouth Brethren, and an under representation of the more liberal denominations like the Congregationalists. The large number of Brethren can be accounted for by their ability to answer interview questions on the Bible, and that working as a Scripture Reader was one of the few areas of wartime service that was acceptable to the Brethren who usually only undertook non-combatant roles in the armed forces. One important change of policy concerning the recruitment of Readers took place in 1943 when the first Lady Readers were appointed. The Council declined to accept women into the Association or appoint women as Readers in February 1941. However, by 1942, the Chaplain-General made moves to appoint women Chaplains’ Assistants and he pressurised the Council into appointing Lady Scripture Readers. After negotiations with the Staff Chaplain at the War Office, the Council agreed to form a Ladies Sub-Committee to approve suitable women and forward their applications to the Chaplain-General and the Director of ATS their endorsement and a decision on posting.80 Once the Readers and Lady Readers were approved they would carry out a variety of work including evangelism, visiting the barracks, running canteens and rest rooms, and teaching. The Readers had no illusions as to difficulties they faced, as was recorded in the official history of their activities during World War Two: Speaking generally, men revealed an appalling ignorance of the Bible and its teaching. Hundreds had never been inside a place of worship since their christening, except at compulsory church parade, and that they regarded as something without meaning which had to be suffered as part of Army routine. For such men, personal evangelism was the most successful method of approach, in the exercise of which Readers have reaped a rich harvest of souls.81

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The Readers had a very direct message concerning, ‘a Holy God, sin, sin’s penalty, power, forgiveness, [and] the Saviour of sinners’ and they were willing to annoy many in order to save a few. Soldiers were frequently suspicious and hostile, one Reader recalled how when he entered a barrack block he was greeted with, ‘How’s the Bible puncher?’ Seeing that a soldier was cleaning his rifle he took the weapon and explained its mechanisms to the soldier and having gained the attention of the other soldiers went on to preach Christ crucified. Soldiers were more inclined to be rude to Readers than to chaplains as Readers had a blunt message and did not have a Captain’s rank. As the Readers instructions acknowledged, ‘there is much in a Reader’s experience that will at times go far to daunt the human heart’. 82 Soldiers were usually deferential towards chaplains as any other attitude could get them into trouble with the military authorities. When they were not deferential this surprised chaplains. When the Revd F. Greeves was giving out cigarettes in a hospital, a soldier shouted after him ‘propaganda’. Greeves was so surprised that he wrote to The Methodist Recorder.83 This sort of experience was far more common for Readers. Despite opposition at times, the Readers thought God was undoubtedly at work in the army. Mr A. Ball, a Reader based in Leeds, reported that 400 men were saved in a year. Even allowing for some of these being religious already and a number of these back-sliding, this was still impressive. A conservative measure of the impact of Readers was the fact 5174 soldiers and airmen joined the Association a step which implied that their conversion had a continuing impact on their life. Although this was a minuscule proportion of the total number of soldiers and airmen, it represented a substantial achievement by 182 Readers. One way that Readers tried to build up the faith of Christians was by encouraging daily Bible readings. Soldiers would be given a slip of paper with a line for each day of the week. During prayer and Bible study, they perceived the guidance of the Holy Spirit and would choose a text for that day and write it on the slip of paper. When the soldiers gathered for ‘Blackboard Meetings’ with the Reader, they would all read out their daily texts and the most popular one for that day would be written on a blackboard. After prayer and the singing of hymns a text for the week would be chosen, becoming the silver text. At the end of the month, the silver texts would be studied, and from these a gold text selected which would be forwarded to Army Scripture Readers and Soldiers’ Christian Association headquarters for publication in their magazine Ready. In April 1942 a lot of groups chose the golden text of Matthew 11:28, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’84 As a means of supporting evangelism, Readers ran 35 huts, canteens

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and rest rooms in Britain and overseas. Whereas during peacetime permanent buildings were established, during the war buildings were borrowed or rented to allow for rapid adjustments caused by the movement of troops. After premises in Nantes and St Nazaire were lost in 1940, it was decided that it would be prudent to invest money in people rather than buildings.85 These temporary huts provided refreshments for soldiers, an opportunity for quiet activities like prayer, Bible study and writing letters, and a base for the Reader. Huts were located in bases or towns where substantial numbers of men were billeted. Overall, the Readers made an important contribution to the religious life of the army in bases and behind the lines. Yet they faced problems as unlike the RAChD, they never managed to increase the number of Readers in proportion to the expansion of the armed forces, but they used the men and women they had to good effect. Despite the toleration shown by the RAChD towards Readers’ fundamentalist stance, they soon discovered the RAChD was also sponsoring the appointment of women Chaplains’ Assistants whose Committee refused to appoint fundamentalist candidates. They agreed that Lieutenant General William Dobbie should make a discrete protest to the Committee of Churches’ Work for Women in the Forces who were responsible for Chaplains’ Assistants. The divergence between Readers and Chaplains’ Assistants reflected the polarisation in the church between liberal and conservative views.86 The appointment of women Chaplains’ Assistants was the churches’ response to the establishment of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). The army had made some preliminary plans in 1938, and on 9 September 1939, the ATS was formally established by Royal Warrant. Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was appointed Director of the new formation and under her direction 17,000 auxiliaries were quickly recruited, with numbers peaking at 250,000.87 Within days of the ATS being established, Deaconess Belfield suggested to Miss Una Saunders that women in the churches should cooperate to ensure that the women in the ATS, the Womens’ Royal Naval Service, and the Womens’ Auxiliary Air Force received the religious education they needed. There were no antecedents for the sort of work they envisaged, apart from some women lay evangelists who successfully worked in Aldershot during the nineteenth century.88 The women approached the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, who was too preoccupied with other wartime problems like the appointment of chaplains to consider the suggestion. They probably then approached Mrs Storr, who got her husband Canon Vernon Storr to arrange an appointment with the Archbishop. Lang consulted with chaplaincy departments and the Directors of the women’s units for the three

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services and invited women from a number of denominations and organisations to a meeting at Lambeth Palace. There it was agreed to establish the Committee of Churches’ Work for Women in the Forces (CWWF). The Chairwoman of the CWWF was Mrs Fisher, wife of the Bishop of London, the Vice-Chair was Miss Alice Walton, a Methodist missionary secretary, and the treasurer was Lady Proctor. The work was sub-divided with a General Committee directing policy and Standing Committee meeting more frequently for routine administration. The CWWF compiled a central list of women with personality and good qualifications who would visit camps and speak to the women soldiers.89 The scheme was successful so in early 1942 the CWWF, Cosmo Lang, and RAChD approached the War Office and requested that 12 women should be appointed as Chaplains’ Assistants and that they should be paid for by the War Office, quartered in barracks, and wear ATS uniform without badges. On 12 February 1942 the Army Council met and considered the bid to appoint the Chaplains’ Assistants. P. J. Grigg, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State who was responsible for the RAChD declared that he was ‘definitely opposed in principle to the proposal’ but he agreed that a grant should be given to the CWWF to continue their current work. Grigg was opposed to any role for women in the armed forces, and he did not make an exception for Chaplains’ Assistants. He was equally vehement in his opposition to women working in the Home Guard. It seems that most members of the Council agreed with Grigg. However, the Civil Member of the Council, who was responsible for the ATS supported the application. David Margesson, the Secretary of State said he needed time for further consideration before making a decision.90 One of Margesson’s last decisions was to agree to the appointment of the Chaplains’ Assistants. William Temple held a special service in Lambeth Parish Church and commissioned 12 women from several denominations to work as Chaplains’ Assistants. This was a radical departure from previous policy, as neither the army nor the church had made great efforts to utilise the abilities of women. In the history of the Women’s Royal Army Corps, Shelford Bidwell wrote that the role women found in the army was a significant step towards the emancipation of women and that this had to overcome the opposition of some who, like Dr Johnson, thought that, ‘A woman’s preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.’91 Curiously, the progressive attitude of the churches towards Chaplains’ Assistants had little connection with the attitude of the denomination towards the role of women in the church. The Church of England did not have an active role for women and yet they were more

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involved than any other denomination in establishing the CWWF; indeed it is difficult to conceive how the initiative could have succeeded without Anglican backing. The Anglicans certainly did not want the Chaplains’ Assistants to advance the cause of womens’ ordination. Although Fisher had supported the appointment of Chaplains’ Assistants, he was furious when just after the war, the Congregationalists appointed the Revd Elsie Chamberlain as a RAF chaplain.92 By way of contrast, the Baptists who were already ordaining women as ministers, only briefly considered the needs of the ATS in December 1941, by which time moves had already been made to appoint Chaplains’ Assistants.93 The debates within the Methodist church took a very surprising turn, for they were already appointing deaconesses, and making very tentative moves towards the ordination of women (it was only in 1974 that the first women were ordained); they opposed the appointment of Chaplains’ Assistants. The pietistic Methodists were also concerned about the morals of the ATS, and hoped that Chaplains’ Assistants would improve the ATS. Typical was a letter written to The Methodist Recorder by Mr C. G. C. Evans who claimed that women who had been devout were now in the ATS where they were fornicating, smoking, drinking, swearing and gambling. The following month The Methodist Recorder published an article by Dr E. S. Waterhouse entitled ‘Government and the Drink Scandal’ where he suggested that readers should write to their MPs and demand that the government abolish bars in army bases. The article was accompanied by a photograph which unwittingly gave the clear impression that drinking with ATS officers was enjoyable!94 These concerns probably lay behind a call made by the Halifax and Huddersfield Synod for the appointment of women to carry out chaplaincy work in the armed forces. The Methodist Navy, Army and Airforce Board was not convinced and wrote to the Synod suggesting they withdraw the motion as, ‘Chaplaincy services are already provided by the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department for men and women equally in HM services and that a special instruction has been issued to chaplains that care must be taken to ensure spiritual ministrations for women at their station.’95 The Synod persisted and the issue was debated at the Methodist annual conference in July 1941. There a resolution was passed affirming that, ‘Action should be taken to secure a joint approach by the Churches to the proper authorities to secure adequate provision for chaplaincy work by qualified women among women in the Services.’96 The democratic structure of the Methodist church prevailed over the opposition of the Navy, Army and Airforce Board to the appointment of Methodists as Chaplains’ Assistants. By the end of the war there were at least four Methodists Chaplains’ Assistants,

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although the Navy, Army and Airforce Board never took them as seriously as the chaplains. Reports from chaplains were considered at meetings of the Board, but when the Chaplains’ Assistants sent reports they were too long to be read. Board members could look at them after the meetings.97 Even so, the Methodists did at least have a mechanism for monitoring the work of their Chaplains’ Assistants which was more efficient than any other denomination. The first group of 12 Chaplains’ Assistants were appointed in June 1942.98 By the end of the war about 30 women were serving the armed forces, including four in the Womens’ Auxiliary Air Force. Most of the women were in their 40s or 50s when they were appointed, although there were some younger women in their 20s. The War Office allowed for an establishment of 36 Assistants, but the CWWF never managed to find enough suitable women, as there was a particular shortage of Anglican candidates, reflecting the limited roles for lay women in the Church of England. The CWWF also had a very selective recruitment policy only appointing women with robust characters, theological training, and some practical or pastoral experience. Two of the candidates they interviewed had their appointments deferred in order for them to gain more training or experience. Lady Laura Eastaugh was 28 in 1943 when she applied to become a Chaplains’ Assistant. She was qualified with a Lambeth Diploma which was the equivalent to a theology degree. This was obtained by correspondence and tutorials, one of her tutors being Michael Ramsey who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury. The Standing Committee noted the work she had done in the Land Army, but were concerned about her sheltered upbringing and suggested she familiarised herself with the seamier side of life, which she did by working as a welfare worker in Liverpool for six months. Similarly, when Mrs Francis Catford (nee Philips) applied to become a Chaplains’ Assistant, it was suggested that she needed further theological training. She enrolled at St Christopher’s theological college, near Chester. She had intended just to do a six-month course, but once she was at St Christopher’s she was persuaded by the college to complete a longer two year course. This delayed her appointment until June 1945. When the Assistants were appointed they were usually posted to an ATS camp to work alongside an experienced Assistant for a couple of weeks before they were posted to a camp on their own. Most of the Assistants worked in ATS reception camps where women did their initial training. Lady Eastaugh was at a typical camp in South Wigston, where women would arrive in batches of between 30 and 40 each week, and then

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stay for a month. This rapid turn over made it difficult to build up a close relationship with Auxiliaries (ATS soldiers) unless a good impression was made at the first meeting. It was easier to befriend the permanent staff, particularly as the Assistants lived in the Officers Mess. They did not wear an ATS officer’s uniform, but instead were identified by a armband and purple brooch bearing a crucifix and the CWWF cipher. Lady Eastaugh considered the lack of uniform an advantage as it was clear to the Auxiliaries that they could speak to her in confidence, and she was not bound by army regulations like chaplains and ATS officers. Although Mrs Catford did not think that uniform and rank was a problem for chaplains generally, she did say that one male soldier discussed a personal matter with her as he feared the chaplain would tell the CO about his difficulties.99 Much of the work of the Assistants was pastoral and helped the Auxiliaries cope with service life. In the words of an official government report on women in the armed services: For many women as for men, the first few months of Service life are difficult and irksome. Homesickness, lack of privacy, and the first experience of drill and discipline, all tend to disturb the recruit. In particular, the girl from the sheltered home, who has not known the hardships of daily work in office, shop or factory, may find it difficult to make the necessary adjustments. The large majority adapt themselves in time and many become enthusiastic for their service. But a certain number will always find community life uncongenial and, when writing home, may easily exaggerate existing drawbacks or discomforts.100 Lady Eastaugh indicated that some of pastoral problems she dealt with included issues that were unresolved in civilian life, presumably family problems, and difficulties with adjusting to life in barracks. One of the camps where Eastaugh worked was used for officer selection. She was concerned that the rudimentary psychological vetting with questions about personal matters was tearing the women apart, but nobody was there to put them back together again. After ministering to several distressed candidates, she protested to army authorities about the interview procedures. Mrs Catford indicated a small number of women became pregnant, with many giving birth nine months after VE Day or VJ day. Both of them kept office hours when they were available to speak to women in confidence. Eastaugh kept a notebook of conversations so she did not have to cover the same ground again when she met up with the woman later. The

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Assistants gave greater priority to pastoral work than army chaplains did, partly this was because they had no obligations whatsoever to undertake odd jobs, and although they had an extensive religious ministry, they could not perform all the functions of a chaplain. Because Assistants were not ordained they could not administer communion. Since the sacraments of communion and baptism were the most intractable barrier to ecumenism, it was easier for the Assistants to operate on an ecumenical basis, than it was for the ordained chaplains. One exception to this were Baptist Assistants who because of their church’s acceptance of lay officiation could have administered communion in a Baptist context.101 For most Assistants their religious work included padres’ hours, and conducting services. Lady Eastaugh gave four lectures on the basics of Christianity, seeing each group once a week during their one month initial training. During one padres’ hour, a woman argued with her so vehemently, that much to the amusement of the class, she spat out her false teeth! Eastaugh welcomed the questions and debates as it showed that the Auxiliaries had been listening. In the evenings, Eastaugh would lead a compline service and then visit Auxiliaries in their barracks, and on Sundays she would preach, memorising her sermons to ensure fluent delivery. One aspect of the work that Mrs Catford particularly enjoyed was preparing confirmation candidates. Generally the Assistants had a good professional relationship with the chaplains once the latter got used to the idea of women doing religious work, ‘At first, some of the Chaplains were naturally suspicious, and unwilling to hand over any of their work to women.’102 At a local level, nonconformist chaplains and churches gave the warmest welcome to the Assistants. Some Anglican Assistants were upset when they received more recognition from nonconformist churches than they did from their own denomination. Generally Anglican chaplains welcomed the Assistants, suggesting that military experience left them with a more progressive attitude than was found in some sections of the Church of England. The Revd Gethyn-Jones recalled how there were about 3000 ATS women in Brussels by April 1945, and that his chaplains were not sure how to deal with them: The thought of having to cope with the female of the species in large numbers frankly frightened them – and me! Fortunately, the War Office came to the rescue. They telephoned, saying that they had two Chaplains’ Assistants skulking around England with next to nothing to do. Our combined prayers had been answered. … A day or two later, these very able ladies [Mrs Owen and Miss

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Morris] arrived and, very largely, the pastoral side of work among the girls was handed over to them.’103 The attitude of Catholic chaplains ranged from outright hostility to tacit support. Eastaugh recalled how one Catholic chaplain told the ATS Catholics that they should avoid her as she was a ‘very dangerous woman’, although this actually made women all the more curious to meet her. Other Catholic chaplains encouraged her work.104 Regardless of their attitude towards individual Assistants, the Catholic chaplains had to alter their patterns of work because of the ATS. A set of standing orders for Catholic chaplains warned them to be careful during private interviews with ATS women to avoid the possibility of malicious gossip or slander. Interviews with strangers were to be conducted within sight of other people. Some chaplains considered this was unduly cautious.105 The work of Chaplains’ Assistants was significant as it anticipated the churches finding a wider role for women. Eastaugh said, ‘We realised we were pioneers and did ones best to make the grade.’106 Some of the Assistants were in favour of womens’ ordination, and hoped that their work would advance that cause. In this regard, the war accelerated social and religious changes within the army and the church. The RAChD now appoints women as chaplains, and at the time of writing there is one serving in the TA. In addition to the lay work that churches carried out within the armed forces, they contributed to the war effort by organising a large number of rest rooms and canteens for soldiers which dwarfed the efforts of secular organisations. Out of the 61 hostels for soldiers in London, 40 were church led.107 Methodists, Salvationists, and Presbyterians, who were involved with the social gospel movement were especially active in this sphere. Anglicans like William Temple were committed to the social gospel but the Church of England, apart from its own Church Army, which imitated the methods if not theology of the Salvation Army, never really developed the structures to advance a social gospel message.108 The principle motive for nonconformist canteens was to provide an alternative to wet canteens serving alcoholic drinks.109 By 1942, the Methodists organised 700 canteens. The efforts of the churches certainly had an impact on soldiers, most of whom used church canteens. One soldier, Hugh Rawlinson affectionately recalled canteens run by middle aged women who supplied endless cakes and drinks. The friendly atmosphere was a brief escape from the war.110 The way denominations organised mobile canteens and churches to operate in lines-of-communication mirrored their theology and

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expectations of what chaplains should do. As Ranson, Bryman, and Hinings noted, ‘Another central preoccupation within Methodism is its concern for social responsibility, its sharing in the responsibility of mission to the community as a whole.’111 One Methodist chaplain, the Revd John Williams, assisted by two helpers drove a mobile canteen around north Africa finding isolated groups of soldiers. He recalled groups of men holding their chocolate, razor blades, and canned fruit while he led them in prayer.112 The Catholic branch of the RAChD would not allow their chaplains to staff mobile canteens as they had more important spiritual work to attend to. They did however bless two mobile canteens which were paid for by the Catholics Women’s League. They were staffed by four women wearing ATS uniforms with special Catholics Women’s League shoulder flashes.113 Anglican chaplains never involved themselves in mobile canteens, although some assisted with the static variety. Working in bases and lines of communication was difficult for chaplains as most soldiers were not interested in religion. The chaplain’s denomination certainly influenced his ministry, but three other factors were also important; his personality, the attitude of officers and soldiers towards his work, and RAChD policy. The comment by the Revd Kenneth Oliver, SCF to 10th Armoured Division understated the significance of a chaplain’s denomination, but it does indicate the importance of personality, ‘In the last resort it was not the denomination of the chaplain that mattered but his character and personality.’114 Moreover this comment was made by a chaplain in the frontline, where denominational differences were less apparent than they were in army bases. Frontline service reduced denominational differences between chaplains, but it was also an environment where soldiers were far more responsive to religion than they were in bases. A combination of adventurism and the wish to minister to responsive soldiers meant chaplains in bases hankered after frontline postings. The Revd Charles Potts, who was serving in Cyprus, was desperate for action and pestered the COs of units being sent to the desert to take him with them. Finally he resigned from the RAChD and was commissioned into the East Kent Regiment.115 Most chaplains showed more patience than Potts and waited until they were posted to frontline units.

6 ‘I Would as Soon Think of Going into Battle Without my Artillery as Without my Chaplains’: Chaplains at the Front

RAChD policy was that most chaplains should be posted to frontline units as the needs of combatants took precedence over support troops. Usually about three-fifths of the total pool of chaplains would be attached to combatant units with the remainder working in lines-of-communication or holding supervisory and administrative posts. By January 1945 this ratio was even further slanted towards combatant units in the 21st Army group which was fighting in France and Belgium.1 The reason for giving priority to frontline service was that the RAChD and the army considered that chaplains’ best work would be accomplished at the front where soldiers became more devout. As General B. L. Montgomery announced in Cairo cathedral, ‘I would as soon think of going into battle without my artillery as without my chaplains’.2 During the Great War, the army had questioned whether chaplains should even be at the front, fearing they would get in the way, or worse if they were killed, then this would demoralise the soldiers. This was not even debated during World War Two. In the early stages of World War Two however, whilst the RAChD was certain chaplains should be at the front they were unsure about the nature of the conflict and their role in it, until great efforts were made to define what chaplains should do in battle. This took place in 1942 and 1943 alongside a general improvement in army operational doctrine and effectiveness. This trend was typified by the Revd F. L. Hughes, (later to become Chaplain-General) who defined what chaplains should do on active service. He divided chaplains’ duty in battle into seven stages, the approach to battle, eve-of-battle services, companionship at zero hour,

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practical service during battles, settling men down in the aftermath, burying the dead, and holding memorial and thanksgiving services.3 This can be simplified into work before, during, and after battles. Chaplains did not progress through this cycle once, but did it often as units went into action. The structure of this chapter is partly based on the guidelines issued by Hughes.4 While the denomination of a chaplain continued to influence his conduct at the front, the most obvious example of this being the differences between Catholic and Protestant burial practices, there was actually less scope for denominationally shaped ministries to operate at the front than there was in bases where conditions were more akin to those found in civilian life. Personal character influenced the work of chaplains as frontline service was very demanding and some chaplains broke under the strain. Although chaplains found battles demanding and distressing, they were encouraged as many men became more devout, a typical example being Captain Peter Martin who prayed, ‘God stop the shelling and I’ll be good forever.’5 Also senior officers often felt burdened by the consequences of their decisions and turned to chaplains for support. Such experiences were common to all chaplains at the front, where the military context greatly influenced chaplains’ roles. Life was very different for chaplains attached to artillery, armoured, infantry, or airborne units. At an institutional level, it was significant that newly formed units like the Parachute Regiment, the Special Air Service, and the Chindits (who operated behind Japanese lines), took chaplains on operations, indicating the extent to which chaplains were integrated into the army and performed useful functions within it. Additionally chaplains adjusted their work as tactical situations altered from static to retreating or advancing positions. The theatre of war also determined the chaplains’ role, with chaplains arming themselves in Burma, but not in Europe and North Africa as Germany and Italy respected their non-combatant status. The final influence over chaplains was the policies of the RAChD. The Revd F. L. Hughes and Field Marshal B. L. Montgomery were two leaders who between them did much to define and glorify the chaplains’ role in battle. This relationship is significant both in terms of what it reveals about chaplaincy command structures and the way it helped both men understand the nature of battle and leadership. The similarities between Montgomery and Hughes are striking. Both men were born into clerical families, Montgomery’s father, the Rt Revd Henry Montgomery was Bishop of Tasmania and Hughes’s father, the Revd Canon Llewelyn Hughes, was Canon of Bangor and they were of a similar age. During the Great War both served as infantry officers before joining the General

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Staff.6 After the war Montgomery continued his regular army career and Hughes read history at Jesus College, Oxford, trained for the priesthood at Bishops’ College, Cheshunt, and was ordained in 1922. He joined the Territorial Army in 1935 while he was vicar of St Stephen’s Paddington. Hughes was serving in the 8th Army when Montgomery took over in 1942. At that time the Revd D. A. Duncan was head of 8th Army chaplaincy. Duncan enjoyed the confidence of his superior the Revd A. J. Wilcox, Deputy Chaplain-General for the Middle East who after an inspection visit reported to the War Office, ‘I returned to Cairo well satisfied with the work of the Department in the Eighth Army.’7 Although Wilcox was content with the 8th Army chaplaincy, Montgomery was not impressed with Duncan and soon after he arrived, sent Wilcox an adverse report with the result that Duncan was posted to Palestine.8 Montgomery was keen to fill the resultant vacancy with his own man and after considerable investigation he selected Hughes.9 The most important quality Montgomery wanted from all officers including chaplains was an ability to focus on essentials, he asked Hughes, ‘Now padre, in your job and at your level, what is the thing that matters most?’ The well trained former staff officer replied ‘spiritual power’. Montgomery, who by now had a reputation for ruthlessness, warned Hughes if he neglected that for half a second he would make a big mistake and never get a chance to repeat the error.10 Wilcox acceded to Hughes being appointed as he did not have any other senior chaplains available and he thought Hughes, ‘will be able to deal with the difficult personalities there – a most important factor at the present moment.’11 In November 1942, a suspicious Wilcox went forward to inspect the 8th Army chaplaincy. He had an interview with Montgomery who praised Hughes and indicated how he relied on chaplains, ‘for a higher standard of discipline and morale in his Army.’ Wilcox was won over by Montgomery and wrote, ‘The General is out to help us in every possible way and I was greatly impressed by his knowledge of our work and his great interest in it.’12 Montgomery’s views on chaplains sprang from his personal religious beliefs and his certainty that religious faith underpinned successful military endeavours. In a speech he made in March 1944, he outlined his military philosophy. While acknowledging that equipment mattered, Montgomery stressed the human factor in warfare. Soldiers who were alert, tough, enthusiastic and ‘trained to fight and kill’ could achieve anything provided they had faith in God, thought correctly about moral issues and were properly led. He continued, ‘I called on my chaplains to help me in my task; and right well did they answer the call. In the Eighth Army the inspiration had its roots in my call to the soldiers before El Alamein: ‘The

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Lord mighty in battle’ will give us the victory.’13 What is striking about the speech is the strong parallels it has with the writing of Hughes. The guidelines Hughes wrote for chaplains in March 1943 advised them to hold eve of battle services suggesting that the spirit should be, ‘Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered’. Similarly the endorsement Montgomery apparently wrote for Hughes’s guidelines stated that the chaplain who followed them would earn the love of the soldiers, ‘which is a pearl of very great price’. A virtually identical phrase appeared in Montgomery’s speech when he said that once officers had the confidence of the soldiers, ‘you have a pearl of very great price’.14 These textual similarities corroborate claims that Hughes wrote Montgomery’s ‘great dissertations about the value of Christian things in the army’, the comments about the value of chaplains, and his famous pre-battle messages to soldiers.15 Hughes expressed Montgomery’s militaristic and religious sentiments, established a good personal relationship with him, and encouraged his chaplains to inculcate a dynamic mixture of Christian values and patriotism into the soldiers. For these reasons Montgomery was keen to take Hughes with him when he left the 8th Army to command the 21st Army Group preparing for the Normandy invasion. Montgomery was initially thwarted by the War Office, but it did not take long for him to displace the chaplain in post again, and get Hughes appointed as Deputy Chaplain-General of the 21st Army group.16 The way Montgomery favoured Hughes was typical of his attitude towards certain officers, in that once he, ‘had identified a talented officer, he would leave no stone unturned in his efforts to guide his protege upwards.’17 Although Montgomery helped advance Hughes’s career, other factors were also at work. Hughes was a chaplain of great ability and his final promotion to Chaplain-General in 1944 owed as much to William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as it did to Montgomery. The style of Montgomery and Hughes attracted some officers and chaplains but repelled others. When officers and chaplains criticised their respective leaders, their grounds for doing so were very similar. After Montgomery’s initial victories in August 1942, his ‘egoism, his doctrine of quasi-Papal infallibility, began to mushroom.’ This was what irritated Captain Peter Martin serving in the Cheshire Regiment who resented Montgomery’s assertions that the morale of the 8th Army had been low before he came, and said his ‘showman’ style with pre-battle orders impressed new soldiers but that veterans were cynical. After Montgomery’s victories a sort of ‘love- hate’ view became commonplace.18 Similarly, in a letter to his wife, the Revd Ronald Edwards wrote he was pleased that Hughes had been promoted away from the 8th Army and

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replaced by the Revd A. V. Hurley, who he thought was ‘less of a showman [but] a far better Churchman’. He added, ‘We have definitely the better man. Monty might not think so – but we do.’19 There are a number of interesting parallels between the relationship between the Revd George Duncan and Field Marshal Douglas Haig during the Great War and the Revd F. L. Hughes and Field Marshal B. L. Montgomery during World War Two. Haig’s role for chaplains and his expectation of God was much more private than Montgomery’s. Haig was grateful that Duncan’s sermons gave him a sense of perspective and, despite his belief in God’s guidance never gave the impression of expecting divine intervention during battles.20 Montgomery was much more flamboyant and he assumed that, if religion was good for him, it was also good for the army, the consequence being that pre-battle orders issued in his name anticipated divine intervention from the Lord mighty in battles. Duncan ministered to Haig loyally and as they were fellow Presbyterians religion remained a private affair. Haig did not promote Duncan to promote his own vision of Christianity and war. Also there was an institutional factor at work. Thus while Montgomery could help promote a Territorial Army chaplain over regular chaplains to the office of ChaplainGeneral, even if he wanted to, Haig could not have promoted a Presbyterian chaplain over Anglican chaplains and into the same office. It is a testimony to the influence of religion and chaplains that during both world wars, those who led the army had close relationships with their chaplains. As the influence of Hughes grew it allowed him to shape the way chaplains prepared for action. For combat units in bases and lines-of-communication, life was dominated by preparation for battle, and once there were indications that operations were imminent, soldiers and chaplains adjusted their thinking accordingly. These preparations included senior chaplains preparing standing orders to guide chaplains, individual chaplains collecting the equipment they needed to operate, battle training for chaplains, and assisting the soldiers with their spiritual and psychological preparations before going into battle. Hughes wrote that chaplains should, ‘Regard all training as an approach to battle. We are detached from parishes and set in an army to fight effectively for God’s cause. That the army be effective is the Staff’s job; that it serve God is ours.’21 Between late 1942 and early 1943, a series of guides and standing orders evolved which senior chaplains wrote to direct junior chaplains. During the war the functions of chaplains were increasingly redefined. A number of factors caused this. Firstly, chaplains, like the army, had to adapt to a war which was more mobile than the Great War and learn how

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to operate in new conditions. Secondly, senior chaplains used standing orders to influence chaplains with whom they had limited contact, especially in battle. Finally, the RAChD wished to prevent the army from diverting chaplains into secular activities and by defining duties it was easier to extract equipment from the army. Hughes wrote that chaplains were entitled to a poorly designed field communion set and a vehicle. Obtaining necessary additional equipment depended on both availability of equipment like trucks, and the willingness of units to supply extra kit to chaplains. Hughes advised chaplains, ‘that the army will do almost anything to help men who are clearly doing a work of God amongst the troops. Win that confidence and the stuff is yours.’ Chaplains who were good at ‘fixing themselves up’ acquired a 15 cwt truck and converted it by installing ration boxes behind the front seats to store service books and communion elements, then laying a plank over the boxes created a desk and book shelves were fitted over the desk. A bed was fitted along one side of the truck and seats on the other side. Other desirable equipment included musical instruments, a radio, and cooker, which assisted chaplains in attracting soldiers to services and classes. Soldiers sheltered in a small tent attached to the truck.22 In addition to these soft-skinned vehicles, chaplains attached to armoured units were sometimes given armoured vehicles if they were trusted to operate safely in forward positions. The Revd S. A. Shaw, a Baptist chaplain attached to the 79 Armoured Division had an armoured halftrack, while the Revd Leslie Skinner, a Methodist chaplain attached to the 8th (Independent) Armoured Brigade had a Dingo scout car with a stretcher rack replacing the machine gun.23 In Burma, chaplains used jeeps as these were suited to jungle conditions and transportation by aircraft. In many operations, however, mules were the only form of transport. The Revd A. Thompson, acting SCF of the 5th Indian Division, reminded his chaplains, ‘This is a noble and valuable animal and the chaplain should be the last person to abuse it.’ Due to difficulties with maintaining morale in Burma and the lack of welfare officers, the duties and equipment of chaplains were more slanted towards welfare and entertainments, than was the case in Europe. Therefore chaplains included Penguin books, cards, games, footballs, and volley balls in their mule loads. Thompson wrote, ‘This equipment is as essential to the chaplain’s work as wireless sets to the signallers.’24 Chaplains were also expected to hold regular services and even monsoons were not an acceptable excuse for failing to maintain worship. This tendency to codify chaplains’ duties and equipment prompted an imaginative satirist to draw up a table of equipment for a Spiritual Aid

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Detachment (SAD) Type ‘A’ RAChD to process 200 sinners per day. The personnel included chief priest, soul riveters, acolytes, foolish virgins, and wise virgins. The transport included fiery chariots and collapsible rain proof arks. Other equipment included old wine bottles (for new wine), collapsible Jericho pattern walls, David pattern slings, and assorted vices.25 Before going into action, chaplains made their own private preparations. On 6 June 1944, the Revd George Fox, an Anglican chaplain with the 3rd Reconnaissance Regiment (Northumberland Fusiliers) wrote to his daughter Elizabeth, ‘I want you to regard this letter as a very special one, the reason I write it, is that there is always the possibility I may not return, for modern warfare carries with it so many hazards.’26 Despite the dangers he was facing, he reminded her that the world was actually a delightful place. She was encouraged to remain in the church as the sacraments were a great help. In addition to their personal preparations, chaplains helped soldiers prepare for active service. As in other areas of army life, this work prior to active service reflected denominational differences. Catholic and Church of England chaplains cooperated in holding camps around London which housed troops due to be sent to France in 1944. In April 1944, the Revd Donogh O’Brien, a Catholic chaplain, was posted to a group of eight camps near the Albert and Victoria docks. When he visited a camp announcements invited Catholic soldiers to the church tent. To the surprise of cynical officers, soldiers converged on the tent like ‘bees to a hive’. The prospect of action made the soldiers more devout and O’Brien would give them rosaries, hear confessions, and arrange for Mass. When soldiers started to ‘baa’ (the inference being that they were lambs going to the slaughter) he reassured a worried CO that it was just school-boy playfulness. O’Brien drew optimistic lessons from his experience. Although too busy to join Protestant chaplains and Army Educational Corps sergeants with welfare work, he concluded, ‘The social side of a parish is more necessary than ever, and the chaplains have laid a foundation which can easily be built on by the parish priest.’27 Meanwhile, Anglican and nonconformist chaplains working in holding camps undertook a massive amount of welfare work in addition to their priestly duties. In a report on work in holding camps, the Revd D. P. Low, Deputy Assistant ChaplainGeneral for London District, wrote that, lacking Welfare Officers in camps, ‘Chaplains did much excellent work in matters of general and personal welfare [that] kept them extremely busy, and not least because they rightly took a place secondary to their pastoral work.’28 Catholic chaplains devoted themselves exclusively to religious work, whereas Protestant chaplains, while giving priority to religious work, also under-

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took much welfare work, reflecting their greater willingness to give secular assistance to the army. Chaplains anticipated that the prospect of action would concentrate soldiers’ minds on religious issues, and in this they were not disappointed. The Revd Bill Cook was attached to the Derbyshire Yeomanry preparing for the Torch landings in North Africa which took place in November 1942. In July 1942, Cook’s request for a church tent was turned down by Frank, the Yeomanry Quartermaster, so Cook obtained a tent from the division headquarters instead. He wrote to his fiancee, Helen, ‘It will be interesting to see whether the Regiment (or Frank!) value me any more when we go to war.’29 The soldiers fulfilled Cook’s hopes and on Christmas day 1942 he wrote that he had four jolly services, ‘The job is infinitely worthwhile here. The men are so welcoming and responsive. If only it were like this at home!’30 The final duty of chaplains before going into action was holding prebattle services to calm their own anxieties, and to reassure soldiers. The content of such services ranged from bellicose sermons intended to inspire military endeavour, to services similar to those held at home whose purpose was to give soldiers peace of mind and distract them from dwelling on what lay ahead. Most chaplains adopted a middle course. The difficulty chaplains faced with deciding on appropriate content for services mirrored the uncertainty of the civilian church on issues like praying for victory. The Revd F. L. Hughes had no such reservations about consecrating military endeavours, advising chaplains to: Pitch them in a major, not a minor key; consecrate resolve, appeal to strength, pass on the attitude of Christ to duty: ‘Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world …’ and all its allurements. Do not treat these Services as an insurance against death. Men wish to meet their God that they may better meet their foe. The spirit is: ‘Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered’, and the general theme: Praise for a just Cause, Prayer to be worthy of it, and Commendation to God of all the issues for us and ours.31 Hughes urged his chaplains to conduct services that made it clear God was on the British side. It might be thought that this ignored the wider Christian message, but in Hughes’s eyes he simply linked it directly to the circumstances soldiers were in. Moreover, it was a call not just for God to act through British soldiers, but also that he should intervene directly. This message was particularly effective when soldiers became more devout as action got closer. As Hughes bluntly wrote, ‘The padre’s way to an army’s

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heart is through conviction that religion assists its fighting.’32 During the 1920s and 1930s the pacifist movement criticised chaplains for similar sentiments expressed during the Great War. The collapse of the pacifist movement during World War Two made it easier for Hughes to advocate an approach which although it was toned down, was similar to that used in the Great War. While some chaplains acted in the way Hughes suggested, there was already unease among other chaplains about that type of approach. In 1942, Major-General G. I. Thomas became commander of the 43rd Division stationed near Dover. At a conference he ordered chaplains to preach jihad style sermons from an approved text which would be sent to them. The chaplains protested that they were commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel, not jihads. Thomas accused them of rebellion and stormed out of the meeting. The chaplains agreed to follow a series of themes for a limited period, but insisted their message concerned Christian faith and practice, and while this included preparing men to face battle and possibly death, they refused to preach jihads.33 The attitude of the 43rd Division chaplains towards pre-battle services was more typical of chaplains than that of Hughes. On 15 June 1944, Hughes moderated his approach when addressing a civilian audience. In his broadcast carried by the BBC Home Service he said, ‘The chaplains were never asked to harness the Christian faith to military operations. Militant ranting was much disliked.’34 Hughes had different messages for chaplains and civilian audiences, and moderated his approach between 1943 and 1944 after consultation with William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose opposition to bellicose prayers for victory was well known. One of the mechanisms to cope with the shock of going into action was maintaining regular services. Dangerous situations did not discourage chaplains from holding services, and particularly if they were inexperienced, the awkwardness of the situation encouraged them to greater efforts. On 18 June 1944, three days after he landed in Normandy, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney, wrote to his wife that he celebrated communion under a hawthorn hedge, ‘all absolutely marvellous, so true and definite.’35 Similarly, a Church of Scotland chaplain, the Revd J. Fraser McLuskey, was parachuted with the SAS into France where they operated for three months behind German lines in an area to the east of Dijon. Shortly after they landed, McLuskey held a Sunday service in a forest glade where they established their camp. Although few had attended church when they were civilians, they all attended the communion service. According to McLuskey, they were not there to curry favour with God; rather, the unusual circumstances stripped away normal ambitions and worries,

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revealing more basic needs including that of communion with God. McLuskey wrote, ‘We commended our enterprise, and our comrades, to His keeping; our loved ones to His care. We asked for forgiveness and the skill and courage we should need.’36 The services drew them closer to God and with other collective activities reinforced soldiers’ sense of comradeship. The enthusiastic response to these services delighted chaplains, as soldiers who were apathetic towards religion started attending voluntary services in considerable numbers. The more perceptive chaplains like the Revd Leaney recognised that the responsiveness of the soldiers was a temporary phenomenon: I am overwhelmed and bewildered by the eager attendance at services in the field, and the incredible phenomenon of laymen asking for a service to be taken. They know in their hearts, but not alas in their heads, where the true life begins. … And this strong religious feeling which gives us our large congregations now has by no means become strong religious conviction which will give us a more Christian world in the future.37 Chaplains did not become resentful when men returned to normal behaviour after the danger of battle had passed. Partly this was because, like soldiers, chaplains became more devout during action, recognising that turning towards God in such circumstances was a trait of human nature.38 Also the lessons of the Great War were still fresh in peoples’ memories, so there was no expectation that frontline devotion would last. When units had been in action for long periods or as they were rotated in and out of the front line, services took on different qualities, providing a sense of continuity between civilian and military life and helping soldiers forget about the war. The Revd Kenneth Oliver, an Anglican chaplain with the Honourable Artillery Company enjoyed holding voluntary communion services in the desert for soldiers. Choosing a suitable site, such as a sheltered wadi, he would set up an altar on the back of a lorry or a flat rock. The elements were usually army biscuits and local wine, and as he wrote, ‘I suppose it was the stark simplicity that made the service so moving. The congregation, usually quite small, stood around in a semicircle and knelt to receive. At these moments God seemed even closer than in a building and the war seemed a long way off.’ On Sunday evenings after dinner when the troops were in their positions, Oliver led prayers and they sang well-known hymns.39 Joanna Bourke argues that the most important duty for chaplains in pre-battle situations was, ‘counselling soldiers who confessed to disquiet

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about killing’.40 Although such incidents were far rarer than Bourke claimed, they are nevertheless significant for what they reveal about chaplains’ attitudes. In April 1944, Captain William Douglas Home had fought the by-election of Clay Cross in Derbyshire during which he criticised the Allied policies demanding unconditional German surrender and refusing to extend the Atlantic Charter to Germany. He was defeated and during his departing address said, ‘I shall go back if the Army Council so desire it, to fight a war which I no longer consider just.’41 Surprisingly he was allowed to return to his unit. Home was in charge of the reserve squadron of flame-thrower tanks in the 79th Armoured Division when they landed in Normandy. His reservations about Allied war aims and conduct came to a head when an Intelligence Officer informed him that a major attack was being planned on Le Havre in three days time and that the British had refused a German request to evacuate civilians from the city. Home wrote, ‘I remember wishing that someone else – the padre for choice – would protest against the incident.’42 The Revd S. A. Shaw, a Baptist chaplain attached to the same unit, had reservations about the battle describing it as a ridiculous show piece to impress visiting dignitaries. Despite these personal doubts, Shaw said, ‘Personally, I would have been unsympathetic to his protests if he’d asked me, any more than I’d have objected to any other battle strategy, e.g. artillery shelling etc. I would certainly have told him to do his duty and obey orders. I have the feeling that his thinking was a bit woolly and muddled here.’43 It is probable that if Shaw had been able to do so, he would have attempted to soothe Home’s uncertain conscience. Early that morning before Le Havre was attacked, Home went to see the CO and said he was refusing to take part in the action.44 Home was court-martialled and sentenced to one year’s hard labour. Bourke did not mention the Le Havre incident and other evidence for her claim is slight. Moreover, other material including survey evidence from chaplains indicated that soldiers and officers were more concerned about being killed than killing. Very few officers were so concerned about the morality of their conduct during wartime that they sought advice from a chaplain.45 This confirms Bourke’s central argument that soldiers found killing easy, but it is difficult to reconcile this with her argument that an essential role for chaplains was assuring men with doubts about killing. Also Bourke ignores the role chaplains had in restraining soldiers. Some officers resented this interference but others were grateful for the restraining influence chaplains had on them. One officer wrote to the Revd Leslie Skinner, that, ‘By being there you helped to keep us sane in all the hell of what we had to do and might have become.’46 Another chap-

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lain, the Revd Harry Graydon, stopped the CO of an infantry battalion from shooting a German prisoner by standing in front of him and saying, ‘You will have to shoot me first.’47 It is difficult to judge how widespread this sort of protest was since the evidence tends to be suppressed afterwards and as chaplains were usually based at the Regimental Aid Post, they were often unaware of what soldiers were doing in combat. When in action, chaplains were advised to position themselves at battalion Regimental Aid Posts where they assisted doctors and medics. In static positions or during an advance, the Regimental Aid Post was normally a mile behind the front, outside the effective range of small arms fire. Wounded soldiers were taken to the Regimental Aid Post where they received immediate treatment to prepare them for a journey back to hospitals in the rear areas. Chaplains at Regimental Aid Posts gave practical assistance including carrying wounded soldiers, cleaning wounds, minor surgery, bringing up medical supplies, and ministering to the wounded and dying.48 This assistance was appreciated by other officers, especially as some chaplains had shown sufficient foresight to acquire medical skills.49 Working at the Regimental Aid Posts had a number of advantages for chaplains. It ensured they had something definite to do during battles. The Revd F. L. Hughes warned against even saintly, brave, and prayerful chaplains wandering about the battlefield in search of things to do, as their lack of focus would be obvious to soldiers, and demoralising to themselves, since inactivity would leave them very vulnerable to the frights of warfare.50 The distressing yet commonplace nature of tending wounded soldiers meant memoirs, letters, and interviews understated the extent to which chaplains helped wounded soldiers. Just before the 2/4th Hampshire Regiment returned to action, the Revd Ronald Edwards wrote to his wife, ‘A large part of my time will be spent with the dead and the dying, but I will not mention this side of my life again in my letters.’51 Catholic chaplains like the Revd H. Alban Boultwood administered the last rites to wounded Catholics, while Anglican and nonconformist chaplains prayed with wounded soldiers. Although Catholic and Protestant chaplains wanted to assist each other and minister to the wounded regardless of denomination, they felt inhibited by doctrinal differences. Boultwood was hesitant and nervous with non-Catholic soldiers, not knowing if, ‘they believed in God, or wished to hear about Him.’52 Similarly, Protestant chaplains wanted to help Catholic wounded, but they were uncertain as to what they should do. Gradually both sides became more confident and Boultwood eventually prayed with non-Catholics, while his Anglican and nonconformist colleagues would often let dying

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Catholics hold their crucifix while they prayed with them.53 This work by chaplains typified the relationship between Protestant and Catholic chaplains, in that good intentions were mixed with difficulties in recognising alternative patterns of belief and practice. Catholics in particular were unwilling to trust the task of ministering to their wounded to nonCatholics, and they based themselves further back in the evacuation chain, usually at the brigade Advanced Dressing Station, to ensure that no Catholic soldiers missed the sacraments (by contrast, a Methodist chaplain, for example would position himself at the Regimental Aid Post, secure in the knowledge that the spiritual welfare of wounded Methodists from other battalions, would be attended to by his Anglican colleagues). The results of this concentration in rear areas could be comical. A Catholic chaplain approached a wounded Catholic soldier who said, ‘I was expecting you, Father. … You are the fifth priest I have seen today.’54 A further factor which encouraged Catholic chaplains to avoid attaching themselves to battalions, with the consequence they were further from the frontline, was the sometimes justified fear that battalions would press them into a variety of secular activities.55 Whereas during the Great War, Catholic chaplains established a reputation for being more willing than Protestants to enter the frontline, the situation was reversed during World War Two, although this never became so well known.56 Some Catholic chaplains went forward during battles but they were exceptions. The Catholic concern about being pressed into odd jobs was partly justified, although the extent to which the army expected military assistance from chaplains depended on the tactical situation. When the army was advancing or in static positions, chaplains usually worked in Regimental Aid Posts, although sometimes they helped ferry supplies, or escort prisoners. However, if the unit was retreating or surrounded, it became much more likely that chaplains would volunteer to assist the unit in any manner the circumstances demanded, some even abandoning their non-combatant status and fighting. During the 1940 retreat from France and Belgium, chaplains helped in a variety of ways. The Revd Leaney, whose experiences were fairly typical, acted as a messenger, air sentry, interpreter, and marshal.57 Often groups of soldiers became separated and isolated, and in ‘small ad hoc groups, all too often without their officers’ they retreated, sustained by the hope of returning to Britain.58 Sometimes chaplains volunteered or were ordered to lead these groups. The Revd Henry Whiteman was attached to the 2/6th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. Fearing they were about to be overrun, the CO told Whiteman to lead a party of 25 men back towards a port. They travelled in coal wagons and took food from a bombed Salvation Army hut. Eventually

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they boarded a ship at Queberon and sailed to Southampton.59 In January 1942, during the North Africa campaign, another chaplain the Revd Ken Oliver retreated with the Honourable Artillery Company. They went into action with high hopes, but they were forced to retreat miles across the desert, suffering casualties and losing their artillery which was considered a disgrace. When the retreat ended, Oliver was anxious about his sermon but when walking in the desert he found a German belt inscribed with ‘Gott mit uns’. Oliver assumed its owner had been killed and wrote, ‘He trusted in the same God that we did and I felt very close to him in spirit.’60 This provided him with inspiration and he preached about how God cared for all those who were killed in battle, whatever side they were on, and that the crucified Christ was a bridge between mankind suffering from the horrors of war and God. Putting defeat into perspective was an important but nevertheless difficult job for chaplains. Performing this service was more difficult if the action ended in complete disaster. Often defeats during the early war years combined with the chaplains’ uncertainty as to their role in battle left them feeling impotent. In May 1942, the 72nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery was overrun by German tanks and the Revd Richard Hill compared this with the retreat from Dunkirk. In both cases he had joined a unit just before they went into action, lacked knowledge about his role, and felt he made no useful contribution to the battle.61 It is instructive to compare reactions of chaplains during retreats and when they were surrounded during the first three years of the war, with the way chaplains acted during the Arnhem battle of 1944.62 Even though chaplains attached to airborne units were particularly robust, their actions at Arnhem revealed far greater determination and certainty as to their battlefield role. Indeed it suggested the RAChD had absorbed the lessons of earlier defeats. The Arnhem operation started on Sunday 17 September 1944, and 15 chaplains participated, with eight landing in gliders and seven parachuting in. They suffered casualties on landing, the Revd R. F. Bowers broke his leg, the Revd H. J. Irwin was killed by a mortar bomb, and the Revd Alastair Menzies was captured almost immediately. Once the surviving chaplains orientated themselves, they started working in the Regimental Aid Posts. The 1st Parachute Regiment fought in the suburbs of Arnhem, trying to force their way forward to the road bridge, partly held by the 2nd Parachute Regiment. After four days street fighting, the 1st battalion had suffered heavy casualties and only 200 soldiers and three officers survived. Among the officers was the Revd R. Talbot Watkins, a Methodist chaplain, who had taken over the doctor’s duties when the latter was captured. Chaplains in other units suffered more casualties. The Revd Bernard Egan, a Catholic chaplain attached to the 2nd Parachute

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Regiment was wounded by shell splinters and fell down a flight of stairs breaking his leg. Recovering consciousness, he crawled over towards another soldier, only to pass out again when the building was shelled again. He awoke with his clothes on fire and rolled around, beating the flames with his hand.63 Egan and many other wounded soldiers were evacuated into German medical care during a pause in the battle. Another Catholic chaplain, the Revd B. J. Benson, attached to the 181st Air Landing Field Ambulance, was helping wounded soldiers when a Tiger tank fired on his building, shattering his arm which was then amputated. Benson lost the will to live when he realised he would not be able to celebrate mass in the usual way. His place in the Field Ambulance was taken by the Revd George Pare who ministered to the wounded, helped doctors, and held short evening services in the wards. By the end of the battle two chaplains had died, five were captured during the fighting, and five others surrendered (some having chosen to remain with the wounded). The remaining three were evacuated. The Revd Watkins got 30 wounded men across the lower Rhine during the evacuation, then swam back to search for more, but finding none as dawn broke he hid in the river bank and swam to safety the following night. The actions of the chaplains at Arnhem were a tribute to their training, personal determination, and sense of vocation. One chaplain, when confronted by the dangerous operations undertaken by the Parachute Regiment, became a combatant. After a disastrous action in North Africa when the 2nd Parachute Regiment was decimated, the Revd Murdo MacDonald, a Church of Scotland chaplain, armed himself and commanded a platoon.64 Another factor which explains MacDonald’s actions was his denomination. More so than other denominations, Church of Scotland clergy enlisted as combatants, and chaplains became temporary combatants and attempted to escape from POW camps. The Church of Scotland had a mixture of established and nonconformist theology. Like the Baptists, the laity had considerable authority in the Church of Scotland with the result that clergy identified closely with the laity. This close identity with laity in a military context led to chaplains becoming combatants. Baptist chaplains however were not from an established church and they had a stronger pacifist tradition. Another chaplain who, with rather less justification armed himself, was the Revd J. E. Gethyn-Jones, an Anglican chaplain with the 5th Gloucestershire Regiment stationed in woodlands forward of the Maginot Line. Both sides patrolled this border area and Gethyn-Jones brought a revolver to protect himself while moving between positions. It was then easy to ask a Lieutenant if he could join a forward patrol. He removed his clerical collar and dressed as a private. On patrol they checked houses for

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German infiltrators. Gethyn-Jones was sure he would have shot any German soldier he encountered. However, he endangered the lives of other men on the patrol as guilt could have resulted in hesitation before shooting. Gethyn-Jones explained he went on patrol to identify with the soldiers, but admitted that he might have been trying to prove himself. With hindsight he acknowledged some people would consider his actions crass folly and a disgrace to his vocation.65 It remained very unusual for chaplains in Europe and North Africa to arm themselves and fight. Practical and personal theological reasoning worked against chaplains arming themselves. Their position as non-combatants was protected by the Geneva Convention, and many chaplains found this useful. The Revd S. A. Shaw discovered during the Normandy campaign, when he was extracting wounded soldiers from tanks, the Germans directed small arms fire away from his position when they realised he was a chaplain.66 Chaplains also had theological reasons for not carrying arms. The Revd Fraser McLuskey, a Church of Scotland chaplain operating behind German lines with the SAS, a situation that must have been conducive for carrying arms, wrote, ‘I wasn’t there as a fighting man but had my own job to do. I was the better able to do it because … unarmed, I represented the peace which the men knew well is God’s will for a warring world.’67 The situation was very different in Burma where it was official policy that chaplains should arm themselves. Initially chaplains were reluctant to do so, but after contact with the Japanese changed their minds and started carrying small arms. In theory arms were only used for self defence or to defend casualties, but it is difficult to gauge how often they were used and in what circumstances. Carrying arms was justified to chaplains in practical terms, and they were not encouraged to reflect on the legal and theological issues. This might explain why one chaplain had a breakdown after shooting a Japanese soldier.68 Actually there was good legal justification for carrying arms since the Japanese army did not recognise the Geneva convention. Also Anglican and Catholic canon law could be interpreted to allow clergy and priests to arm themselves. Article XXXVII of the Anglican articles of faith stated, ‘It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars.’69 Similarly Roman Catholic canon law forbade priests to carry arms, ‘unless there is justified cause for fear’.70 One way the army recognised the contribution made by chaplains at the front was though the award of gallantry medals. The Revd F. L. Hughes was keen chaplains should get temporal rewards for their efforts, writing, ‘We hunt for no rewards, but we value proofs that the chaplains are in the ranks of gallantry and good work.’71 There are no figures

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concerning the number of chaplains who were decorated from the united branch of the RAChD, but there are figures for the Catholic branch, where out of 680 chaplains, 12 were awarded the Military Cross and 54 were mentioned in dispatches.72 Awards were made for three types of activity, general good service, caring for the wounded and specific acts of bravery. The Revd George Fox was awarded a Military Cross for his efforts in attending to the welfare of soldiers, visiting troops under fire, holding voluntary services, and ensuring that the bodies in knocked out vehicles were buried. ‘By his magnificent example and his great understanding’, so the citation read, ‘Padre Fox has earned for himself a position of great esteem among all ranks of his Regiment.’73 The Revd Ronald Edwards was awarded the Distinguished Service Order during one of the Cassino battles. Edwards was attached to the 2/4 Hampshires. On 12 May 1944, the Brigade attempted to cross the Gari river near Cassino. The 2 King’s was to cross the river followed by 2 Somerset Light Infantry and 2/4 Hampshires were to attend to the boats. The crossing started badly as the 2 King’s were late and began their crossing just as the artillery barrage on German positions lifted. Casualties were heavy, with over half of the King’s battalion killed or injured. A firm foothold was never established across the river and on 14 May, the remnants withdrew.74 Edwards realised about 30 or 40 injured men were stranded on the far bank. He attached a cable to himself and swam across the river, and then used the cable to tow a doctor with medical supplies across the river. He helped treat the wounded and then under mortar and machine gun fire dragged an abandoned assault boat to the far bank which ferried wounded soldiers back over the river. He wrote to his wife that he had had ‘the most exciting and thrilling day in my life’, but because he did not wish to frighten her, he did not actually say what he had done, or that he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order. She learned the full details from the press a couple of months later, and Edwards was embarrassed about the publicity. Edwards had a very high expectation of what his conduct should be during battles and earlier he had written to his wife, ‘Each one of us will need his utmost strength and courage and I must be the last to show any evidence of fear.’75 The Revd G. P. Druitt wrote that after battles chaplains’ priorities should be the fighting troops, then caring for the wounded, and finally burying the dead.76 These tasks had to be achieved during intermissions between battles which were short, sometimes as little as one evening. Units got longer breaks when they were rotated out of frontline service to absorb reinforcements, rest, and retrain. Druitt recalled how during such intermissions he visited tank crews in the evenings to reassure and

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comfort the soldiers. One typical conversation started, ‘We were looking for you yesterday, Sir. We were knocked out and one of the crew killed. We thought a yarn with you would make us feel better.’ Such a comment underlined the challenge for all chaplains of avoiding being either too spiritual and serious or too flippant and light-hearted.77 Officers burdened by the consequences of their decisions also turned to chaplains for reassurance. The Revd Leslie Skinner wrote that most evenings after planning meetings for officers, the CO would discuss the day’s action with him wondering if casualties could have been lighter. Skinner did not say much, mostly just listening which helped his CO.78 When a good relationship existed between chaplains and officers, the chaplain served as confidant, restrainer, and spiritual guide. Captain R. Dare Wilson described a successful relationship between chaplains and officers thus, ‘There are times when, more than anything else, one needs a wise head to turn to, or a shoulder to lean on, be it for advice, understanding or strength. In soldiers’ language the padre has a direct line to God and in times of danger that counts for a lot because, for most of us, the power of prayer does not come easily.’79 The fear of battle and the responsibility of command weighed heavily on officers and they found chaplains and the fact they represented the kingdom of God to be of very real help. Lieutenant Colonel John Mogg had a particularly good relationship with his chaplain. A fine officer with a distinguished record, he was a devout Anglican, a factor which partly explains why he got on well with his chaplain. He went into action for the first time three days after D-Day, when his battalion, the 9th Durham Light Infantry attacked near Bayeux. One hundred and ninety men were injured or killed including the CO. Mogg was then promoted to CO. He removed two chaplains because of drunkenness and nervousness, then a Catholic chaplain, the Revd Jack Devine was posted to the battalion. Devine was from the diocese of Elphin, Scotland and he was commissioned in October 1941. Mogg had never been in action before and worried whether soldiers respected him and whether he was making the right tactical decisions. Furthermore it was difficult to discuss such anxieties with the Brigadier, or junior officers (Mogg suspected some of them wanted his job) without giving the impression of poor leadership. In such circumstances, Mogg found the chaplain was a confidant trusted to listen, advise, and obtain advice from third parties without compromising his confidentiality. It was important to Mogg that Devine established a good rapport with soldiers regarding personal problems, usually related to marriage or relationships, which threatened their military usefulness. As Mogg was impressed by Devine, he supported him by encouraging the

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battalion to attend services. While he admitted that religion was a private matter and services were voluntary, he looked sourly on officers who did not worship and this usually inspired devotion. Church services as communal activities enforced comradeship and although there were a significant number of Catholics in the battalion, Devine was recognised by nonCatholic soldiers who went to his services. In fact, so many soldiers attended communion services, they were split into two groups in case they were shelled. Mogg’s only complaint about Devine was that he lightened his wallet when they played poker! 80 Regimental chaplains had an ongoing responsibility towards ill and wounded soldiers as they could leave the unit for a day or two to visit them in hospital and thereby maintain the important link between the soldier and his regiment.81 However, most work among sick and injured soldiers was carried out by chaplains attached to hospitals. The Revd John Milne, a Catholic chaplain, was transferred to a hospital after he found working with the 16th Infantry Brigade difficult. After he joined the Brigade he stopped holding compulsory church parades and despite his best efforts only 70 out of 550 Catholics in the Brigade attended voluntary services. Milne became despondent and was transferred to a hospital. He soon settled into the new role writing, ‘Here plenty of congenial work cheered me up. Soldiers are at their best from a chaplain’s point of view in hospital.’82 Soldiers who were wounded or ill, like those who had been captured, found that religion helped them to cope with their new situation and whilst in hospital there was time for reflection and prayer. One group of soldiers who needed particular care were those suffering from shell shock. Chaplains did their best to prevent soldiers from succumbing to shell shock. One teetotal chaplain working in Burma took brandy on operations so he could offer a drink as well as comfort to those who were getting anxious.83 Another chaplain drew on Luke’s account of Christ accompanying the apostles on the road to Emmaus, the point being that Christ was with people in difficult situations, even if they did not recognise him. Chaplains working in hospitals found soldiers suffering from battle exhaustion (the preferred expression for shell shock) were susceptible to religious influences which improved their condition. Three chaplains worked in 32 General Hospital, which specialised in treating shell shock, the Revd H. L. Adamson, a Church of Scotland chaplain, the Revd Gillow, a Catholic chaplain, and the Revd J. A. Sime, a Church of England chaplain, who wrote an account of their activities. Sime and Adamson cooperated and held joint daily services that were open to Anglican and nonconformist soldiers. When the hospital was full about 70 to 80 soldiers would attend. Sime described the services as, ‘a definite kind

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of group therapy, and which, there is every reason to believe, was of real help in that way.’84 The service would last half an hour and talks were given by chaplains attached to the hospital, visiting chaplains, hospital staff, and on one occasion by a patient. Sime thought the services provided an atmosphere of strength and stability that was generated by using familiar prayers. This familiarity helped one patient suffering from amnesia to recover his memory. One of the psychiatrists asked Sime to speak to a patient. Sime hummed the tunes of well known hymns which the soldier recognised. Encouraged by this Sime got him to say prayers which prompted the soldier to remember that he sang in a choir as a child. Later the soldier was treated with pentothal which helped, but he still could not remember his wife or battle experiences. Finally his memory returned when a stream reminded him of the fierce battles to cross the Orne river.85 Sime was convinced that his experiences with soldiers demonstrated the need, albeit unrecognised, within people for God. He wrote, ‘Disharmonies in the soul, muddled religious ideas, and lack of a coherent faith of any sort … are powerful contributory factors in neurosis.’86 One of the chaplains’ duties during and after operations was burying the dead. Sometimes soldiers were buried where they fell, but the preferred option was to establish a divisional burial ground. The first and most difficult stage of the burial procedure was retrieving the body. If the front was static, dead bodies could lie in the open for days until it was safe to recover them. What really strained chaplains was getting bodies out of burnt tanks. It was clear that interview questions about this aspect of their work distressed chaplains, and the reasons why this should have been so are clear enough. The Revd S. A. Shaw recalled the worst cases were when tanks ‘brewed up’ when shells from German 88mm anti-tank guns would shatter the tank’s armour and ignite the fuel.87 Another chaplain, the Revd G. P. Druitt described how he extracted a body from a tank: I shall not forget one body for the rest of my life. There must have been a few seconds delay before the tank ‘went up’; just time enough for the co driver to open his escape hatch in the floor of the tank and to get his feet on the ground. The top half of the body was burnt black but had remained complete and still attached to the lower body. It was impossible to get the body up or down. I tried every way and every movement. Waves of the desperate stench caused my brain to reel and my throat to contract. … Finally, in desperation I broke that body across my foot; cracked off the pathetic arms, raised above the head as if to protect it, and bent the head backwards with both hands; then passed it up piece

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meal through the hatch. Then I had a rope passed to me under the tank, which I attached to one of the legs and by stamping on the squelching guts, continued to force the lower body through to the ground as it was hauled free of the tank by means of the rope. … Actually I felt slightly sick and strained for the rest of the day.88 A friend of the dead soldier heard a rumour about how he died, and approached Druitt who lied to him and said that his comrade died instantly. Chaplains usually extracted the bodies themselves as they were concerned that tank crews would become demoralised if they helped extract the bodies.89 The efforts chaplains made to recover bodies denote the importance both to the next of kin and the friends of soldiers who were killed of ensuring that they were buried properly. Once the body was recovered, it was wrapped in a blanket and buried. The soldier was buried wearing his green identity disk. The red disk was returned with personal effects to the rear echelons and next of kin. Chaplains removed pornography and other items that might distress relatives.90 Graves were marked and details of the soldier and a map grid reference were sent to the Graves Registration Unit by the chaplain. Where possible the burial would be carried out by a chaplain from the same denomination as the soldier, but often circumstances prevented this. The particular requirements for Jewish burials were explained in a booklet issued to chaplains.91 Chaplains were also expected to bury enemy soldiers. The Revd G. P. Druitt extracted bodies from a knocked out Italian tank and buried them using the shortened burial service consisting of the committal and the Lord’s Prayer. As he remarked, guilty though it made him feel, ‘The difficult part is to say ‘as we forgive them that trespass against us’.’92 The Revd C. C. Lannigan was asked by some German prisoners to bury their dead comrades. He obliged and borrowed a Catholic prayer book from them. During the service he realised he had just thanked God that they died for Fuhrer, Volk (people), and Fatherland.93 The final stage of the process was gathering the personal effects of the dead and writing to their relatives. Chaplains were particularly upset if they were close to those killed. After the Revd Bill Cook’s most promising ordination candidate, Norman, was killed, Cook wrote to his fiancee, ‘Goodness he had a lot of books, bless him. He would have made a good parson.’94 They would then write directly to the relatives, usually the wife or mother. The number of letters that needed to be written was sometimes overwhelming. Between June 1944 and May 1945, 153 soldiers in the Sherwood Rangers armoured regiment were killed. Infantry casualties were even higher.95 Because of the high number of casualties in Italy, the

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8th Army produced a leaflet containing a sample letter which chaplains could adapt to suit the circumstances.96 Often relatives replied to chaplains thanking them for their letter. The Revd Bainbridge kept the letters he received. Mrs Brookes wrote to him in December 1943. After her husband had been wounded in North Africa, she had prepared for him to come home, but he made a full recovery and fought in Italy where he was killed. His wife was grateful for the information in Bainbridge’s letter as it helped her to accept that he had been killed.97 The Revd Bill Cook also kept some of the replies he received. One widow wrote: My dear husband was one of thousands who fought and gave his life in a great cause, and I feel certain God does not forget such people. I have two children, one 5½ years and my son 4 years and 4 months, thank God my little ones have been spared – it is something to know my husband has been buried. Thank you for having been so good as to have written.98 Some widows were bitter, one wrote to Cook, ‘What could we not have done if my husband had been spared, but the government drag our men from their homes, and they don’t care if they never return.’99 Writing to relatives was a depressing experience for chaplains, and all the more so as, while wishing to be supportive they did not have the time or the psychological reserves to enter into protracted correspondence.100 While there were times when chaplains were very busy during campaigns, they also found time for relaxation, and some of the more candid chaplains like the Revd N. F. Jones, an Anglican chaplain attached to the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry, admitted to being lazy. Jones completed his duties including conducting services, padres’ hours, burying the dead, and assisting with welfare work, but also found time to go drinking with his friends, play bridge, and read novels. One Saturday he wrote in his diary, ‘Very lazy and am producing that old chestnut ‘The Good Shepherd’ as my sermon tomorrow.’101 He concealed this laziness by fabricating the monthly reports he sent to his SCF. The diary kept by Jones included his leisure activities and it is probably more realistic than diaries kept by chaplains who just described their work. Although chaplains did not admit it, relaxing helped them cope with stress. The strain of battle led to some chaplains succumbing to shell shock. There are no collated figures for the numbers of British army chaplains who suffered from shell-shock. An indication of the scale of the problem can be gauged from the experiences of 447 Canadian chaplains who served in the Great War. Nineteen chaplains were diagnosed as suffering

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from neurasthenia and a further 83 spent short periods in hospital for illnesses like ulcers and heart complaints which were often stress related.102 The war diaries kept by British army chaplains during the North Africa campaign do give some details of shell shock and show there was a noticeable increase in the number of court-martials and reprimands just before or after intensive operations, which indicated the stress chaplains were under. Five chaplains were court-martialled during the war, of whom two were acquitted and three were convicted. The two who were acquitted were charged with indecency.103 Just before the battle of El Alamein, one Anglican chaplain who pleaded guilty to a charge of drunkenness was dismissed from the army. Similarly, another Anglican chaplain was courtmartialled for a self inflicted wound. He had served as a chaplain in the Great War and was probably due to take part in the D-Day landings. A Catholic chaplain was court-martialled after he indecently assaulted his driver and another man who he invited into his room on the pretext of examining wiring for a radio. A SCF who observed the court-martial sent a report to the Rt Revd J. Coghlan, Principal Roman Catholic chaplain. He regretted that he had been unable to prevent the court-martial as he had been on sick leave. Catholic SCFs tried to prevent court-martials, particularly if there was a sexual element, as they feared the repercussions for the church.104 In addition to court-martials a number of chaplains were reprimanded for lesser offences. In the six months prior to the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, there were no reported disciplinary problems among chaplains in North Africa, but afterwards five chaplains were reprimanded for mistakes including misappropriation of property, breaching censorship regulations, and other unspecified misdemeanours. The Revd A. J. Wilcox the Deputy Chaplain-General for the Middle East also reported that another chaplain of unsound mind had drowned himself.105 In his monthly reports for 1943, Wilcox also indicated that a growing number of chaplains were reprimanded for drunkenness as the tempo of operations increased, only to drop away once the Germans and Italians surrendered Tunis in May 1943.106 Unlike the Anglicans, no Baptist or Methodist chaplains were reprimanded for drunkenness, this reflecting their denominations’ teetotal tradition. Chaplains were vulnerable to the stresses of battle. The Revd George Fox, for example, had a very lucky escape when a shell blast knocked him over and blew a tree branch onto him, and he was enveloped by smoke and flames. The soldier next to him was mortally wounded. Fox reflected on how difficult it was to retain his sanity and equilibrium under fire, he was worried that the next shell would kill him, and he kept thinking of the

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line from the burial service, ‘in the midst of life we are in death’. Nevertheless Fox went on to conduct two services and just before midnight helped carry a wounded soldier to the first aid post.107 In addition to these normal pressures of frontline service, there were a number of additional difficulties for chaplains.108 They sometimes expected their faith in God would help steady their nerves when they were under fire. While some chaplains reported this to be true others found that God was distant on the battlefields. The Revd G. P. Druitt, the SCF of the 6th Armoured Division during the North Africa campaign, wrote, ‘But each time I was definitely afraid … public opinion rather than faith in God forced me to overcome it.’109 A further pressure on chaplains was caused by their non-combatant status. Druitt wrote that not being able to fight back was a great trial for chaplains, ‘We have to be prepared for anything that comes our way; and yet never to repay in kind.’110 Other soldiers could reduce their stress by firing weapons. Given these pressures it is all the more creditable that only a tiny minority of chaplains acted as combatants or lapsed into shell shock. The most dangerous cases were when chaplains were close to breakdown, but had no obvious symptoms, as then they were liabilities to themselves and others. One possible example of this was the Revd J. E. C. Quinn, an Anglican chaplain attached to the 3rd Coldstream Guards who had won a Military Cross for assisting the wounded at Dunkirk. By 1943, the strain led to behaviour that alternated between being timid and reckless. In early March 1943 he confided in his diary that, rather than becoming hardened by battles, he was more nervous than he was during the retreat to Dunkirk, ‘I find having got through so much that I am most anxious not to be caught at the end.’ He regretted this and was envious of the young officers who showed contempt for danger. However, Quinn when sharing a jeep with a driver and Major Aikenhead and finding himself stuck in a slow moving convoy driving towards Tunis, suggested leaving the convoy and taking a short cut. They made good progress until ambushed. Aikenhead was hit by three bullets and they were all captured. Quinn asked the German soldiers for some bandages for Aikenhead. The Germans also suggested that he should pray with him, ‘That had not occurred to me, but of course I agreed that it was most desirable.’ The Germans withdrew but indicated they would send an ambulance to collect them. As this did not arrive, Quinn departed towards British lines, picking up a German soldier who surrendered to him en route. He reached safety and an ambulance was sent to collect the wounded officer. Quinn viewed the whole incident as an escapade and boasted about it to journalists, but the Guards CO was furious and blamed him for ‘swanning about’ and

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losing a valuable officer. Quinn hid in his truck for a few days.111 Quinn regained his composure and stayed with the battalion taking part in the Salerno landings. His last diary entries, written in September 1943, indicated he was busy with ad hoc services and burying the dead. He was killed in action. To prevent such incidents, SCFs tried to monitor chaplains, worrying that some might get wounded, killed, or have breakdowns. The Revd I. D. Neill was very proud that none of the chaplains in his division had shell shock, although he did transfer a chaplain out of the frontline as a precautionary measure.112 Other senior chaplains were unsympathetic towards those who had breakdowns but did not have easily recognisable symptoms. Druitt, as noted earlier, clearly understood the pressures chaplains were under, yet bitterly criticised one chaplain who deserted and lived in a hovel behind the lines for several weeks, ‘They and others were the weaklings. Their faith had not withstood the test of fire. They had not received that same power which our Lord was using when, ‘He set his face to go to Jerusalem.’‘113 These sharp remarks were made by a chaplain who battled with his own fears. Perhaps, Druitt recognised in the chaplains he criticised his own anxieties. When chaplains were recognised as having shell shock, they were sent to special hospitals, but recovery could take a long time. Typical was one Catholic chaplain who was wounded and suffered from shell shock. While he was being treated in a psychiatric hospital, he asked the Catholic branch of the RAChD to release him early: Finally I say that to let me languish here, spiritually drying up, and mentally suffering, wasting the best years of my life, is unjust. To deprive the best parents in the world of the consolation of seeing their son before they die is unjust; especially when there is no reason for it, except, possibly, ‘red-tape’. I walk about a mental hospital all day long trying to kill time, trying to keep myself sane; a mighty war-effort indeed. When that glorious day comes that I leave off the khaki, I’ll spend my life trying to forget a horrible nightmare.114 He was discharged from hospital and settled back into civilian ministry. To help chaplains cope with stress, senior chaplains organised conferences and retreats for chaplains. These consisted of a mixture of prayer, study, discussion, and relaxation. Usually the chaplains in a division would try to meet up about once every two months for a day. Also retreat centres for chaplains were established in Cairo, Assisi, and Brussels. Senior

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chaplains knew chaplains were reluctant to leave units during battles so they ordered them to attend retreats even if they suspected they would be ignored.115 Although chaplains were sometimes reluctant to leave their units, they appreciated the break. The Revd J. E. Gethyn-Jones wrote that the 30 Corps chaplains were ordered to a meeting which turned out to be a days enforced rest. They did very little in the morning, enjoyed an excellent lunch, then watched a film in the afternoon. The break was appreciated as the chaplains had endured a difficult couple of months.116 Chaplains sometimes felt lonely, found it difficult to maintain regular prayer and Bible study, and missed socialising with men who understood their work. Just as soldiers appreciated services for the continuity they provided between civilian and service life, so chaplains valued the opportunity for ordered worship at retreat centres. In January 1945, the Revd Bill Cook attended the retreat centre run by the Revd Robin Woods, a Church of England chaplain, at Assisi. Cook took his pet dog with him and only just prevented her from chewing a pile of hymn books during a service. The retreat gave an opportunity for ordered worship, visiting the monastery and chapel where St Francis worshipped, and taking part in discussions with other chaplains. One of the discussions on post war reconstruction concerned issues like education, social security, and establishing a health service. ‘Never before’, wrote Cook, ‘have we had such a chance of building the new Jerusalem.’ These discussions underlie the point made by Keith Robbins that as the war progressed the English churches drifted towards the left. However, both Catholic and Protestant churches in Northern Ireland, remained stubbornly immune to such influences.117 Cook was delighted with the course and wrote to his fiancee, ‘Never have I enjoyed anything so much since leaving home. Delirious happiness will not come until you are my other half, but it has been a great intellectual, spiritual and social tonic. It is the sheer joy of being with men who love the things I love, who are hurt by the same evils, who have the same hopes – it has been a privilege to be part of the love and friendship of a worshipping community.’118 Organising conferences was one way in which senior chaplains met and monitored the work of chaplains under them. The actual contact between chaplains at the front was fairly limited. After one conference where the Revd Leslie Skinner met some fellow Methodist chaplains he wrote, ‘It takes a conference to make one realise how little chaplains ever see of each other.’119 The SCF in each division monitored what his chaplains were doing by holding conferences, receiving monthly reports from each chaplain, and visiting them about twice a month. SCFs also liaised with COs to check up on their chaplains. The level of supervision

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was light but tended to be used more to correct mistakes than to praise. The Revd P. Middleton Brumwell wrote, ‘As a general rule you will find that if all is going well, you hear nothing. But you will hear soon enough if anything is going or has gone wrong. Silence does not mean lack of appreciation, but is often the army hallmark of approval.’120 For this reason many primary sources including documents and memoirs give the impression that the relationship between senior and junior chaplains was more strained and more focused on disciplinary issues than was actually the case. Conflicts between chaplains concerning denominational issues were rare since it was accepted that ecclesiastical authority rested with the churches rather than in the chaplaincy chain of command and there was a genuine tolerance that allowed Anglicans, Catholics, nonconformists, and Jews to get on fairly well. The RAChD advanced the ecumenical movement, as frontline service convinced many chaplains of the irrelevance of denominational differences and squabbling. The significance of the experience of chaplains was that their ecumenical advances democratised a movement that was, during the 1930s, for the most part dominated by an elite and by no means representative group of church leaders like William Temple, the Congregationalist academic, C. H. Dodd, and the lay Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, who played a significant role in the Sword of the Spirit movement. The threat of war boosted the ecumenical movement and their high point was the Oxford Conference of Life and Work which in July 1937 agreed to establish the World Council of Churches, which finally came to fruition after the war.121 The weakness of the ecumenical movement was at the local level where there was little cooperation between priests, clergy, and ministers and even less between their respective congregations. This, however, changed quite dramatically during the war when churches worked together to establish canteens for soldiers and allowed other denominations to use their churches if buildings had been damaged by bombing.122 Similarly, although it was rare for chaplains to meet, they still had more contact with chaplains from other denominations than was the case in civilian life where such contacts were limited during the interwar period, especially at the local level. As one Anglican chaplain, the Revd Bernard C. Pawley wrote, ‘One just had to live closer to ones neighbours in the RAChD … than one normally had the opportunity to do in civil life.’123 Given the sectarian hatreds in Scotland in the 1930s, it is surprising that ecumenism between chaplains even included Church of Scotland and Catholic chaplains assisting each other. One Church of Scotland chaplain, the Revd Tommy Nicol commented, ‘I had … a very narrow upbringing

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in the old kirk … but the war showed me that the Church of Scotland had a much more catholic view of the Church than the Anglicans.’ When he landed on the Normandy beaches, Nicol agreed that he would work on the right flank and his Catholic colleague would work on the left flank and that absolution would be universal.124 Similarly, during the battles for the Gothic line in Italy during 1944, a Scottish Catholic chaplain, the Revd Hart prayed with a dying Presbyterian chaplain.125 During interviews chaplains often commented about how the war gave them a greater sympathy for ecumenism. Despite this, chaplains found it difficult to distinguish between the approaches used by chaplains from different denominations (although survey evidence makes it clear such differences existed). Partly this was because, as noted earlier, chaplains usually only had limited contact with chaplains from other denominations, and at the front there was less scope for manifestly denominationally shaped ministries to operate as common difficulties generated common reactions among chaplains. This contrasted with the situation in army bases where denominational differences were more apparent since conditions were closer to those found in the civilian church. Nevertheless, occasionally chaplains made revealing comments on the differences between chaplains from different denominations. The Revd George Fox was an Anglican chaplain attached to the 8th Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. Fox wrote in his diary that the Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General for 8 Corps, the Revd O. D. Wiles visited the Fusiliers and, ‘gave the men a stirring address – real Baptist fire, they seemed amazed, probably due to my docile sermon which they are more accustomed to.’126 Regardless of denomination, the end of the war brought one final justification for the Allied cause. Two days after British Forces reached Belsen concentration camp, Rabbi Leslie Hardman recorded his reaction: I had walked into something a thousand times more appalling than I had steeled myself to meet…. A terrible feeling of helplessness engulfed me. What could I do? How could I save them? Where could I begin? I was a pigmy grappling with a mountain. ‘Many of your people are there.’ My people? – anyone’s people everybody’s people. These once human beings, flesh and blood like you and me, were now reduced to hideous apparitions bearing no resemblance to man but only witnessing to man’s inhumanity. God help me! I am small and alone but I must help them; and I must not waste a moment, because every moment another soul dies.127

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The camp was in appalling state with most of the inmates starving and a large number dying from typhus. Within the first few weeks, Hardman had said the burial prayers over mass graves containing over 10,000 bodies. Hardman was joined by a number of Protestant and Roman Catholic chaplains and Rabbi Isaac Levy who was the Jewish SCF. Hardman remained focused on the camp survivors whilst Levy addressed longer term issues including the tracing and reunification of families, migration to Palestine, and permissions for marriages. It is difficult to summarise the experiences of chaplains during battles as they came from different denominations, were attached to different units, and fought in various theatres of war. Although they found active service demanding, and some buckled under the strain, the majority were positive about their experiences, appreciating the comradeship and finding that, amidst the horrors of war, they and a minority of soldiers with religious inclinations held onto their faith, while a larger number of soldiers who were usually apathetic towards chaplains and religion found a temporary use for both the chaplain and what he represented. Often however, it was only in periods of intermission that chaplains had the opportunity to consider what their experiences meant. In November 1944, the Revd Ronald Edwards, attached to the 2/4 Hampshires was recovering from minor wounds in hospital. He had been praying for the well-being of his battalion and when he was told they had successfully crossed a river and established positions on the other side, he tentatively wrote to his wife, ‘It’s almost as if that prayer has been answered.’ He was relieved that the battalion was getting a couple of months rest after their activities: Darling, I’m afraid this is a strange letter. It just means that for some time my babies will be safe. For months I have known a mother’s care, a mother’s pride, a mother’s sorrow, a mother’s relief, for what they have been called upon to do, for the dangers they have had to face, for the battles they have won, for those whom we have lost, in body but never in spirit, for those who have been spared, and for those who remain. If I were to be honest, I should confess that I have been an indifferent mother. I can but thank God for what He enabled me to do and ask for his forgiveness for what I left undone. Such is war and so we pray for peace.128

7 ‘I was in Prison, and Ye Came Unto Me’: The Work of Captured Chaplains1

Chaplains, like other soldiers, faced the risk of being killed or captured. About 120 chaplains were captured, mostly during the disastrous defeats that characterised the early years of the war. Thirty one were caught around Dunkirk in June 1940, 36 during the fall of Singapore in February 1942, and 17 were listed as missing following the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, most of whom were captured.2 Initially they were concentrated in officers’ camps, but after persistent calls from chaplains, churches, and the Red Cross, the Germans sent some chaplains and doctors to soldiers’ camps where often they were the only officers. In one sense chaplains were more fortunate than other soldiers since they continued their vocations and army duties inside POW camps. Soon after he was captured at Tobruk, the Revd George Forster buried the dead, ‘Amid the apocalyptic scenes of death, destruction and defeat, the prayers and blessings of the Church continued. This was a bridge connecting with life before capture.’3 The continuity between life before and after capture meant that chaplaincy work in POW camps reflected denominational patterns of ministry and although the context had changed, the attitudes of chaplains, officers, and soldiers towards each other and towards religion remained for the most part unaltered. The claustrophobic nature of camp life revealed the strengths and weaknesses of all men. As the Revd David Wild wrote to his wife, ‘To all intents and purposes no one can keep any part of their life secret; all their peculiarities are common property, all run gloriously true to form. … The one unforgivable crime is to … pose as anything you are not.’4 While this could have its humorous side, it also strained chaplains especially since more was expected from them with regard to setting a good example when it came to coping with the stresses

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of POW life like hunger, loneliness, and boredom. These common experiences are discussed within this chapter when they impinged on chaplains, or caused chaplains to adjust their ministry to fellow POWs. The circumstances in which chaplains were captured varied. Some were taken prisoner in mass surrenders like Singapore and Tobruk. Others chose to remain with wounded soldiers who could not be evacuated. The Revd Jock Ellison Platt volunteered along with three other chaplains and some doctors to stay with wounded soldiers from the 10th Casualty Clearing Station. They were captured by the Germans outside the Dunkirk perimeter.5 The most terrifying way to be captured was during combat. The Revd Douglas Thompson, a Methodist chaplain, was with an infantry battalion positioned forward of El Alamein, when they were shelled and over run by German tanks. Amidst the growing confusion, he told another soldier to surrender: As I shouted something hit me, and I fell, kicking up the sand. I put my hand to my stomach, and felt my shirt sticky and warm. It was a moment of sheer panic. I could see my friend drifting off into the haze. I knew far too much about men hit in the stomach. Ignorance is often bliss. It was bleak horror. I rolled over – ‘God, let it be quick, just that, quick.’6 Chaplains reacted in different ways to being captured. Feeling confused, bitter, and anxious, they often needed prompting by circumstances or people to restart their ministry. As Thompson recovered from his wound in an Italian hospital, he saw other soldiers dying, ‘There appeared to me, in that squalid tent, to be a job for a captive parson to do ‘in the bag’; it was just to keep men alive, all sorts of men.’7 The shock of his own narrow escape and seeing dying soldiers led Thompson to adopt a distinctly pastoral ministry which retained an unmistakably Methodist stamp. Eventually he caught up with other officers from his unit. He was sickened by their attitude as they boasted, ‘Fine action, we did our bit wonderfully. I got my German too – one pistol-shot it was – before they roped me in.’ Thompson by contrast recalled the same battle as being crude, formless, wasteful of human life and indecisive.8 After he was captured near Dunkirk, the Revd David Wild, an Anglican chaplain, wrote that the German triumph seemed complete with the destruction of the BEF. He described how German soldiers humiliated them by singing ‘Wir fahren gegen England’. An added worry was the thought of their families facing the prospect of invasion and subjugation. 9 He received no advice on what to do if he was captured and was feeling

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very confused until one evening Brigadier Somerset asked him to lead some prayers. Turning to the lectionary reading for the day they were captured he found 1 Peter 4 which concerned suffering, joy, and the faithfulness of God. As he reflected, ‘I now knew for certain that I had a job to do.’10 As they re-established their ministry, most chaplains were content to remain with the prisoners and minister to them, but a minority attempted to escape when they were in transit from the frontline to POW camps or continued a private war. Following capture at Arnhem, the Revd S. Thorne and the Revd G. A. Pare were on a hospital train with wounded prisoners. Thorne thought he should remain with the wounded, but Pare decided to escape as he had information and messages to take home. He packed his parachute smock with a compass, map, torch, money, water bottle, and sweets, then jumped into the mist. He started walking and after a couple of narrow escapes reached safety and was taken in by a Dutch pastor. He moved around from one house to another and was repatriated in April 1945 when the Allies pushed into Holland.11 A Catholic chaplain, the Revd D. McGowan, smuggled arms to the Dutch resistance and attempted to escape himself. McGowan was in the St Elizabeth hospital in Arnhem. When wounded soldiers arrived, they left their weapons in the hospital store. The day before the SS came to collect the weapons; McGowan pretended to conduct a funeral service and buried four machine guns, magazines, and hand grenades which the Dutch resistance exhumed later. He and a RAMC Doctor then escaped by climbing out of a hospital window. After four days walking they got close to the river Rhine where McGowan wandered into a German frontline position. He hid but a soldier tripped over him and promptly stabbed him with a bayonet. McGowan was sent to a POW camp in Germany.12 Another belligerent chaplain attached to the Parachute Regiment was the Revd Murdo Macdonald. Noted for his participation in combat, this Church of Scotland chaplain also engaged in sabotage after he was captured in North Africa. He and a doctor were flown from Tunis to Naples, and they succeeded in blowing up a Red Cross marked plane with an incendiary device. Macdonald thought he was justified in doing this as the Germans allegedly used Red Cross planes to carry arms. Macdonald was then questioned and maltreated for 19 days. He was threatened with execution and subjected to extreme hot and cold temperatures before finally being sent to a POW camp.13 The airborne chaplains were far keener to escape than most chaplains. Partly this was because the Arnhem chaplains had greater opportunity with civilians willing to assist them and the chances of returning home were greater as Allied forces were close, but also they

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absorbed the ethos of airborne units and were more adventurous than other chaplains. Although the actions of the Arnhem chaplains seem surprising, it must be pointed out that they received no official guidance from the churches or the RAChD concerning their conduct if captured, although there was an unstated expectation they would remain with POWs. Apart from escaping, the only other route home was repatriation. When the Revd Douglas Thompson arrived at Stalag Luft 3 he discovered a Congregationalist chaplain who was close to having a breakdown. The chaplain had been captured in 1941 in Greece. He was quite overwhelmed by camp life, and was in consequence in poor mental and physical health, spending most of his day lying on his bed smoking. Thompson feared he would die unless he was repatriated. The chaplain opposed such a move, but Thompson, a RAMC Doctor, and the Germans arranged for him to appear before the Repatriation Commission who sent him home.14 Most chaplains waited for the war to end and did not request repatriation or attempt to escape even when opportunities presented themselves. The Revd George Forster, a Catholic chaplain, was imprisoned in Italy. He was allowed out of camp to celebrate Mass in a local church. A Franciscan Italian chaplain lent Forster a Franciscan cowl and girdle which he wore to church. The camp commandant, Colonel Barela reprimanded the Italian chaplain as Forster spoke Italian and could easily have slipped away from his guard and caught a train to the Vatican. Forster continued to visit the local church but from then on he wore British officer’s battledress to identify him.15 The security for chaplains and doctors was slacker than it was for soldiers as the Germans and Italians were confident that they would stay behind to look after the spiritual and medical needs of POWs. Chaplains and doctors were therefore allowed to go for escorted rambles in the countryside. The attitude of the Italian, German, and Japanese authorities towards POWs had a large impact on their experiences, determining their living conditions, work, imposing discipline, and offering or withholding opportunity for religious observance. This context also shaped the ministry of chaplains who had to both respond directly to enemy authorities and adjust their ministries to meet the needs of POWs. International humanitarian law concerning the treatment of POWs did much to ameliorate their conditions. The Geneva Convention of 1929 outlined that POWs were entitled to medical care, accommodation, food on a par with that given to the detaining power’s garrison troops, and rights to correspond with family and friends, and practise their religious beliefs. Fortunately for POWs, Italy and Germany had ratified the Convention, and generally

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abided by it. Although they sometimes infringed the rights of POWs, they did not establish a policy of breaching the Convention. By way of contrast Japan had signed but not ratified the Convention, and their treatment of POWs showed flagrant disregard for humanitarian law. The living conditions for POWs varied between countries and within them. The Germans were surprised by the scale of their victories in 1940 and the number of POWs they held, but by 1941, they had made adequate provision for accommodation and other needs of POWs. By 1945 however, this deteriorated as the German infrastructure was destroyed by bombing and prisoners were marched around Germany to delay their recapture. The attitude of the German and Italian authorities towards POWs ranged from using medical facilities to treat them to occasional brutality. Meanwhile Japan had a culture of calculated brutality. As the Revd Christopher Ross, a Methodist chaplain, remarked, the attitude of Japanese guards towards POWs was to overcrowd, underfeed, overwork, and beat them.16 The most important aspect of living conditions for POWs was the availability of food. In Germany and Italy, meagre rations were supplemented by Red Cross parcels. Many POWs were convinced that these parcels saved them from starvation.17 The Revd George Forster admitted that, ‘Food was a humiliating obsession. You would peep at a neighbour’s plate at dinner to see if he had a little more than you.’ He worried that the supply of Red Cross parcels might run out, which finally happened in the last few months of the war.18 Although there were times when POWs like Forster were hungry, they were not starving, which was the situation confronting many POWs captured by the Japanese, especially those held in isolated working parties. Under the Geneva Convention, soldiers and junior NCOs were required to work for their captors, senior NCOs could choose whether to work or not, and officers were prevented from working. Italy and Germany observed these regulations carefully, even having separate camps for different types of POWs. Japan sometimes forced officers to labour for them, but often just used them to maintain discipline and force soldiers to work. The compliance of officers who did not work, often meant that soldiers bitterly resented some officers.19 POWs undertook a range of work, and in Germany they worked on farms, in camp administration, on railways, building, or in industry. The least desirable work was labouring in mines, which tended to be used as punishment.20 Although some POWs tried to engage in discrete sabotage, most made a significant contribution to the German war effort, filling vacancies left by men their own age who were conscripted into the armed forces. Germany generally treated labouring POWs fairly well, although this was motivated by a desire to make

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efficient use of labour as well as humanitarian considerations. This contrasted with the situation for POWs held by the Japanese who were indifferent to the wise use of labour and humanitarian values. The conditions for POWs working on the Burma to Siam railway were particularly harsh. One prisoner Douglas McLaggan recalled how the combination of heavy labouring, a pitiful diet, and tropical diseases, incapacitated or killed many prisoners. In his group of 73 prisoners, only 46 were fit enough to work, and out of the 61,000 Allied POWs used in the construction project, 12,000 died.21 The cultural differences between the Axis powers were reflected in the way they treated POWs. Italy even tolerated POWs’ tricks and games. Following the surrender of Italy on 8 September 1943, the POWs and the Italians rejoiced. However it proved to be a short-lived celebration. The POWs were ordered by the British command to remain in their camps and await liberation. Many ignored the instructions and started walking towards Allied lines in the south of Italy. Most POWs were rounded up by Germans in the camps or caught as they marched south. The Revd Thompson described recapture as the bitterest moment of his life and he was overwhelmed with depression. Chaplains soon realised how lenient the Italians were in comparison with the Germans. The Revd Forster observed that German guards were more disciplined than their Italian counterparts. The Italian guards had attempted to sew red patches on POWs’ clothing. When they returned the marked clothes and removed another batch, the POWs picked off the patches. When the guards returned to collect the third batch of clothes, they were given the first batch of clothes again. Forster commented, ‘We would never have got away with this in Germany.’22 Similarly, a group of POWs were waiting for a train to take them to Germany, but one Anglican chaplain, the Revd Willis, hid in the camp. When the Germans realised an officer was missing, they threatened to shoot some prisoners unless he was found within half an hour. With five minutes to spare he re-appeared.23 Some POWs held captive by Germans were subjected to physical maltreatment, such as a rifle butt or bayonet to hurry them along, but such instances were relatively rare. The situation was worse for POWs held by the Japanese who were often severely beaten. The Japanese army viewed surrender as an unspeakable disgrace, and they had no respect or empathy for those who surrendered to them. Furthermore, as the more perceptive POWs realised, physical punishment was endemic within the Japanese army. One Australian POW wrote that Japanese officers and NCOs used to hit their soldiers with sticks. He grimly noted, ‘Our only problem was that the third-class private had nobody to beat up except us POWs and Chinese civilians.’24

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The general attitude of detaining powers towards prisoners also influenced the extent to which they allowed prisoners to practise their religious beliefs. Article 16 of the Geneva Convention stated prisoners should be given freedom to practise their religious beliefs and that chaplains, ‘whatever may be their denomination, shall be allowed to freely minister to their coreligionists.’ The Red Cross was satisfied that most countries who ratified the Convention, abided by this Article.25 Of all the Axis powers, Italy took a relaxed attitude towards POWs, with the Italian Catholic hierarchy considering they had some responsibility for the spiritual welfare of Catholic POWs (similarly, the English Catholic bishops took an interest in the welfare of Axis POWs in England26). In December 1942, Archbishop Borgongini representing Pope Pius XII visited POW camps. He arrived bearing gifts like souvenir stamp sets, piano-accordions, and papal medallions. When all the men were gathered he gave a short address that concluded with a blessing and prayer that they would soon return to their families. The reaction of chaplains to these visits was very predictable given their theological views. Forster was delighted with one such visit and successfully summoned the largely Protestant camp to give a rousing three cheers for the Pope and his representative.27 The Revd Richard Hill, an Anglican chaplain recalled that the visit to his camp ‘made a considerable impression and it was a witness of the fact that there are values in life which war cannot destroy’.28 The Revd Bill Burns, a Church of Scotland chaplain, admitted the visit was well intentioned but thought soldiers were very suspicious as the visit was simple propaganda.29 The reaction of these three chaplains to similar events demonstrated that denominational beliefs and prejudices did carry over into POW camps. The universal nature of the Catholic church meant that Italian soldiers guarding POW camps recognised Forster as a Catholic priest and attended his Mass which he celebrated using the old Latin Mass. POWs stood on his left and Italian guards on his right. Forster was delighted with this demonstration of the catholicity of the church, especially as the spectacle took place in front of 1200 non-Catholic officers.30 While Catholic chaplains benefited most from being in Italy, the needs of Protestant POW chaplains were considered by Italian Protestant chaplains whilst some Italian priests were also kind towards British Protestants. The Revd Douglas Thompson, a Methodist chaplain, described the attitude of an Italian Catholic chaplain towards British chaplains, ‘He made life and work easy for Coates [the RC chaplain] by getting him things he needed and oiling the Command Office wheels. My work he watched from afar, a little baffled, intentionally kind but lacking the pegs on which to hang his kindness. In spite of his natural preference for boys

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of his own Church, we all loved and respected him.’31 Only one incident provided Thompson with grounds for criticising Italian Catholic chaplains. When he was recovering from his wound in hospital, an Italian chaplain used him to illustrate a sermon which claimed that God was on the Italian side, but that God had spared Thompson from death in order that he would have time to convert to Catholicism. His final point was that good Catholics should avoid the risk of Protestant infection in the same way they would avoid brothels.32 The memoirs of Thompson and other chaplains held by the Italians suggest that such incidents were rare. Life in German POW camps was more constrained for both chaplains and soldiers. The immediate problem for chaplains was that the Germans separated officers from NCOs and soldiers, with the result that captured chaplains had no contact with soldiers. After lobbying by chaplains, the Red Cross, the churches, and soldiers, some chaplains were gradually sent to camps and of the 31 chaplains captured at Dunkirk, all but two spent some time in soldiers’ camps. However, the Revd G. F. Miller, a Baptist SCF, who was instrumental in obtaining permission for chaplains to be sent to soldiers’ camps, found that his own request was blocked by a German security officer who told him, ‘Well you bring up your people to look after themselves, and they don’t need a chaplain.’ Miller thought the real reason was that he had been a nuisance, but acknowledged that the reason given demonstrated an understanding of Baptist ecclesiology.33 The Germans imposed some restrictions on chaplains, including censoring sermons, and restricting their opportunities to visit isolated groups of prisoners. The Revd Hobling, an Anglican chaplain was temporarily banned from conducting services as he said a prayer for the Queen of the Netherlands, and that ‘her enemies should be driven from her lands’.34 Much depended on local circumstances and the attitude of German officers and NCOs, and while some chaplains like Hobling were restricted, other chaplains found that the Germans were most cooperative. The Revd David Wild recalled that in Fort XV, Sergeant Benz did everything possible to assist him. A slight pretext would be sufficient for Benz to issue Wild with a pass and detail an escort to allow him to visit hospitals and camps.35 Although the Germans did sometimes restrict chaplains’ work, they never placed a permanent block on it. The Christian and humanitarian sentiments of the German military only extended to recognising the humanity of people ‘like’ themselves. While this protected British POWs, it left Jews, other minorities, and Russian POWs in a very vulnerable position. A minority of British chaplains who knew about the persecution of Jews and maltreatment of Russian POWs were horrified. The Revd Platt made a passing reference to

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praying with a Jewish orderly who feared being sent to a concentration camp.36 Similarly, the Revd Forster saw a group of Russian POWs being repeatedly beaten by guards, ‘It was a heart-rending sight for Easter Sunday, or any other day.’37 While Forster acknowledged the depravity of the Germans, he did not think this justified the Allied bombing of Germany. Just after Christmas 1944 hundreds of POWs went to a Lutheran church for a concert. The glorious music in honour of the birth of Christ made him feel guilty, ‘They sang Bach to us, while we continued to destroy their cities, to kill and maim the men, women, and children.’38 The shared humanitarian values and Christian concern which underpinned the German respect for British chaplains and Forster’s doubts about area bombing were factors which did not apply in Japan, where chaplains found conditions much harsher. The Revd Christopher Ross was captured with the fall of Singapore and volunteered to accompany a group of prisoners who on 18 June 1942 were sent to work on the Burma to Siam railway. The Japanese refused to accept he was a chaplain and for weeks he worked as a coolie. Eventually he gained permission to conduct services and build a church. When the Japanese were annoyed with the British, they pulled down the church or ordered that it be moved. The church was either rebuilt or moved eight times. Services were restricted, and hymn singing, sermons, and prayers for victory or for England were all banned. A couple of days after the services were restricted, the camp was searched and Ross’s books, sermon notes, hymn sheets, Book of Offices and Bible were taken away to be censored. Ross feared they would never be returned. The Adjutant crept into the Japanese store room and recovered the Bible and Book of Offices, ‘God had answered my prayers; the evidence was before my eyes and in my hands. I wept for sheer joy.’ Ross took the books to the Japanese camp office and got them stamped to indicate they had been censored. Ross wrote that confiscating his books and papers provided the church with ‘a spiritual strength before unknown.’39 Prayer meetings and Bible study were conducted in secret until permission was given for three services a week. Ross was occasionally beaten and once he expected to be executed when a sword was swung over his head. The maltreatment chaplains received did not usually undermine their faith, or that of POWs; indeed some chaplains reported the opposite effect. The Revd Bennett wrote, ‘Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword can in themselves separate us from the love of Christ or each other.’40 Ross trained 50 lay leaders to conduct services and bury the dead. The lay readers worked in camps along the railway line. This was not an option

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for Roman Catholic chaplains. The Revd M. Cowin made repeated requests to visit nearby camps only to be refused each time. As a result, ‘hundreds of Catholics died denied the Sacraments, the supreme consolation of their faith, and burial by the priest.’41 Even under extreme pressure, chaplains acted in ways that mirrored the theology of their denomination. More than in Germany and Italy, the grim conditions in Japanese POW camps caused soldiers to draw on the consolations religion provided. It was one of the few continuities between life before and after capture. The way churches attempted to maintain spiritual authority over their chaplains reflected both the system used by that denomination and the attitude of the detaining power. The English Catholic church expected Catholic authorities in Italy and Germany to show a degree of responsibility for their chaplains and Catholic POWs. The Revd Forster would make his confession every six weeks to a German Catholic priest. His escort knelt beside him so Forster checked that the soldier did not understand Latin before making his confession.42 This system of localised authority worked well in Italy, but in Burma the absence of episcopal authority left Catholic chaplains more disorientated than their Protestant counterparts who were used to having greater authority over their own affairs. When he was imprisoned in Taiwan, the Revd Richard J. Kennedy, a Catholic chaplain, was unsure about what he should do when the correct elements were not available to celebrate mass. He consulted with another officer, who assured him that the wafers were acceptable even though he suspected otherwise.43 Like the Catholics, Anglican and nonconformist chaplains had no contact with church authorities in Britain, but they were more pragmatic and self-reliant. In this particular case, there is no evidence that they worried about the status of communion elements. In contrast, fairly regular contact was possible between the church authorities in Britain and chaplains in Italy and Germany. Some Anglican bishops took an interest in captured chaplains from their diocese. Cyril Garbett, the Bishop of Winchester regularly wrote to Wild and sent him parcels of books.44 While some Bishops, like Garbett, were conscientious, others took no more interest in POW chaplains than they did in chaplaincy issues in general. The weakness of diocesan supervision was partly offset by Dr Staunton Batty, the Bishop of Fulham, who was responsible for the spiritual welfare of chaplains and POWs in Germany. In November 1940 he indicated that a substantial number of civilian clergy had volunteered to go to Germany and work in camps. He declined their offers as sufficient chaplains had been captured. Very little is known about the work of Dr Batty, although he did lobby the German authorities to send chaplains to soldiers’ camps.45

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The care nonconformist churches provided for their POW chaplains reflected the level of efficiency of their respective committees who monitored chaplaincy work. The Methodist Navy, Army, and Air Force Board very occasionally wrote to their chaplains and after the war received reports about their work.46 Of all the denominations, the Baptists and Congregationalists in the United Board had least contact with their chaplains only noting who had been captured or repatriated.47 The Church of Scotland carefully kept in touch with their chaplains and ensured that the civilian church did not forget about them either. In 1943, the General Assembly was informed that the Moderator wrote to the POWs during his year in office, and the Convenor of the Chaplains’ Committee sent books and personal letters to the chaplains.48 The RAChD also made some efforts to keep in touch with captured chaplains, although these were not necessarily appreciated. The Revd David Wild made a dismissive reference to receiving ‘another pious letter from the Chaplains’ Department’.49 As they were largely free from denominational supervision, some POW chaplains became more ecumenical than would have been permitted in civilian life. The Revd H. L. O. Davies, an Anglican chaplain, had been isolated for a year in Shamshuipo, Hong Kong, when he was joined by the Revd F. L. Deloughery, a Canadian Roman Catholic chaplain, ‘Thus began a partnership and friendship which lasted throughout the captivity.’50 As noted in chapter five, one of the factors that distinguished Catholic priests from the clergy and ministers of other denominations was the extent to which they were isolated from the wider community. After he was captured Forster wrote, ‘I never realised before how much I depended on the companionship of fellow priests.’51 When Forster was sent to the Macerata camp in Italy he shared accommodation with four doctors, an Anglican chaplain, and a nonconformist chaplain, ‘It was a pleasant surprise, the start of a new mode of life.’ Forster was friendly with the other chaplains, while acknowledging the Catholic hierarchy would have expected him to be careful about what he said and did in this situation.52 Precisely because they had been more isolated, Catholic chaplains were more influenced by being POWs than chaplains from other denominations. More typical was the relationship between the Revd Joseph Hobling, an Anglican chaplain, and the Revd Platt, a Methodist chaplain. ‘In Platt’s eyes he was rather prim; a celibate high churchman who tended to get prudish about sex and bad language. The relationship was not an easy one.’53 Nevertheless they made a joint application to be sent to another POW camp as there were plenty of chaplains in their camp. They were sent to Colditz and soon planned a joint service, which was the first one for British POWs to be held in the camp. They worked together copying

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out well known hymns onto sheets for the congregation.54 The claustrophobic nature of life in camps forced chaplains to get on with each other. The exceptions to this pattern usually occurred when large groups of chaplains were held together and the chain of command remained intact. The Revd G. F. Miller, a Baptist SCF, and 31 other chaplains were all kept in an officers’ camp. Miller compared them to manure, good when spread out over the land, but not much use in a heap. ‘Individually they were mostly good fellows, but collectively they were the most awkward team imaginable.’ Miller correctly suspected other chaplains found him something of a trial.55 The Revd Eric Rankin, a Church of Scotland chaplain, wrote of Miller, ‘He was not ideally fitted for the job, lacking personality, but he did fairly well. He had been a private in the Air Force and then through study and hard work got himself through College and into the Chaplains’ Department. … There was a hint of the self-educated person in Miller in that he showed amazing lacunae in his knowledge – especially of theology.’56 Disagreements between groups of chaplains usually proceeded along denominational lines. The Revd J. S. Naylor, a Methodist chaplain, was captured at Tobruk. In the Bari prison camp in Italy all denominations had separate services on Sunday morning. In the evenings there was a united Anglican and nonconformist service, promptly followed by Anglican evensong. At 07:30, ‘we met for a few minutes prayer and reading – the Free Church under one tree and the CofE under their tree!’ There was a lack of fellowship between Anglicans and nonconformists, and none whatsoever with Roman Catholics.57 As well as tensions between denominations, there were bitter rows within denominations. The broad spectrum of churchmanship in the Church of England meant they were more prone to infighting than other denominations with greater theological cohesion. The Revd G. J. Chambers, an Anglican SCF, and the Revd J. N. L. Bryan, an Anglican Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, were captured during the fall of Singapore and held in Changi. In August 1943, Bryan criticised Chambers for using high church rituals in his services. Chambers wrote in his diary, ‘He attacked me on ceremonial and doctrinal teaching, and we got fairly heated. I spoke foolishly, but I kept a brake on myself and we got to the essentials. … The old man’s vindictiveness will follow me for days now.’ A couple of days later Bryan attended Chambers’s service where he was horrified by the inclusion of Hail Marys. Chambers wrote in his diary, ‘The Hail Mary turned out to be a prayer for our folk at home. “Father behold—” the old … is deaf.’ Eventually they agreed to separate spheres of responsibility in the camp and Chambers was allowed to ‘go to Rome in

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my own way’.58 Chambers worked in the hospital until he died of peritonitis in 1945.59 Denominational and doctrinal disputes in German, Italian, and Japanese camps were more common than they had been at the front. Whereas at the front and in bases disputes could be settled further up the chaplaincy chain of command or by church authorities, this was not an option in POW camps. Also POW life was stressful and within camps senior chaplains had more contact with their junior colleagues than they did at the front. The heightened ecumenical sympathies of chaplains that characterised life at the front operated on personal levels in camps, but sometimes broke down when the chaplaincy chain of command remained in place. The stress and tedium of camp life exacerbated latent tensions between chaplains. All the camp memoirs by chaplains mention that sometimes they were plagued with anxiety. The Revd Chambers provided an amusing but nevertheless revealing account. Soldiers grouped themselves into combines with duck owners paying the combine organisers to house their bird: I wanted a duck too, but where to keep it? I was refused a home for my prospective duck by every combine, so fell into a mood of intense self pity. Really sorry for myself. Why had I got left out? Why didn’t they want me? … At supper Bill Ireland and Cuthbert offered me board and lodging terms, and we agreed to one egg in seven. Thank God I was conscious all the time that I was being silly, and that it was my own fault and there was no basis for all my feelings, and so it proved.60 Chaplains needed to feel accepted both as men and as priests. As well as the usual problems of camp life, chaplains had higher expectations as to what their attitudes should be which meant they were carrying a greater burden than soldiers. Wild wrote to his wife that he had lapsed into spiritual apathy, ‘By no stretch of the imagination can I claim to be in love and charity with all men in these trying circumstances, and this tension seems to affect my whole outlook on life.’ He suspected the root cause was pride, but feared ridding himself of that attitude would be difficult.61 Letters were very important in the enclosed world of POW camps. Wild could tell his wife things he could not admit to other POWs. It was equally important to get letters from home. The Revd Platt had not had any post from his wife, Maisie, for months. When the first letter arrived he was elated and hurried to his bunk to read and re-read it. Such was his joy that he felt hypocritical when sympathising with soldiers who had no

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letters.62 Until 1945 the post between Britain and Germany was regular with letters usually taking about a month. They were censored twice, but open communication was possible on personal matters. Wild and his wife also had a private code to discuss war news, ‘Cressy’ meant RAF bombing of Germany.63 Post to Singapore was more erratic. Chambers’s wife, Kathleen sent him a letter in July 1942 which arrived in March 1943. He wrote in his diary how he had been longing to hear from her and had not realised how anxious he was until the letter arrived. Sometimes he had frustratingly vivid dreams about her.64 Usually chaplains were reticent about the sexual frustrations of being a prisoner, though the Revd Naylor’s notebook contained a very suggestive picture of ‘Lili Marlene’ in a short skirt and see-through blouse.65 The relationship between chaplains and officers in POW camps was different from that in bases or at the front. In Germany, Italy, and to a lesser extent Japan, officers and soldiers were separated when captured, therefore the attitude of officers towards chaplains was no longer influenced by how they perceived the chaplain’s relationship with ordinary soldiers. In these circumstances the religious beliefs of individual officers became more important. One officer captured at Singapore, claimed a minority of men blamed God when disaster struck, but that many more including himself were disorientated. Thus, ‘There is an enormous return to religious roots because you have been deprived of your normal roots.’66 Chaplains sensed the opportunity presented. Just after he had been captured at Dunkirk, the Revd Platt organised a service attended by 150 soldiers, many of whom were still in bandages. They sang well-known hymns like ‘Fight the Good Fight’ and ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, and then Platt spoke about green fields, birds, and bluebells in England, and a good God.67 He found that maintaining these levels of devotion in the longer run was a challenge once officers and men settled into life as POWs. Platt noticed that during the first six months of captivity worship was regular and important but then it declined.68 Similarly, one soldier, Charles Davies, wrote to The Methodist Recorder in 1943 and described how after they had been captured it was common to see men reading the Bible but that they lost interest once other material became available. He continued: People in all spheres of life apply to God when they are in great trouble and then forget him when life again becomes more comfortable and bearable. And such has been the case in the prison camps. Once the men were receiving food parcels fairly regularly, had been equipped with suitable clothing, had formed

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libraries, arranged sports and concerts, they pushed God into the background instead of thanking Him for the improvements around them.69 The relationship between chaplains and officers focused on two areas, the personal and the religious. These were to some extent related as officers had greater respect for chaplains whose lives reflected their message. The confined nature of camps meant chaplains and officers knew each other very well, even anticipating each other’s requests. In such circumstances the personal relationship between chaplains and officers was usually good although a sense of humour was important. The Germans discovered in the Revd Platt’s suitcase a piece of wire that he used to prop open the lid. He was charged with possessing a jemmy and sentenced to five days solitary confinement. A couple of days after his release, it was announced during a concert that a common house breaker had been apprehended. After cries from the audience like ‘Who might the wretch be?’, Platt was taken onto the stage and stripped of his trousers. The pockets were emptied revealing master keys, saws, pistols, and a knife all made from cardboard. A few months later, a group of drunk officers attempted to carry off the bunk bed containing Platt and his Anglican colleague, Hobling. The chaplains punched the officers in the back of their knees and clubbed them with a pillow, until ‘the Church Militant, sober and united’ was victorious. This was typical of the school-boy sense of humour which flourished in Colditz.70 One cause of tension between chaplains and officers was their camp vocations. A RAMC doctor was bitter about his imprisonment as he lacked the equipment to treat sick prisoners. The Revd Thompson wrote of him, ‘Part of his resentment of us was simply that the padre needs only a tongue and ears for tools.’71 The jealousy was mutual. Chaplains resented the fact that officers could try and escape. Platt felt that as a noncombatant he was obliged to stay, and yet nonetheless wistfully noted, ‘Besides the excitement and thrill of getting ready – perhaps over a period of weeks – they have the magnificent escapade itself.’72 Because of boredom, officers were keener on escaping than soldiers, but even among the former, serious attempts to break out were only attempted by a minority. Most officers settled into camp life diverting their efforts into entertainments and education. Very few POW memoirs mention chaplains, so it is difficult to assess the relationship between chaplains and officers. One exception is Major P. R. Reid’s two books about Colditz which made passing references to chaplains. The Revd Platt was described as a popular padre.73 Meanwhile

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Gilbert Inglefield, the Staff Captain of the 1/5 Sherwood Foresters, who was captured in Singapore and held in Changi camp, provided a fuller account of the relationship. As he helped organise the choir he was well placed to observe the activities of chaplains. He was very critical of regular chaplains, singling out the Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, J. N. L. Bryan for not knowing when his interest in amateur dramatics ended and his professional duties began. Inglefield also criticised the Revd G. W. Young, the Anglican SCF in Inglefield’s division, deriding his prudish attitudes and belief that King’s Regulations and the Bible were the answer to everything. One regular, the Revd G. E. McNeill was exceptional. ‘He was not the ‘back-slapper’ but just behaved like a dignified Christian with the men, which won their respect to a far greater extent.’ Inglefield generously praised the chaplains on emergency commissions who organised the camp choir, founded the theology section of the camp’s ‘university’, and maintained church life.74 Although chaplains generally found it easier to relate to officers than soldiers, most chaplains sought permission to work in soldiers’ camps. However, the reaction of soldiers to the sudden arrival of chaplains was mixed. One Methodist soldier described the arrival of a chaplain as the answer to prayer, ‘One had only to be in his company for a short time to realise he was a man of God. I left him with an increased knowledge of my Saviour. He was loved by all the camp.’75 Other Methodist soldiers, like Charles Davies, did not welcome chaplains as they disturbed the religious arrangements they had made for themselves. Nonconformist POWs had delivered many Bible based sermons, so Davies did not welcome the arrival of liberal British chaplains: Unfortunately, some of the chaplains who came to us discussed debatable points in their sermons which shook the faith of many, and upset the harmony of the community for whose spiritual welfare they were responsible. On one occasion a learned gentleman discussed Darwinism, fossils, legends, and parts of the Bible which he considered should not be taken literally. … Again the chaplain concerned should have remembered that he had a mixed congregation of at least 50 per cent Nonconformists, there being no alternative service to his own.76 The letter points towards the pattern noted in preceding chapters, that devout Christian soldiers were both the most ardent supporters of chaplains and their sharpest critics. Although Davies did not name the chaplains who arrived in his camp, it was probably two Anglican

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chaplains, the Revd David Wild and the Revd W. A. Lathaen. They often visited neighbouring camps and isolated groups of POWs farming in west Poland. During one sermon Wild made some, ‘very guarded remarks … about the Creation stories in Genesis.’ Wild noticed that afterwards a Sergeant-Major had stopped attending church. It emerged that the NCO was a member of the Plymouth Brethren. Wild lent him his sermon notes and a booklet by Congregationalist biblical scholar C. H. Dodd, which convinced the NCO to abandon his fundamentalist beliefs.77 The work of Wild and Lathaen in Fort XV demonstrated the sort of ministry chaplains adopted when they were entirely free from any other British army officers who could influence them. The British NCOs were led by Company Sergeant Major Macdonald who was the ‘man of confidence’ and would liaise with the Germans. The only officers in the camp were chaplains and doctors, and whilst Macdonald sometimes asked them for advice, initially they only had authority with regard to spiritual and medical matters.78 Gradually, however, the authority of chaplains expanded, particularly when they started visiting out-lying farms where small groups of POWs worked. In theory these visits only concerned ‘seelsorgerische tatigkeit’, the welfare of souls, and certainly Wild conducted many services on his travels. In practice the Germans accepted that chaplains did far more and got involved in questions about discipline, billets, working practices, and problems with particular guards.79 When Wild visited Sanskau farm, he inspected the billets and discovered dirty clothes under mattresses, lockers hiding dirty utensils and mouldy food, a gramophone on the veranda exposed to the elements, and bandages lying around rather than in a medicine cabinet. Wild did exactly what any other officer would have done and demanded to see the Sergeant in charge of the farm. Not being satisfied with his explanation, Wild gave him the choice of either returning to Fort XV as a non-worker or staying and accepting responsibility for running the farm. He chose to stay.80 The Germans expected Wild to influence the POWs. In 1944, one German officer explained to him that he should discourage POWs from wandering away. The officer realised they were not trying to escape, but guards who had just returned from the Eastern front were nervous and triggerhappy.81 In the same way that chaplains at the front sometimes acted as combatant officers if other officers had been killed, in camps where other officers were absent, chaplains had executive functions because they were commissioned. The officer status of chaplains was further confirmed as they had batmen. As soon as three chaplains arrived in an Italian POW camp near Porto San Giorgio, they were allocated a batman from the same denom-

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ination as themselves. Becoming a batman was popular with soldiers since they got extra bread rations.82 Wild had two POWs to assist him. One carried his kit when he was out visiting farms, although the real reason for the appointment was to ensure there was a witness if Wild was shot by a nervous guard. Another POW tended Wild’s garden, this being part of his therapy following a psychological breakdown in the camp.83 Regardless of Wild’s motives for acquiring a batman and gardener, they confirmed his officer status and showed how naturally military structures and attitudes continued in POW camps, to the extent that soldiers did not think there was anything unusual about the arrangements. Keith Panter-Brick, a soldier who probably met Wild briefly, did not consider the privileges Wild enjoyed in any way out of the ordinary, but many years later when he read Wild’s memoirs he wrote, ‘[Wild] never really inhabited the world in which we were living. I had no idea, until I read his book, what a difference rank could make, even to a POW.’84 In soldiers’ camps chaplains frequently took a leading role in organising entertainments and cultural activities, whereas in officers’ camps these activities were shared out more evenly as officers were keen to ameliorate their own boredom by organising things. At one soldiers’ camp Wild became president of the band and resolved bitter rows between musicians. Just before the bandsmen were posted to another camp, they told Wild that without his help, ‘there might have been no band at all.’85 Wild also organised a literary society and 20 soldiers met on Sunday afternoons to discuss novels, poetry and plays. By April 1943, they finished book four of Milton’s Paradise Lost.86 Chaplains had plenty of time to organise entertainments, enjoy their own leisure and educational activities, and undertake their religious duties. The Revd Eric Rankin, a Church of Scotland chaplain, contributed to religious teaching, but preferred to attend lectures on salmon, gardening, and wine.87 Similarly, Forster wrote that one inmate in Rotenberg camp commented the intellectual life in the camp was as stimulating as at Cambridge. Students could study law, politics, and languages. Forster studied French and passed a University of London exam with 75 per cent. Surprisingly, a German officer gave German language lessons, evidently confident the prisoners would not use their newly acquired language outside the camp. The Red Cross provided prisoners with the books they needed. 88 A significant amount of chaplains’ time was spent on pastoral work. Because of their civilian professions chaplains and doctors were often in demand to resolve pastoral problems. Because privacy was difficult to maintain in camps the chaplains’ guarantee of confidentiality increased the demands made on them by soldiers. The Revd Lathaen wrote a series of

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letters to Alwyn T. P. Williams, the Bishop of Durham, who was also patron of his parish. By January 1944 he had counselled 110 men whose marriages had broken down because of infidelity, and a further 150 men with other domestic problems. The longer men were held prisoner, the more acute the problems became. Lathaen would try to learn something of the background of the soldier before advising him, ‘You have to discover the best way to deal with [the] man himself; for though the main facts are similar in all cases, the men vary in their upbringing and mental and emotional outlook.’ He tried to save the marriage or persuade the soldier to wait until he returned to England and could assess the situation for himself. Usually the soldier was resolved on obtaining a divorce, so Lathean helped him with the paperwork making a particular effort to ensure the welfare of children was protected.89 Wild, who worked in the same camp, also dealt with similar issues. As he explained to his wife, ‘By the time I have finished here there will hardly be any pastoral problem which I have not had to deal with, some of them very tragic and disillusioning. One of the best things I learnt from [the Bishop of Winchester, Cyril] Garbett was that the first hearing of a problem is seldom the right one.’90 Sometimes the strain was too much for soldiers and they had breakdowns. The chaplain’s denomination affected the approach he took to pastoral issues. Anglican chaplains like Wild and Lathaen separated their pastoral and religious work, whereas Methodist chaplains like Platt and Thompson integrated their ministry. Partly this was because the Methodists remained in the same camp for longer periods and did not travel around like Wild and Lathaen, but it also revealed differing approaches to pastoral work. The Methodists tried to take a preventative approach and included practical advice on coping with life as a POW in their sermons. Platt was concerned about homosexual practices and inclinations among the officers in Colditz. He kept some of his sermon notes in his diary, ‘Jesus … demanded manly behaviour such as became [the] true man and child of God.’ He was concerned that inmates had maintained their physical health, but paid less attention to their spiritual and mental well-being and were therefore ‘taking base and perverted interest in their fellows.’ The sermon had some impact as three officers discussed sexuality with him afterwards.91 In December 1944, while leading intercessions at a Sunday service he included a prayer that inmates would not make life difficult for the people they were living with. Afterwards five officers admitted to bickering and deliberately annoying each other, and four of them resolved to amend their attitude towards each other.92 Platt was keen to link his religious and pastoral work in a direct way. Another Methodist chaplain, the Revd Douglas Thompson adopted a similar approach.

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Thompson was in a crowded soldiers’ camp in Italy. He was concerned about the growing incidence of suicide and neurosis. Some wandered around in the night trying to steal food, others worshipped hoarded tins of food, getting them out and hiding them again. Thompson was interested in psychology and was determined to do something for the vulnerable and desperate. One Sunday he organised a Personal Service Covenant where men promised to look after themselves and, ‘to report bed-lyers, non-shavers, and food-cranks so that we might get a chance at them before it was too late.’93 The scheme had barely started when there was another suicide. This galvanised the camp into taking greater precautions, though matters were helped by news of Allied victories in North Africa, and more rations. However, this improvement in conditions worsened the condition of a minority of prisoners who stopped worrying about food only to find that psychological problems returned to haunt them. Thompson and his lay helpers resolved ‘to build up a richer Church life and to search out those who bore the weight of this second crop of prison problems’.94 The work was successful and soon Thompson was teaching three groups of soldiers on a 28 session course on Christian lifestyle. These sorts of activities continued when Thompson was taken to Germany. One RAF officer who had been repatriated wrote to Mrs Thompson and described her husband’s activities. The letter was reproduced in The Methodist Recorder: He runs a Chinese language class in the camp, the Toc H, and Lord knows what else besides. And being such a good psychologist, the help he has given to numbers of prisoners who are worried, or in a nervous state, is immense. I’m not a churchgoing type myself, but I was in the camp for the last week-end, and before I left your husband asked me to come to his service on Sunday morning. So I went because he asked me – I wouldn’t have gone for anyone else. And I am jolly glad I did go, for it was a wonderful experience. … Your husband knows exactly what a prisoner needs to help him along a bit and sees that he gets it.95 Chaplains with their pastoral approach were good at looking after the psychological needs of soldiers and officers. Some officers like Pat Reid easily recognised signs of mental illness like obsessive behaviour, a sudden interest in psychology, or vigorous exercising, but they seemed powerless to prevent the condition from worsening. Men guarding the mentally ill sensed the danger to themselves, recognising in the patients inflated versions of their own worries. They acted ‘as if they were nursing patients

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suffering from an infectious disease’.96 Reid considered that the Christian examination of conscience often produced better results than amateur dabbling in psychology.97 Generally, chaplains coped better than other soldiers with men who were ill. For both soldiers and chaplains, church services provided continuity between life before and during captivity. The effort of providing services in difficult conditions was a challenge chaplains were keen to overcome, and because they did so this raised the value of worship. Hours were spent copying out hymn sheets, preparing sermons with minimal books, scrounging bread and wine (or substitutes), travelling miles to isolated groups of soldiers, and in Japan building and rebuilding churches. The patterns of worship reflected the theology of the chaplain, a good example of this being their attitude towards Christmas. Platt, a Methodist chaplain, did not celebrate communion on Christmas day as he hated ‘the thought of the Saviour being chained to the pain and blood of the Cross on the day of his birth.’ For some years Platt organised a separate service with hymns and a sermon, which much to his delight had a higher attendance than the Anglican one. Platt, who was teetotal objected to the drunkenness caused by potent home brew. According to Platt, the best Christmas in captivity was 1945 when drink was in very short supply, although it is doubtful if the officers in Colditz agreed with him.98 For Anglicans, and especially for Catholics with their belief in the real presence of Christ at the mass, Christmas was a joyous occasion. The Revd Forster, now being held in a German camp, described their midnight mass in 1944: As we celebrated the Birthday Mass of Christ, welcomed Him onto out little altar and received Him in our Christmas Holy Communion out thoughts strayed again to home. Would next Christmas find us together with our loved ones? Would we get home? We were aware too, that all around us, beyond the barbed wire, the Germans were singing ‘Stille Nacht’ and the Catholics joining in Christ’s Birthday Mass with us. One body in Christ, a bond of love between us.99 Catholic worship had a particular appeal in POW camps. One Captain who was imprisoned in Taiwan shared a room with a Jesuit chaplain, the Revd Richard J. Kennedy. The Captain considered converting to Catholicism as he admired the precision and certainty of Catholic worship.100 Catholic and Protestant attitudes towards death and funerals were carried over into POW camps. Having considered ordination as an Anglican, Hugh Thwaites converted to Catholicism just before he was

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sent to Singapore. He contrasted the different ways Protestant and Catholic chaplains related to dying soldiers. With the zeal of a new convert he wrote, ‘This showed me how blessed we were with our sacramental system for getting into heaven. If one of our men was dying and had been away from his religion for half a lifetime, Fr Marsden, in two minutes, would have got him back safely into the arms of God and ready to meet him.’101 For this reason Catholic chaplains were willing to convert Protestants on their death beds. One camp contained a significant numbers of Presbyterian POWs, but there was only one Catholic chaplain, the Revd Kennedy. Presbyterian officers were embittered when dying soldiers were visited by Kennedy, converted, and buried as Catholics.102 The mortality rates in Japanese camps were far higher than they were in German and Italian camps. Camp authorities in the Europe almost always allowed British chaplains to bury the dead or they arranged for their priests or clergy, from the same denomination as the deceased, to do the burial. The Revd David Wild described some of the funerals he conducted with German assistance. He buried one POW who was killed by a lightning strike whilst working on a farm. The Germans permitted about 20 of the dead prisoner’s devastated friends to attend the funeral which was held at the Torun garrison cemetery. Wild held the service in the chapel and then the coffin draped in the Union flag was carried to graveside. After the committal, a bugler sounded the last post. Wild commented that guards were suitably reverent and remained in the background. The Germans even developed photographs of the burials which were sent to relatives.103 One aspect of the religious ministry of POW chaplains was teaching, confirmation or church membership classes, and preparing candidates for the ministry. Again denominational differences emerged. Anglicans and nonconformists had a much stronger tradition of mid-life ordination than the Catholic church. When Forster was in Italy he spoke on a course organised by Anglican chaplains for their ordinands.104 Thompson helped organise a preachers’ class. Topics included New Testament Greek and Old Testament theology. Thirteen men attended the class and 10 years after the war ended, four were ordained.105 The courses for ordinands pointed towards the durability of Christian belief in camps. Committed Christian prisoners were a joy for the chaplains, and the two groups were very interdependent. After two Catholic chaplains were posted to another camp, Forster felt very lonely, but remarked, ‘I had many good friends, and my little flock were great consolation and encouragement.’106 There must have been agnostic and atheistic soldiers in POW camps, but they were less apparent to chaplains

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than they were in army bases. The vast majority of soldiers who were apathetic towards religion in normal circumstances became more devout. This faded once they adjusted to life as POWs in German and Italian camps, but in Japanese camps a higher level of devotion was maintained throughout the war, partly because soldiers were captive for less time, but also because conditions were much harsher. Prisoners who did not turn to the chaplains as priests still respected them for their pastoral wisdom. The Revd Lathaen wrote to his Bishop, ‘Captivity has certainly put me in a position many of us have longed to be in our parishes viz: linked to the social order of those whom among we serve. Men come to me for help and advice on all sorts of matters from a razor blade to the problem of evil.’ However in his next letter he continued, ‘I meet that same deadly indifference I met at home particularly among members of our own Church of England.’ He estimated that only about 10 per cent of the Anglicans attended services, which was similar to the numbers attending voluntary services in bases.107 The remarkable feature of life in camps was its continuity with civilian and army life and the extent to which the strengths and weaknesses of chaplains, denominations, individual prisoners, and army structures, were not lost in camps, but emerged with greater clarity.

Conclusion

The Revd Ronald Sinclair, an instructor on the Chester course for newly commissioned chaplains, defined chaplaincy work in these terms: If I had to sum up the chaplain’s job in one word – or in one sentence rather – I should say that he is to be a bridge between religion and life – between God and man; between the unseen and eternal things and the transient – between the sacred and the secular. I said bridge, and not a pier. It always seems to me that the danger in our ministry is that we shall just be piers jutting out from one side of the gulf, but never reaching the other side. I often think that so many of us parsons are piers.1 He continued that chaplains could fail for being too worldly, organising concerts and canteens, and playing bridge with Colonels, but failing to draw soldiers to God. Other chaplains who were personally devout and attentive to prayer, Bible study, and dispensing the sacraments, failed because they did not relate to soldiers. Getting the balance right and acting as a bridge was difficult, but if it was done, then the chaplain’s ministry would reflect something of Christ’s work on earth. This advice owed much to incarnational theology, with God identifying himself with humanity in the figure of Christ. The churches released clergy to become chaplains because they expected that chaplains would reach soldiers in the manner described by Sinclair. In 1914, some church leaders and chaplains anticipated revival on an unprecedented scale, and partly for this reason, bellicose sermons encouraged enlistment and military endeavour. However, The Army and Religion report of 1919 showed revival had not taken place, and during the 1920s and 1930s former officers like C. E. Montague criticised bellicose clergy. The lessons were learned and in 1939, church expectations of revival were low and their rhetoric was more circumspect. Although the churches expected much of their chaplains, they never gave chaplains specific guidelines concerning their ministry in the army. Instead they maintained varying degrees of spiritual supervision, assumed denominational habits would continue in the army, and negotiated with the army, the RAChD and the government on general policy issues. Like the churches, the army expected that chaplains should reach

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soldiers with a religious ministry. Although both the army and the churches expected chaplains to reach the soldiers, these two institutions gave very little consideration to the religious beliefs of the soldiers. The first time that soldiers’ views actually shaped the ministry they received was in 1943 when the number of church parades was reduced and padres’ hours were introduced as a response to soldiers’ dislike of church parades. The army did however understand that soldiers became more devout during combat, and they expected chaplains to bolster soldiers’ morale. The Revd F. L. Hughes, acknowledged this army expectation and did his best to meet it. He advised chaplains that, ‘The padre’s way to an army’s heart is through conviction that religion assists its fighting.’2 Chaplains well understood their role was to meet the expectations of both the church and the army. Christian pacifists like Dick Sheppard, who served as a chaplain during the Great War and organised the Peace Pledge Union in the 1930s, and Gordon C. Zahn, author of Chaplains in the RAF: A Study in Role Tension, were horrified by chaplains using religion in the manner described by Hughes. This led to claims that there was role conflict between chaplains’ priestly and officer functions. The unwillingness of chaplains to acknowledge the existence of this tension was regarded as evidence they had resolved the problem by identifying with the army. Stephen Louden writes chaplains, ‘succumb to military indoctrination in spite of their almost universal claim to the contrary. … When chaplains will not let themselves see or know that what is happening might be wrong, they pose no threat to the continuation of a potentially dysfunctional system.’3 Part of the evidence for role conflict was how chaplains used their officer status. In bases it took the form of chaplains organising entertainments, sports, and assisting officers. If most of the other officers in a unit were killed in action, then chaplains sometimes became combatants. Similarly in POW camps, chaplains received officers’ benefits and assumed executive functions like inspecting POWs’ billets and negotiating with Axis authorities. Moreover, soldiers viewed chaplains as officers. This was not however the complete picture as evidence concerning World War Two chaplains showed a more complex pattern. Chaplains carried denominational values and theology into the army which shaped their ministry. The continuance of denominational patterns suggested chaplains had not completely identified with the army. Also the role conflict argument ignored the way the RAChD curtailed chaplains from performing odd jobs like running the officers’ mess, and becoming chief censor. The role of chaplains was determined by the interaction between five factors. In my view the most important was the military context, followed

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by the chaplain’s personality, the chaplain’s denomination, the attitude of officers and the beliefs of soldiers, and RAChD policy. The military context had a large impact on chaplains’ work. Life was very different in bases, at the front, and in POW camps. Additional variation was caused by the theatre chaplains served in, with chaplains in Burma arming themselves, while those in Europe generally did not. The Revd Ken Oliver, a SCF with the 8th Army, considered, ‘In the last resort it was not the denomination of the chaplain that mattered but his character and personality.’4 Personality was more important than denomination in battles and in POW camps. However, in bases where conditions were more like civilian life the denomination of a chaplain had greater influence (again this reflected the importance of the military context). The influence of denomination showed itself as there were differences between Catholic, Anglican and nonconformist services. Similarly, Methodist chaplains showed greater willingness than Anglican chaplains to undertake welfare work, while Catholic chaplains avoided secular activities. Soldiers’ views on chaplains were largely determined by personal religious beliefs and the military context. Religious and atheist minorities were normally unchanged by the experience of war. Between these extremes were the majority of soldiers who became more devout during combat but soon lapsed back into indifference towards chaplains and religion. One Mass Observation commentator in the army aptly observed, ‘It’s my opinion that army life only affects the personal characteristics of those who want (even subconsciously) to be affected by it.’5 Officers’ views on the quality of the relationship between the chaplain and soldiers, was more important than their personal religious beliefs. Many chaplains commented on how vital the support of officers was to their work. The final factor determining the role of chaplains was RAChD policy. By 1943, the impact of this on chaplains increased, as their duties were codified. This influence did not extend to POW camps. RAChD policy was shaped by churches, the government, the army, and the RAChD. The general pattern that emerged was that each of the four institutions had most authority in their own sphere. Whilst the army court-martialled chaplains for breaches of military law, King’s Regulations acknowledged church authority over spiritual matters.6 Conflicts between the four institutions were usually resolved if two out of the four institutions cooperated to either instigate or block change. In 1928, the Church of England attempted to ensure their revised prayer book would be used in the army, but the RAChD and government, motivated by suspicion of the high church movement, cooperated to block the revised prayer book. Similary, in 1942, churches and the RAChD overcame

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government opposition to the appointment of women Chaplains’ Assistants, whilst the army remained neutral. A year later the army and the RAChD almost abolished church parades and the government ensured the churches were not consulted about the change. Since there were no examples of two institutions wanting change and two opposing change, it was difficult to determine who had final authority, especially as the power of institutions changed over time and partly depended on the personalities involved. The general pattern that emerged was that the RAChD had most authority, followed by the churches, the government, and the army. Both the experience of war and the interaction between these four institutions changed them all. The churches were changed more than the other institutions. Although the war enhanced existing patterns, the impact was still profound. The full extent of secularisation was revealed by a collection of essays by chaplains entitled The Church in the Furnace and by an extensive survey published in The Army and Religion report. While experiences in the Great War undermined the religious faith of some soldiers, the churches overstated the effect of war as it was a preferable explanation to institutional failure or a more general process of secularisation. The Great War also bolstered the high church trend within the Church of England as reserving the sacrament, hearing confessions, and praying for the dead became widely accepted. The common link with all these practices was that they were a tangible comfort to men in distress. The Catholic church was flattered by this Anglican trend and did not see any need to adjust their ministry to cope with wartime changes. Catholic and nonconformist soldiers coped better than their Anglican counterparts with the spiritual strains of war. Church authority over chaplains increased during wartime with the establishment of committees to monitor chaplains and the formation of the Interdenominational Advisory Board during the Great War, and the appointment of the Anglican Bishop to the Forces during World War Two. It was, however, easier to bolster church authority in peacetime than it was during wartime, as was clear from the Catholic appointment of a Bishop to the Forces in 1924 and the Church of England issuing of Licences the same year. Apart from the Licences, the Church of England neglected the RAChD during the interwar years, and William Temple fought to rebuild church authority in 1943 by appointing a Bishop to the Forces. One area where the churches showed their authority was curtailing the radical ecumenical dimension to the RAChD. The Church of England tried to ban inter-communion at Chester, and the Catholics withdrew from the united RAChD in 1940. Despite this, the chaplains became more tolerant of differing patterns of belief and worship.

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There are a number of lessons for the churches and the RAChD today that can be extracted from this. It is harder to make changes in wartime than it is in peacetime. The current plans for greater cooperation between the united RAChD and the Catholic branch in the event of a major war should be introduced during peacetime, so they can be adjusted before additional wartime pressures cause problems as happened in 1940. Also the Church of England should re-establish the office of Bishop to the Forces to maintain spiritual authority over their chaplains; especially since the Chaplain-General is no longer always an Anglican. Attempts to recruit soldiers from ethnic minorities in Britain would be well supported by a more determined attempt to meet their religious needs. It was a point Lloyd George well understood in 1914 when he insisted on the appointment of nonconformist chaplains. The RAChD was dominated by low church Anglicans. Taylor-Smith preferred to appoint evangelicals rather than high Anglicans. While the Great War enhanced the high church movement, the RAChD remained stubbornly resistant to such changes, and during the interwar years, it reverted to low church patterns of worship, as Taylor-Smith remained Chaplain-General until 1924 and he was succeeded by Jarvis who was even more extreme. Despite this, during World War Two, the RAChD appointed many high church chaplains as the recruitment of chaplains was organised by the churches and the Deputy Chaplain-Generals in the Home Commands. Therefore the constitution of the RAChD reflected that of the civilian church. Although the RAChD did not learn some of the religious lessons of the Great War, practical and administrative points were understood. During the Great War, chaplains were eventually allowed to serve in forward trenches, and during World War Two, vehicles were issued to chaplains to allow them to remain with their units during mobile phases of operations. Like the rest of the army there was a marked improvement in RAChD policy and operational doctrine in 1942 and 1943. The RAChD became a much more professional organisation having introduced both training courses and standing orders to curtail secular duties. The type of services conducted by chaplains also changed between the World Wars. Although there was no doubt about the justice of the Allied cause during World War Two, like the churches, chaplains were less willing to link the will of God to military achievment, and the aggressive rhetoric which characterised Great War sermons was largely absent during World War Two. The most contentious issue concerning RAChD policy during World War Two was the leadership of the Chaplain-General. Symons was not by temperament a spiritual leader and his position was further undermined by the Archbishops of Canterbury. Furthermore his

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abrasive approach caused problems in the chaplaincy chain of command. However, to his credit he supported progessive policies including the informalisation of church parades, and the appointment of black African chaplains and women Chaplains’ Assistants. The government’s attitude towards nonconformists changed during the Great War as it became more inclusive with Lloyd George stressing the link between recruiting nonconformist soldiers and appointing nonconformist chaplains. Although civil servants and ministers interacted with the churches, men like Herbert Creedy, P. J. Grigg, and Frederick Bovenschen resented church influence over the RAChD and tried to curtail it. They were motivated by a desire for efficient administration, and not by resentment towards churches (with the exception of Grigg’s spiteful attitude towards the Church of England). The whole chaplaincy system depended on army support, but the army had less influence over RAChD policy than the other three institutions. They did, however, have great influence over chaplains in units. The army influenced chaplains, but it was also influenced by them. Some senior officers like Haig and Montgomery, valued chaplains, whilst most officers saw chaplains as useful in maintaining soldiers’ morale. The chaplains themselves were positive about their wartime experiences. The Revd S. A. Shaw, a Baptist chaplain, loved the comradeship of army life and missed it when he returned to the civilian church. He soon realised he had more freedom in the army than in the civilian church where his room for manoeuvre was restricted by church meetings.7 Even being a POW had its compensations, especially for Anglicans whose theology carried with it an expectation that they would have a ministry for everyone in their parish. The Revd W. A. Lathaen wrote to his Bishop, ‘Captivity has certainly put me in a position many of us have longed to be in our parishes viz: linked to the social order of those whom among we serve. Men come to me for help and advice on all sorts of matters from a razor blade to the problem of evil.’8 Yet this closeness to soldiers brought illusions to which some chaplains were prone. One chaplain wrote to The Church Times, ‘I often wonder what we chaplains are really learning out here and I fear it may be assumed that because we are overseas and up against the enemy we must therefore be gaining a knowledge of human nature which is going to be invaluable after the war. Not necessarily so.’9 Whatever chaplains learned or failed to learn, did well or badly, was placed in a grander context. As the Revd Ben Fenlon, a Catholic chaplain, said, we did it ‘for the glory of God, and the salvation of souls’.10

Notes and References

Introduction 1. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, pp. 100–11. 2. BUA, The United Navy and Army Board for the Four Denominations, Memoranda of Information for Chaplains to the Forces and Officiating Clergymen of the United Navy and Army Board (c1916), paragraph 6. 3. Alan Wilkinson, ‘The Paradox of the Military Chaplain’, Theology (July 1981), 249–57. 4. Stephen H. Louden, Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains Since 1914 (London, 1996), pp. 72–3. Kenneth Oliver, Chaplain at War (Chichester, 1988), pp. 52–3. Alan C. Robinson, ‘“Lighten our Darkness”? Army Chaplains of the British Empire during the World Wars’, War in History, 6 (1999), 479–85. Joanna Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare (London, 1999), p. 270. 5. Michael Snape, God and the British Soldier: Religion and the British Army in the First and Second World Wars (Abingdon, 2005). 6. John Keegan and Richard Holmes, Soldiers: A History of Men in Battle (London, 1985), p. 270. 7. Keegan and Holmes, pp. 51–2. 8. J. H.A. Sparrow, Morale (London, 1949), p. 4 (War Office report in WO/277/16). 9. Bourke, p. 290. 10. Herbert Creedy, ‘War Office Organisation’, The RAChD Journal, 3 (July 1929), 242–52 (p. 248). 11. G. I. T. Machin, Politics and the Churches in Great Britain, 1869–1921 (Oxford, 1987), pp. 317–31. 12. Hastings, Adrian, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), p. 47. 13. Gill, Robin, The Myth of the Empty Church (London, 1993), pp. 187–8. 14. David George Coulter, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997), p. i. 15. John Smyth, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968), pp. 268 and 271. 16. Ian F. W. Beckett and Keith Simpson, A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War (Manchester, 1985). 17. James E. Bradley and Richard A. Muller, Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works and Methods (Michigan USA, 1995), pp. 53–4.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

18. 19. 20.

21.

205

Smyth, p. 221. Williams, Sarah C., ‘The problem of belief: the place of oral history in the study of popular religion’, Oral History, 24 (Autumn 1996), 27–34. Nigel de Lee, ‘Oral History and British Soldiers’ Experience of Battle in the Second World War’, in Time To Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp. 359–68 (p. 368). Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (London, 1996), p. 285.

Chapter 1: The Great War 1. The Bickersteth Diaries 1914–1918, edited by John Bickersteth, (London, 1996), p. ix. 2. Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), p. 40. 3. Alan Wilkinson, The Church of England and the First World War (London, 1978), p. 5. 4. F. R. Barry, ‘Faith in the light of War’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 33–67 (p. 54). Frederick B. Macnutt, ‘The Moral Equivalent of War’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 1–31 (p. 13). C. Salisbury Woodward, ‘Worship and Services’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 211–36 (p. 216). Cairns, D. S., The Army and Religion: An Enquiry and its Bearing Upon the Religious Life of the Nation, preface by E. Talbot, Bishop of Winchester, (London, 1919), p. xiv. 5. Hastings, p. 6. 6. Hastings, p. 68. Neville S. Talbot, ‘The Training of Clergy’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 267–87 (p. 277). 7. Hastings, pp. 100–10. Alan Wilkinson, Dissent or Conform: War, Peace and the English Churches, 1900–1945 (London, 1986), p. 11. 8. Hastings, pp. 131–55. 9. Luke 7. 2–10. 10. Tom Johnstone and James Hagerty, The Cross on the Sword: Catholic Chaplains in the Forces (London, 1996), p. 312. 11. Book of Common Prayer. The official Latin version is even more explicit, the phrase ‘et justa bella administrare’ shows that the Article was based on St Augustine’s theory. 12. Wilkinson, Dissent, p. 48. 13. Matthew 5. 43. Matthew 26. 52. 14. Wilkinson, Dissent, p. 18. 15. Andrew Clark, Echoes of the Great War: The Diary of the Reverend Andrew Clark, 1914–1919, edited by James Munson, (Oxford, 1988), p. 11. Wilkinson, Church, p. 58. 16. ‘Free Churches and the War’, The Methodist Times, 12 November 1914, p. 13. 17. J. J. Lee, Ireland: Politics and Society, 1912–1985 (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 22–24.

206 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

29.

30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

Stewart J. Brown, ‘‘A Solemn Purification by Fire’: Responses to the Great War in the Scottish Presbyterian Churches, 1914–1919’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 45 (1994), 82–104 (p. 87). IWM, 80/22/2, the Revd E. C. Crosse Papers, ‘With an Infantry Brigade at the front’. John Smyth, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968), pp. xviii and xix. David Lloyd George, War Memoirs, Vol. 1, (London, 1938), p. 451. Army List, February 1915, section 1795. NA, WO/32/6429, court ruling, 23 December 1867. The Army Chaplains Act, 1868, in The Law Reports: The Public General Statutes, vol. 3 (London, 1868), pp. 571–3. The King’s Regulations and Orders for the Army, (1918), paragraphs 1332–46. Smyth, p. xv. Chaplains in the Royal Navy were administered by the Admiralty and there was very little policy coordination with the War Office. Peter Hennessy, Whitehall (London, 1990), p. 356. Brumwell, P. Middleton, The Army Chaplain: The Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, the Duties of Chaplains, and Morale (London, 1943), p. 32. This convention lasted until 1987 when the Revd James Harkness, a Church of Scotland chaplain was appointed Chaplain-General. Stephen H. Louden, Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains Since 1914 (London, 1996), pp. 27–8. Maurice Whitlow, J. Taylor Smith: Everybody’s Bishop (London, 1938), pp. 46–52. RA VIC/W22/68, Letter from Brodrick to Royal Secretary 24 October 1901. Whitlow, pp. 86–9. Wilkinson, Church, pp. 124–5. Middleton Brumwell, p. 32. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 8. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 8. MARC, Minutes of the Army and Navy Board 1911–1918, 22 November 1915. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 35. Two of his sons served in the army, Neville Talbot, an army chaplain, established the Talbot House (Toc H) which was named after his brother, Gilbert Talbot, who was killed in action in 1915. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 77. Wilkinson, Church, p. 126. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 79. Smyth, p. 195. NA, WO/32/5634, minutes of meeting, 9 September 1915. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 183. NA, WO/32/5636, Wakefield to Talbot, 25 August 1915. H. R. Wakefield, A Fortnight at the Front (London, 1915), p. 20. NA, WO/32/5636, Talbot to Wakefield, 26 August 1915; Brade to Salisbury, undated.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

47. 48. 49. 50. 51.

52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57.

58.

59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67.

68. 69.

70. 71. 72. 73. 74.

207

NA, WO/32/5636, ‘Committee on Chaplains’, p. 1. NA, WO/32/5636, ‘Second Report of Committee on Chaplains’, p. 1. NA, WO/32/5636, Brade to Macready, 2 September 1915; Macready to Brade, 4 September 1915. NA, WO/32/5636, Salisbury to Asquith, 17 November 1915. NA,WO/32/14826, Balfour to Lloyd George, 15 July 1916; Lloyd George to Davidson, Bourne, Shakespeare, Balfour, and Bateson, 18 July 1916; Shakespeare to Lloyd George; Davidson to Lloyd George, 21 July 1916; Lowe to Lloyd George, 10 October 1916. Army List, August 1914, sections 1789–94. Johnstone and Hagerty, pp. 40–4. Army List, January 1913, sections 1741–56. J. G. Lockhart, Cosmo Gordon Lang (London, 1949), p. 246. Brian Taylor, ‘The Cowley Fathers and the First World War’, in The Church and War, edited by W. J. Sheils, (Oxford, 1983), pp. 383–90 (p. 387). Smyth p. 169. Woolley won the Victoria during the Great War. During World War Two he served as a chaplain again. Army List, October 1942, section 1406g. The figures relating to chaplains are from the Army List, and Smyth, p. 202. The figures for the army are from Ian F. W. Beckett and Keith Simpson, A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War (Manchester, 1985), pp. 8 and 26. R. J. Rider (eds Alan Robinson and P. Hair, Reflections on the Battlefield (Liverpool, 2001), p. 75. House of Commons Debates, Official Report, 17 September 1914, cols 978–9. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 87. Beckett, p. 116. Rider, p. 76. Malcolm Brown, The Imperial War Museum Book of the First World War (London, 1993), p. 245. Malcolm Brown, p. 245. IWMSA, 4411/4, John Duffield, transcript, p. 5. Edmund Doudney (ed Jonathan Horne), The Best of Good Fellows: The Diaries and Memoirs of the Rev. Edmund Doundney, MA, CF, edited by, (London, 1995), pp. 110–11. Rider, pp. 90–1. Wilkinson, Church, p. 148. Wilkinson, Church, p. 148. IWMSA, 4770/1, the Revd L. Martin-Andrews. Three hundred and forty six soldiers were executed during the war, mainly for desertion. Denis Winter, Death’s Men: Soldiers of the Great War (London, 1978), p. 43 Malcolm Brown, p. 249. IWMSA, 5197/3, the Revd Dominic Devas. Smyth, p. 157. IWM, 80/22/2, the Revd E. C. Crosse Papers, ‘With an Infantry Brigade at the front’. Wilkinson, Church, p. 130. Smyth, p. 165. Wilkinson, Church, p. 111. Hastings, p. 36.

208 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81.

82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89.

90. 91. 92. 93.

94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

Wilkinson, Church, p. 111. Wilkinson, Church, p. 133. IWM, 78/7/1, the Revd M. S. Evers Papers, unpublished memoirs. PPR, Rogers to Mrs Marshall, 25 June 1917. Smyth, p. 161. Smyth, pp. 185 and 199. Wilkinson, Church, p. 142. Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That (London, 1957), p. 169. IWM, 78/7/1, the Revd M. S. Evers Papers, unpublished memoirs. Gerard De Groot, ‘Haig’s Secret Weapon’, Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, 123 (1993), 60–7 (p. 67). De Groot, p. 61. Robert Blake, The Private Papers of Douglas Haig, 1914–19 (London, 1952), pp. 28–9. De Groot, p. 62. Smyth, p. 200. De Groot, p. 64. De Groot, p. 64. S. P.MacKenzie, ‘Morale and the Cause: The Campaign to Shape the Outlook of Soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force, 1914–1918’, Canadian Journal of History, 25 (1990), 215–32, (p. 218). MacKenzie, p. 220. H. C. Jackson, Pastor on the Nile: The Life and Letters of Llewellyn H. Gwynne (London, 1960), p. 156. Smyth, p. 201. Kenneth E. Kirk, ‘When the Priests Come Home’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 407–26. (p. 413) Smyth, p. 268. Hammerton, John, I Was There (London, c.1930s), vol. IV, p. 1959. Wilkinson, Church, p. 152. Malcolm Brown, p. 135. IWM, 80/22/1, the Revd E. C. Crosse Papers, ‘With an Infantry Brigade at the front’. Beckett, p. 106. Cairns, p. 190. Ronald Ferguson, George MacLeod: Founder of the Iona Community (London, 1990), p. 39. Interview between Donald Hodge, Maggie Cousins, and Alan Robinson, Seaford, 5 December 1996. MacKenzie, p. 231. Graves, p. 106. Wilkinson, Church, p. 110. Graves, p. 176. Graves, p. 223.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

108. 109. 110. 111. 112.

113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131.

209

TTT, Interview between Walter Williams and TTT, Weston Shropshire, 1996. TTT, Interview between Rhoda Mansell and TTT, Smethwick, 3 April 1996. TTT, Interview between Oliver Huskinson and TTT, Middlesbrough, 4 April 1996. Barry, pp. 46 and 54. Macnutt, p. 13. Salisbury Woodward, p. 216. Cairns, p. xiv. G. A. Studdert-Kennedy, ‘The Religious Difficulties of the Private Soldier’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 375–405 (p. 381). Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford, 1977), pp. 124 and 169. Studdert-Kennedy, p. 396. E. Milner-White, ‘Worship and Services’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 173–210, (p. 182.). Milner-White, p. 181. Rider, p. 144. Wilkinson, Dissent, p. 39 and pp. 54–5. Frederic C. Spurr, Some Chaplains in Khaki (London,1916), p. 10. Hastings, p. 86. Hastings p. 40. TTT, Interview between Walter Williams and TTT, Weston Shropshire, 1996. Wilkinson, Church, p. 66 and p. 160. Cairns, pp. v–xxii. Cairns, p. 10. Cairns, p. 27. Cairns, pp. 124–7. Cairns, pp. 162–5. Stewart Brown, p. 87. Cairns, p. 74. Macnutt, pp. 25–6. Rider, pp. 144–5.

Chapter 2: The Interwar Years 1. John Smyth, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968), p. 203. J. M. Brereton, A Guide to the Regiments and Corps of the British Army (London, 1985), passim. The abbreviations AChD and RAChD were probably used to distinguish the chaplains from the Royal Army Clothing Department. 2. NA,WO/32/5969. Creedy, ‘Precis for the Army Council’, paragraph 8, May 1920. It is possible that the phrase ‘well-being and moral’ should of been ‘well-being and morale’. 3. NA, WO/32/5969, Clarke to Creedy, 21 April 1920. 4. Gordon Taylor, Sea Chaplains (Oxford, 1978), p. 344. 5. NA, WO/32/5969, Clarke to Creedy, 11 May 1920. Wilkinson, Alan, ‘The Paradox of a Military Chaplain’, Theology, (July 1981), 249–57 (p. 254).

210

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

6. H. W. Blackburne and F. M. Sykes, ‘The Status and Work of a Chaplain’, RAChD Quarterly Journal, 1 (January 1922), 8–10. In 1928 the RAChD Quarterly Journal became The RAChD Journal. 7. Gordon C. Zahn, Chaplains in the RAF: A Study in Role Tension (Manchester, 1969), pp. 290–2. Wilkinson, ‘Paradox’, pp. 249–57. Clarence L. Abercrombie, The Military Chaplain (Beverley Hills, 1977), p. 65. Stephen H. Louden, Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains Since 1914 (London, 1996), pp. 107–10. 8. Brian Bond, British Military Policy between the Two World Wars (Oxford, 1980), pp. 63–4. 9. RAChDA, Rev ACE Jarvis CG, 1925–31, E. W. Green, ‘A Chaplain’s Work in a Large Station’, in Report of Conference of Regular Chaplains (1925), pp. 23–8. 10. RAChDA, Rev ACE Jarvis CG, 1925–31, H. Peverley-Dodd, ‘The Work of a Chaplain in a large station (other than C of E)’, in Report of the Conference of Regular Chaplains (1925). 11. J. H. McKew, ‘Work at Depots’, The RAChD Journal, 3 (January 1929), pp. 182–3. 12. Army List, March 1934, sections 711–14. 13. F. A. Iremonger, William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury: His Life and Letters (London, 1948), p. 550. 14. Gethyn-Jones, p. 13. 15. Bond, British, p. 70. 16. The Editor [Revd S. H. Keen], ‘The Chaplain-General Designate’, RAChD Quarterly Journal, 2, (April 1925), pp. 50–2. 17. RAChDA, ‘Chaplains-General’, A. C. E. Jarvis, ‘Substance of the Opening Address’, in Report of the Conference of Regular Chaplains (1925), p. 3. 18. NA, WO/32/4017, Jarvis to Creedy, 18 February 1925. 19. In 1935, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, with Thorold’s agreement, altered the wording of the Licence to include specific reference to administering the sacraments. NA, WO/32/4032. 20. NA, WO 32/4031, Jarvis to CofE chaplains, 16 December 1925. 21. House of Commons Debates, Official Reports, 2 April 1924, cols 2383–90. 22. NA, WO/32/4013, minutes of the Interdenominational Advisory Committee, 3 April 1924. 23. Army Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Proposed Disciplinary Amendments of the Army and Air Force Acts, Cmd 2376 (London, 1925). 24. Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), pp. 186–92. 25. The Editor, ‘Editorial Notes’, RAChD Quarterly Journal, 2, (July 1926), p. 263. 26. ‘Editorial Notes’, RAChD Quarterly Journal, 2 (April 1927), p. 375. 27. Hastings, p. 203. 28. J. G. Lockhart, Cosmo Gordon Lang (London, 1949), pp. 299–312. Iremonger, pp. 345–62. Hastings, pp. 204–8. 29. NA, WO/32/4010, de Lisle to the Ecclesiastical Committee of the House of Lords, 16 August 1927.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.

211

NA, WO/32/4010, Jarvis to Creedy, 19 September 1927. NA, WO/32/4010, Davidson to Jarvis, 28 October 1927; Jarvis to Creedy, Kinsman to the Parliamentary Counsel, 9 November 1927. NA, WO/32/4010, Giveen to the War Office, 18 April 1928. NA, WO/32/4010, Creedy to Jarvis, 23 May 1928. RA PS/GV 39277. J. Stevenson and W. H. C. Frend, A New Eusebius: Documents illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337 (London, 1992), pp. 283–284. Richard Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity, 371–1386 AD (London, 1998), p. 19. NA, CAB 23/63, Cabinet Minutes, 12 February 1930. NA, CAB/23/63, Cabinet Minutes, 5 March 1930. NA, WO/32/4015, Creedy to Army Commands, 27 February 1930. NA, WO/32/4015, Aubrey to Shaw, 3 March 1930. NA, WO/32/4015, Jarvis to Creedy, undated; Ovey telegram, 14 March 1930. Alternative spelling, Maxim Litvinov. NA, WO/32/4015, cutting from The Daily Telegraph, 4 March 1930. NA, WO/32/4015, Aubrey to Creedy, 31 March 1930. Martin Ceadel, Pacifism in Britain (Oxford, 1980) pp. 33, 49, 58–9, 78, 222. House of Commons Debates, Official Report, 10 March 1931, cols 1137–44. Martin Ceadel, ‘Christian Pacifism in the era of the Two World Wars’, in The Church and War, edited by W. J. Sheils (Oxford, 1983), p. 408. Alan Wilkinson, Dissent or Conform: War, Peace and the English Churches, 1900–1945 (London, 1986), pp. 112–4. H. R. L. Sheppard, We Say ‘No’: A Plain Man’s Guide to Pacifism (1935), pp. 6–7. Sheppard, pp. 144–145. Charles Raven, Is War Obsolete? A Study of the Conflicting Claims of Religion and Citizenship (1935), pp. 45–8. Raven, p. 183. C. E. Montague, Disenchantment (London, 1922), pp. 66–79. Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That (London, 1957), pp. 168–9. Benstead, passim. James C. Dunn, The War the Infantry Knew (London, 1987), pp. xxxi, 124 and 443. Oliver Elton, C. E. Montague: A Memoir (London, 1929), pp. 105–6 and p. 167. Keith Grieves, ‘C. E. Montague and the Making of Disenchantment, 1914–1921’, War in History, 4 (1997), 35–59 (p. 35). Charles R. Benstead, Retreat: A Story of 1918 (London, 1930), p. 312. RAChDA, ‘The Retreat’, Jarvis to Creedy, undated; ‘Retreat’ by P. B. Clayton. RAChDA, ‘The Retreat’, Mellish to Clayton, 3 March 1930. ‘Editorial Notes’, The RAChD Journal, 3 (January 1929), p. 139. NA, WO/32/4014, Jarvis, ‘A memorandum on Compulsory Attendance at Divine Worship in the Army’, 17 March 1930.

212 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

‘Editorial Notes’, The RAChD Journal, 4 (January 1932), p. 115. J. G. W. Tuckey, ‘The Chaplain-General’, The RAChD Journal, 4 (January 1932), pp. 117–19. LPA, Fisher Papers, vol 14, Heale to Gorton and forwarded to Fisher, 6 March 1945. RA PS/GVI/PS/2792, Creedy to Hardinge 9 February 1938. L. Gethin Hughes, ‘Saar Pictures’, The RAChD Journal, 5 (July 1935), 137–40. ‘Editorial Notes’, The RAChD Journal, 5 (January 1937), 331.

Chapter 3: RAChD Politics during World War II 1. Matthew 10.16. 2. John Smyth, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968), p. xv. 3. Peter Hennessy, The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution (London, 1995), p. 30. 4. Alan Wilkinson, Dissent or Conform: War, Peace and the English Churches, 1900–1945 (London, 1986). 5. George Forty, British Army Handbook, 1939–1945 (Stroud, 1998), p. 36. Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (London, 1996), pp. 267 and 270. 6. J. G. Lockhart, Cosmo Gordon Lang (London, 1949), p. 429. 7. NA, WO/32/5636, Salisbury to Asquith, 17 November 1915. 8. Brian Bond, British Military Policy between the Two World Wars (Oxford, 1980), p. 40. P. J. Grigg, Prejudice and Judgement (London, 1948), p. 332. Herbert Creedy, ‘War Office Organisation’, The RAChD Journal, 3 (July 1929), 242–52 (p. 248). 9. Grigg, p. 218. Nigel Hamilton, Monty: The Field Marshal, 1944–1976 (London, 1987), p. 119. 10. House of Commons Debates, Official Report, 8 December 1944, cols 891–900. 11. L. G. H., ‘Rev.C. R. Symons’, The RAChD Journal, 7 (July 1950), pp. 12–13. Smyth, pp. 309–10. RAChDA, ‘Chaplains-General’, Mackenzie to Easey, 13 July 1990. 12. Smyth, p. 310. 13. RA PS/GVI/PS/2792, Bovenshen to Lascelles 4 October 1944. Symth, p. 310. 14. Hamilton, Field-Marshal, p. 804. 15. NA, WO/277/16, private War Office report, J. H. A. Sparrow, Morale, (London, 1949), p. 4. 16. Winnington-Ingram, ‘The Church and the War’, The Church Times, 26 July 1940, p. 514. Stuart Mews, ‘The Sword of the Spirit: A Catholic Cultural Crusade of 1940’, in The Church and War, edited by W. J. Sheils, (Oxford, 1983), pp. 409–30 (p. 412). 17. Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), pp. 377–81. Wilkinson, Dissent, pp. 265–72. 18. F. A. Iremonger, William Temple: Archbishop of Canterbury: His Life and Letters (London, 1948), pp. 555–6.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

32.

33. 34. 35.

36.

37. 38.

39. 40. 41. 42.

213

Mews, p. 411. Wilkinson, Dissent, p. 256. ‘Cardinal: “Fascism is Pagan”’, The Universe, 3 February 1939, p. 1. ‘Ourselves and Spain[leader article]’, The Universe, 3 February 1939, p. 14. Mews, p. 420. Thomas Moloney, Westminster, Whitehall and the Vatican, 1935– 1943 (London, 1985), p. 187. W. R. Titterton, ‘The Cause is Clear’, The Universe, 1 September 1939, p. 10. ‘War for Christian Principles [leader article]’, The Universe, 8 September 1939, p. 10. ‘Notes of the Week’, The Methodist Recorder, 20 June 1940, p. 8. Hastings, p. 265. Ernest A. Payne, The Baptist Union: A Short History (London, 1982), p. 213. Hastings, p. 269. Geoffrey Alderman, Modern British Jewry (Oxford, 1998), pp. 277–80 and 323. ‘A United Synagogue “Crisis”’, The Jewish Chronicle, 21 July 1939, p. 7. Alderman, p. 264. A. W. Harrison, ‘With Our Chaplains in France’, The Methodist Recorder, 9 May 1940, p. 4. MARC, Minutes of Navy, Army and RAF Board, 1932–1943, 2 June 1944. In a survey carried out in the 1970s, 97.9 per cent of Methodist ministers called for a reduction in the number of church committees. Stewart Ranson , Alan Bryman, and Bob Hinings , Clergy, Ministers and Priests (London, 1977), p. 111, Ronald W. Thomson, Ministering to the Forces: The story of the Baptist and Congregational Chaplains and the work of the United Navy, Army, and Airforce Board, 1914–1964 (Brighton, 1964), p. 58. Payne, p. 262. BUA, Baptist Union, Minute Books, 13 October 1939, 31 May 1940, 4 December 1941, 14 January 1943, 2 February 1944, 17 May 1945. LMA, ACC/2712/15/2075. Lionel de Rothschild, ‘War Services Committee Re-established’ (letters page), The Jewish Chronicle, 27 October 1939, p.9. A/C Goodman, ‘The Temporary Senior Chaplaincy’ (letters page), The Jewish Chronicle, 31 December 1943, p. 13. Rabbi Leslie I. Edgar, Some Memories of My Ministry (London, privately published, 1985), pp. 21–6. David George Coulter, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997), p. 57. NA, WO/259/15, Sym to Temple, 29 June 1943. Iremonger, p. 551. NA, WO/32/14820, Interdenominational Advisory Committee minutes, 20 July 1949. After Iremonger’s biography of Temple was published, the Interdenominational Advisory Committee noted the criticism at a meeting on 20 July 1949. NA, WO/259/15, ‘Commission of the Chaplain-General of His Majesty’s Land Forces’, 20 October 1939. LPA, Lang Papers, vol.79, Lang to Fisher, 30 July 1940. LPA, Lang Papers, vol. 79, Lang to Symons, 16 July 1941. Lockhart, p. 441.

214 43.

44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.

59. 60. 61. 62. 63.

64. 65. 66.

67. 68. 69.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

LPA, Lang Papers, vol. 79, Temple to Lang, 30 September 1941. When Alan Wilkinson used this quote he omitted the last clause which rather altered the meaning of Temple’s point. Wilkinson, Dissent, p. 293. LPA, Temple Papers, vol. 9, Macmillan to Temple, 22 January 1943. Grigg, p. 218. NA, WO/259/15, Grigg to Temple, 15 March 1943. LPA, Temple Papers, vol. 9, Sym to Temple, 29 June 1943. Dey to Temple. NA, WO/295/15, circulation list. NA, WO/259/15, cutting from The Times, 15 December 1943. LPA, Temple Papers, vol. 10, Royden to Temple, November 1943. NA, WO/259/15, Temple to Symons, 29 February 1944. Symons to Temple, 11 March 1944. Iremonger, p. 550. Tom Johnstone and James Hagerty, The Cross on the Sword: Catholic Chaplains in the Forces (London, 1996), pp. 189–92. Moloney, p. 73. Coulter, p. 73. RCCA, Box 2, Lambert to Dey, 29 June 1940. NA, WO/167/58, war diary entry, 4 April 1940. WO/169/45, war diary entry, 5 August 1940. RCCA, Box 8, Dey to Symons, 21 July 1940. John Coghlan, ‘Introduction’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey (London, 1947), pp. 3–4. RCCA, J. Coghlan, Memorandum for Catholic Chaplains Officiating Chaplains to the Forces (1942), p. 18. ‘General Absolution: New Ruling’, The Universe, 21 February 1941, p. 7 ‘Far East Chaplains may give Confirmation’, The Universe, 17 November 1944, p. 1. RCCA, J. Coghlan, Memorandum for Catholic Chaplains Officiating Chaplains to the Forces (1942), p. 12. RCCA, J. Coghlan, Memorandum for Catholic Chaplains Officiating Chaplains to the Forces (1942), p. 58. CERC, The Chronicle of Convocation being a Record of the Procedings of the Convocation of Canterbury (London, 1941), pp. 131–6. LPA, Temple Papers, vol. 53, Fisher to Temple, 2 February 1944; Tuckey to Temple, 3 February 1944; Temple to Bovenschen, 8 February 1944; Tuckey to Temple, 10 June 1944. LPA, Lang Papers, vol. 79, Haigh to Lang, 17 October 1939; Lang to the English Bishops, 20 October 1939. ‘Army Chaplains’ (letters page), The Church Times, 9 August 1940, p. 537. LPA, Lang Papers vol. 79, Crick to Lang, 7 September 1940; Astbury to Lang, 27 September 1940; Symons to Lang, 7 November 1940; Temple to Lang, 24 January 1941. LPA, Temple Papers, vol. 52, Temple to Symons, 13 February 1943. PPR, First Army Instructions for Chaplains to the Forces (c.1941), para 20. It is not clear from the orders exactly why these changes were instigated. Smyth, p. 244. NA, WO/166/6016, war diary entry, 1 April 1942–30 June 1942.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

70. 71. 72. 73.

74. 75. 76. 77. 78.

215

NA, WO/163/52, War Office Committee on Morale in the Army, Sixth Quarterly Report, May 1943–June 1943. NA, WO/166/60, war diary notes, September 1939–June 1941. ‘Compulsory Church Parades’, The Methodist Recorder, 23 March 1944, p. 3. Crang, J. A., ‘The British Soldier on the Home Front: Army Morale Reports, 1940–1945’, in Time to Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West, 1939– 1945, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder (London, 1997), pp. 60–74 (p. 74). NA, WO/32/14687, Army Council order, 31 July 1943. NA, WO/163/52, minutes of the Army Council, 18 June 1943. Hew Strachan, The Politics of the British Army (Oxford, 1997), pp. 44–5. Strachan, p. 71. Brian Bond, British Military Policy between the Two World Wars (Oxford, 1980), p. 42.

Chapter 4: Clergy and Chaplains 1. John Smyth, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968), p. 207. RCCA, Box 8, Report of the Committee on the Review of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, (1932), pp. 7–9. 2. Smyth, p. 220 3. Army List, January 1940, sections 1399a–1405a. These figures differ from those given by Smyth, p. 220 and Tom Johnstone and James Hagerty, The Cross on the Sword: Catholic Chaplains in the Forces (London, 1996), p. 194, but since they did not specify exactly where their figures came from, it is impossible to check them. 4. ‘Shortage of Chaplains’ (letters page), The Church Times, 5 December 1941, p. 718. 5. George Standing, ‘Methodist Chaplains’ (letters page), The Methodist Recorder, 19 October 1939, p. 19. 6. F. W. B. Bullock, A History of Training for the Ministry of the Church of England from 1875 to 1974 (London, 1976), pp. 82–9. 7. ‘Manchester’, The Church Times, 5 February 1943, p. 72. 8. Cedric Whiteman, Patriot, Padre, and Priest: A life of Henry Whiteman (Worthing, 1985), pp. 120–1. 9. CERC, CBF/BBSC/1/D/2, returns from the Manchester diocese. Interviews between the Revd R. D. St J. Smith and Alan Robinson, Prestatyn, 21 May 1998–26 May 1998. 10. CERC, CBF/BBSC/1/D/2, returns from the Southwell diocese. F. R.Barry, Period of My Life (London, 1970), p. 127. 11. Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), p. 269. LPA, Lang Papers, vol 79, Lang to Fisher, 30 July 1940. A. J. Hoover, God, Britain, and Hitler in World War II: The View of the British Clergy, 1939–45 (Westport, USA, 1999), p. 40. 12. CERC, CBF/BBSC/D/2, compiled returns from all dioceses in England and Wales.

216 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19.

20. 21. 22. 23.

24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

‘The Shortage of Chaplains’ (leader article), The Church Times, 28 November 1941, p. 700. CERC, CBF/BBSC/D/2, compiled returns from the dioceses in England and Wales. ‘African Priests and Soldiers’, The Church Times, 22 April 1943, p. 219. ‘African Army Chaplains Commissioned’, The Church Times, 19 May 1944, p. 269. Eric Yelverton, ‘The East Africa Army Chaplains’ Department: Its origin and early Development’, The RAChD Journal, 15 (December 1960), 596–9. Tanganyika is now part of Tanzania. MARC, Minutes of the Navy, Army and AF Board, 1932–1945, 18 May 1943. Hastings, p. 263. MARC, Minutes of the Navy, Army and AF Board, 1932–1945, 19 January 1943. David George Coulter, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997), pp. 83–94. ‘Dora’, ‘Women’s Life To-day’, The Baptist Times, 30 January 1941, p. 56. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 195. Brian Girvin, and Geoffrey Roberts, ‘The Forgotten Volunteers of World War II’, History Ireland, 6 (Spring 1998), 46–51. Thomas Moloney, Westminster, Whitehall and the Vatican: The Role of Cardinal Hinsley, 1935–1943 (London, 1985), p. 145. RCCA, ‘RC Chaplains 2nd World War’. SRCDA, BMP 200/16, Marshall ad clerum, 2 November 1941. BMP 200/113, Marshall to Deans, 29 February 1943. SRCDA, BMP 206/4, Dey to Marshall, 24 May 1944. The Catholic Directory (London, 1944), p. 411. RCCA, Box 5, Dey to Amigo, 5 August 1942. RCCA, Box 25, Apostolic Delegate to the English Bishops, 7 January 1944. John Coghlan, ‘Introduction’, in The Priest among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 1–7. Johnstone and Hegarty, pp. 194–195. Hastings, p. 269. BUA, Baptist Union, Minute Book, 10 February 1943. PPR, Survey form from the Revd B. V. Parry. Revd J. H. Clay, ‘A Chaplain Comes Home’ (letters page), The Methodist Recorder, 20 April 1944, p. 11. CERC, CBF/BBSC/1/D/2, compiled returns from the dioceses in England and Wales. ‘Not Enough Chaplains (leader article)’, The Jewish Chronicle, 8 June 1944, p. 13. Army List, October 1942, sections 1406a–1407r. Army List, July 1945, sections 1406a–1408z. RCCA, Box 28, Lambert to Coghlan, 19 April 1943; Coghlan to Lambert, 23 April 1943; Lambert to Coghlan, 22 June 1944.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52.

53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.

217

J. E. Gethyn-Jones, A Territorial Chaplain in Peace and War (East Wittering, 1988), pp. 2–3. PPR, Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. Interview between the Revd Ben Fenlon and Alan Robinson, West Kirby, 7 September 1998. PPR, Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. Hastings, p. 137. Stewart Ranson, Alan Bryman, and Bob Hinings, Clergy, Ministers and Priests (London, 1977), pp. 28–38. RAChDA, ‘Copies of Articles in Well Known Padres File’, Revd C. C. Lannigan, unpublished memoirs, p. 52. IWM, 87/59/1, Revd F. J. Brabyn Papers, unpublished memoirs, pp. 112–13. PPR, Survey form from the Revd B. V. Parry. Ranson, Bryman and Hinings, p. 165. PPR, Survey form from the Revd David Izzett. Survey form from the Revd Aidan Chapman. PPR, Survey form from the Revd A.E. Gibbins. Survey form from the Revd Leslie Skinner. PPR, Survey form from the Revd David Izzett. Interview between the Revd David Izzett and Alan Robinson, Hemel Hempstead, 14 August 1998. Coulter, p. 105. PPR, Survey from the Revd Raymond Bowers. CERC, CBF/BBSC/1/D/2. Survey form from the Revd M. IWM, 90/40/1, Revd W.Ronald. George, unpublished memoirs. Angus Calder, People’s War: Britain, 1939–1945 (London, 1969), p. 269. On account of their high standard of education, several went into the Intelligence Corps. Malcolm Muggeridge recalled that he trained for the Field Security Police alongside, ‘schoolmasters, journalists, encyclopaedia salesmen, unfrocked clergymen, and other displaced New Statesman readers’. Anthony, Clayton Forearmed: A history of the Intelligence Corps (London, 1996), p. 68. The Church of England and Church of Scotland had permissive policies to maintain a degree of spiritual authority over their combatant clergy and reintegrate them into the civilian church after the war. It was much rarer for nonconformists to become combatants. One Methodist chaplain, the Revd J. Thomson was an exception, and he transferred to the RAF. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary report, 1 June 1942 Isaac Levy, Now I Can Tell (Kettering, Dalkeith Press, 1978, privately published), p. 4. PPR, Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. LPA, Temple Papers, vol 52, report by Lunt on his visit to the Middle East, August 1943. RAChDA, WW2 8th Army Letters. Smyth, p. 238. LPA, Temple Papers, vol 53, Letter from the Revd Fred Bussby to the Revd Frank Woods, who forwarded it to his father, the Bishop of Lichfield, who forwarded it to William Temple in June 1944.

218 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

67. 68. 69. 70. 71.

72. 73.

74.

75. 76.

77.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

Interview between the Revd I. D. Neill SCF and Alan Robinson, Uckfield, 10 June 1998. Army List, October 1942, sections 1406–1406q. NA, WO/295/15, ‘Religious Denominations in the Army and ATS as at 31 January 1942. PPR, Richard Hebert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), pp. 43–4. PPR, Richard Hebert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), p. 56. PPR, Richard Hebert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), p. 3. Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 196. RCCA, Box 16. NA, WO/166/6034, war diary report, January to June 1942. C. B. Mortlock, ‘A School for Chaplains’, The Church Times, 13 September 1940, p. 608. ‘Curate Becomes an Army Chaplain’, The Picture Post, 14 March 1942, pp. 17– 19. G. R. Whitcombe, ‘The Royal Army Chaplains’ Department Depot’, The RAChD Journal, VII (July 1950), p. 47. Coulter, pp. 107–18. PPR, the Revd Norman Bainbridge, ‘RAChD Reception Centre and Depot, 41st instake, Course Programme’. Ronald Sinclair, A Religion for Battle-Dress (London, 1941), p. 34. LPA, Temple Papers, vol 52, Woods to Temple, February 1942. PPL, Edwards to Mrs Edwards, January 1942. PPR, Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. Leslie Skinner, The Man Who Worked on Sundays: The Personal War Diary, June 2nd 1944 to May 17th 1945 (privately published, Cheltenham, 1996), p. 5. IWM, 87/59/1, The Revd F. J. Brabyn Papers, unpublished memoirs, p. 122. One controversial aspect of these courses for soldiers was an attempt with photographs of atrocities and special lectures to encourage soldiers to hate the enemy. The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, William Temple and army psychologists criticised hate training and the army abandoned attempts to instil hatred. Robert H. Ahrenfeldt, Psychiatry in the British Army in the Second World War (London, 1958), pp. 198–201. Interview between the Revd I. D. Neill SCF and Alan Robinson, Uckfield, 10 June 1998. J. E. Gethyn-Jones, A Territorial Chaplain in Peace and War (East Wittering, 1988), pp. 78–9. R. Lester Guilly, ‘In NW Europe’, in The Priest among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 130–9 (p. 130). Smyth, pp. 245–7. Coulter, pp. 128–9. PPR, Photograph lent to the author by the Revd Aidan Chapman. PPR, Memories of Church Stowe, (privately published, c. 1944). ‘Plucky Padre’, The Methodist Recorder, 18 May 1944, p. 7. F. H. E., ‘Chaplain Lost Sight Saving Others’, The Methodist Recorder, 2 November 1944, p. 12. Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. After training with St Dunstans, Treglown returned to the Methodist ministry.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90.

219

Whiteman, p. 126. Gethyn-Jones, pp. 79 and 109 Bernard Egan, ‘Parachutist Chaplains: Training’, in The Priest among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 140–6. J. Fraser McLuskey, Parachute Padre: Behind German Lines with the SAS, France 1944 (Stevenage, 1997), p. 24. Coulter, p. 135. McLuskey, p. 30. McLuskey, p. 24. Egan, p. 143. House of Commons Debates, Official Report, 22 April 1943, cols 1885– 1901. RCCA, Box 18, minutes of the Interdenominational Advisory Committee, 28 July 1943. NA, WO/163/52, ‘The Army Council, Pay of Chaplains’, 5 October 1943. NA, WO/163/53, Army Council minutes, 16 June 1944. House of Commons Debates, Official Report, 8 December 1944, cols. 891– 900. NA, WO/259/15, Symons to Temple, 11 March 1944.

Chapter 5: Chaplaincy Work in Bases and Lines-of-Communication 1. J. M. Clarke, ‘The Senior Chaplain’s Problems’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 92–102 (p.95). 2. George Forty, British Army Handbook, 1939–1945 (Stroud, 1998), p. 44. 3. Forty, pp. 36–8. 4. P. Middleton Brumwell, The Army Chaplain: The Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, the Duties of Chaplains, and Morale (London, 1943), p. 43. 5. J. G. Lockhart, Cosmo Gordon Lang (London, 1949), p. 246. 6. NA, WO/166/6016, ‘Notes in lieu of War Diary, Southern Command’, para. 3. The principle source concerning chaplaincy duties in the Home Commands are war diaries kept by Assistant Chaplains-General. Whereas during the Great War chaplains had not followed the usual army practice of keeping war diaries, they started doing so during World War Two. Initially the diaries just listed appointments, but in 1941, Assistant Chaplains-General were ordered to send analytical reports following the example of Western Command. Home Commands stopped keeping diaries in 1943, but overseas, the habit was maintained until the end of the war. NA, WO/166/309, passim. WO/166/296, Davies to Assistant Chaplains-General, 25 April 1941. 7. ‘SCF’, ‘Service Chaplains’ (letters page), The Church Times, 22 January 1943, p. 44. 8. Interview between the Confidential Clerk for the Deputy Assistant ChaplainGeneral London District, 1942–1945, and Alan Robinson, 19/09/98, Brighton. 9. Interview between the Confidential Clerk for the Deputy Assistant ChaplainGeneral London District, 1942–1945, and Alan Robinson, 19 September 1998, Brighton.

220 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

David George Coulter, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997), p. 288. P.R. Reid, The Latter Days at Colditz, (London, 1965), pp. 175–6. Interviews between the Revd R. D. St J. Smith and Alan Robinson, Prestatyn, 21 May 1998–26 May 1998. Cedric Whiteman, Patriot, Padre, and Priest: A Life of Henry Whiteman (Worthing, 1985), p. 126. NA, WO/171/732, memo, 12 August 1944. Stephen H. Louden, Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains Since 1914 (London, 1996), p. 46. NA, WO/171/3920, war diary entry, 29 January 1945. NA, WO/170/649, monthly report, May 1943. MO, 1870A, Leonard England, ‘The Chaplain to the Forces’, June 1943, pp. 22–3. PPR, Survey form from Private James Sims. MO, 1870A, MO Correspondent 1200 to England. Brumwell, pp. 40–1. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 55. Whiteman, pp. 115–16. Interviews between the Revd R. D. St J. Smith and Alan Robinson, Prestatyn, 21 May 1998–26 May 1998. Interview between the Revd Ben Fenlon and Alan Robinson, West Kirby, 7 September 1998. Isaac Levy, Now I Can Tell (Kettering, 1978, privately published), pp. 43–4. NA, WO/170/649, war diary report, January 1944. S. P. MacKenzie, Politics and Military Morale (Oxford, 1992), p. 88. ‘Religious Teaching for the Troops’ (leader article), The Church Times, 24 March 1944, p. 160. PPR, T.E. Jessop, Questions Soldiers Ask (India, c.1944), p. 1. Coulter, p. 142. D. S. Cairns, The Army and Religion: An Enquiry and its Bearing Upon the Religious Life of the Nation, preface by E. Talbot, Bishop of Winchester, (London, 1919), p.XXVIII. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 80. ‘Religious Teaching for the Troops’ (leader article), The Church Times, 24 March 1944, p. 160. ‘Soldiers’ Religions’, The Church Times, 26 July 1940, p. 517. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 36. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 63. Coulter pp. 145–8. MO, 1870A, Leonard England, ‘The Chaplain to the Forces’, June 1943, p. 17. LPA, Fisher papers, vol 14, Woods to Woods, 12 September 1945. PPR, Richard Hebert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), pp. 63–4.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57.

58. 59. 60. 61.

62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

221

PPR, Richard Hebert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), pp. 66–8. PPR, Survey form from the Revd Richard Hill. Ronald Sinclair, A Religion for Battle-Dress (London, 1941), p. 34. PPR, First Army Instructions for Chaplains to the Forces (c.1941). Interview between the Revd Norman Bainbridge and Alan Robinson, Hindhead, 9 June 1998. PPL, Bainbridge Papers, notebook entry, January 1943. Interviews between the Revd R. D. St J. Smith and Alan Robinson, Prestatyn, 21 May 1998–26 May 1998. Brumwell, p. 37. PPR, The War Office, The Soldier’s Welfare (London, 1944), p. 20. Stephen H. Louden, Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains Since 1914 (London, 1996), pp. 72–4. AHJA, letter to Sir Robert Waley Cohen, 16 July 1943. RAChDA, ‘Copies of Articles in Well Known Padres File’, Lannigan memoirs, pp. 8–9. Interview between the Revd Norman Bainbridge and Alan Robinson, Hindhead, 9 June 1998. PPL, Bainbridge Papers, notebook entry. Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. Interview between Lieutenant Colonel Frankau and Alan Robinson, Avening, 6 June 1998. NA, WO/170/663, war diary report, October 1944. John Keegan, A History of Warfare (London, 1994), p. xv. Penny Summerfield ‘Mass Observation: Social Research or Social Movement’, Journal of Contemporary History, 20 (1985), 439–52. N. S. Stanley, ‘“The Extra Dimension”: A study and assessment of the methods employed by Mass-Observation in its first period, 1937–1940’ (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Birmingham Polytechnic, 1981), p. 167. MO, 1870A, Leonard England, ‘The Chaplain to the Forces’, June 1943, p. 31. MO, 1870A, Lenard England, ‘The Chaplain to the Forces’, June 1943, p. 28. ELC, He Will Swallow up Death in Victory. Where, O death thy Victory? (tract produced by the Bible and Gospel Trust, Hounslow), pp. 2–3. Interview between Private Cliffe Collinge and Alan Robinson, Manston, 15 June 1998. PPR, Survey form from Private Cliffe Collinge. Kenneth Oliver, Chaplain at War (Chichester, 1988), p. 104. Duff Crerar, Padres in No Man’s Land: Canadian Chaplains and the Great War (Montreal, 1995), p. 222. Crerar, p. 225. PPR, Survey form from Corporal Edwin Kimber. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 81. LPA, Temple Papers, vol 53, Symons to Temple, 1 February 1944. W. U., ‘Connexional Committees in Midsummer Session’, The Methodist Recorder, 2 July 1942, p. 4. ‘The Council to the Churches’, The Baptist Times, 1 May 1941, p. 207. Brumwell, p. 25. Interview between the Revd G. Corcoran and Alan Robinson, West Kirby, 19 March 1998.

222 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72.

73.

74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88.

89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

NA, WO/166/60, war diary report, September 1939–June 1941. Revd Harold Yeandle, ‘Religion in the Army’ (letters page), The Church Times, 6 September 1940, p. 590. Ian Dobbie, Sovereign Service (privately published Aldershot, 1988), pp. 28–30. Dobbie, p. 38. Dobbie, pp. 72–3. Unfortunately the monthly reports were destroyed in the 1980s due to lack of storage space. Encouraging and uplifting extracts from the reports were sometimes published in magazines which have been kept. Winifred M. Pearce, In the Service of the King of Kings: A brief history of the Army Scripture Readers and Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Christian Association (London, c.1946), p. 14. SASRAA, Council Minutes, 5 June 1940. Instructions for Acting Scripture Readers, April 1939, para. 8. Pearce, pp. 5–6. SASRAA have kept the file for unsuccessful applicants, but most of the forms for successful applicants were destroyed due to lack of storage space. D. W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A history from the 1730s to the 1980s (London, 1995), p. 198. Pearce, p. 7. SASRAA, list of Readers, c. 1944. SASRAA, Council Minutes, 18 May 1942. Pearce, p. 26. SASRAA, Instructions for Acting Scripture Readers, April 1939, paras. 11c and 11i. Pearce, p. 10. Rev. Frederic Greeves, ‘He Called Out “Propaganda”’, The Methodist Recorder, 28 September 1944, p. 6. SASRAA, Ready, May–June 1942, pp. 26–30. Pearce, p. 8. Dobbie, pp. 83–4. Bebbington, p. 181. Shelford Bidwell, The Women’s Royal Army Corps (London, 1977), pp. 41–2. Kenneth Hendrickson, ‘Winning the Troops for Vital Religion: Female Evangelical Missionaries to the British Army, 1857–1880’, Armed Forces and Society, 23 (Summer 1997), 615–34. RAChDA, ‘Chaplains’ Assistants – CWWF’; ‘Women in the Army and welfare, WW2’. NA, WO/163/5, Army Council minutes, 12 February 1942. S. P. Mackenzie, The Home Guard (Oxford, 1996), pp. 83–4 and 125–7. Bidwell, p. 75. Margaret Stangate, My Exit Visa (London, 1992), pp. 198–200. BUA, Minute Book, 4 December 1941. Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), p. 623. Mr C. G. C. Evans, ‘Girls in Military Life’ (letters page), The Methodist Recorder, 2 October 1941, p. 12. Dr. E. S. Waterhouse, ‘Government and the Drink Scandal’, The Methodist Recorder, 20 November 1941, p. 3.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

95. 96. 97. 98.

99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115.

223

MARC, Minutes of the Navy, Army and RAF Board, 1932–1945, 21 May 1941. ‘The Work of Chaplains’ (Report to Conference), The Methodist Recorder, 24 July 1941, p. 3. MARC, Minutes of the Navy, Army and RAF Board, 1932–1945, 23 January 1945. The section concerning Chaplains’ Assistants was compiled from a number of sources including, RAChDA ‘Chaplains Assistants – CWWF’, interviews with Lady Laura Eastaugh and Mrs Catford, and information gleaned from reports about CWWF in denominational newspapers. Interview between Mrs F. E. Catford and Alan Robinson, Tunbridge Wells, 21 October 1998. Report of the Committee on Amenities and Welfare Conditions in the Three Women’s Services, Cmd. 6384, (London, 1942), para.21. PPR, Gouldbourne to Robinson, 12 December 1998. RAChDA, ‘Chaplains Assistants – CWWF’, ‘The Churches Work for Women in the Forces, January 1950, p. 6 J. E. Gethyn-Jones, A Territorial Chaplain in Peace and War (East Wittering, 1988), pp. 164–165. NA, WO/171/3920, war diary entry, 7 April 1945. Interview between Lady Laura Eastaugh and Alan Robinson, Liss, 6 March 1997. RCCA, Box 8, standing orders for chaplains. PPR, Forster to Robinson, 24 September 1999. Interview between Lady Laura Eastaugh and Alan Robinson, Liss, 6 March 1997. PPR, The War Office, The Soldier’s Welfare (London, 1944), pp. 105–9. Bebbington, pp. 211–14. The Revd H. Puttock, ‘Drink and the Army’, The Baptist Times, 7 November 1940, p. 664. Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. Out of a group of 31 soldiers who completed survey forms, 24 used church led canteens. Stewart Ranson, Alan Bryman, and Bob Hinings, Clergy, Ministers and Priests (London, 1977), p. 151. John Williams, ‘Methodist Mobile Canteen in Africa’, The Methodist Times, 13 April 1944, p. 5. ‘First C. W. L. Canteens are to Leave for France’, The Universe, 22 September 1944, p. 8. Oliver, p.98. Charles Potts, Soldier in the Sand (London, 1961), p. 2.

Chapter 6: Chaplains at the Front 1. There were 552 chaplains in 21st Army group but only 60 of these worked in lines-of-communication. It should also be pointed out that to support a frontline division of 16,000 soldiers, 25,000 men were needed in rear areas. NA, WO/171/3920, war diary, 29 January 1945. WO/171/732, Lines-of-

224

2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

24. 25. 26.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

Communication to 21st Army Group HQ, September 1944. George Forty, British Army Handbook, 1939–1945 (Stroud, 1998), p. 44. Nigel Hamilton, Monty: The Field Marshal, 1944–1976 (London, 1987), p. 804. PPR, F.Ll. H., ‘The Chaplain’s Duty in Battle’, The Chaplains’ Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 2, Easter 1943, pp. 65–7. David Coulter took a similar approach with his PhD. David George Coulter, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997), p.l54. Interview between Captain Peter Martin and Alan Robinson, Chester, 13 June 1997. Nigel Hamilton, Monty: The Making of a General, 1887–1942 (London, 1981), pp. 3–5. John Smyth, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968), p. 310. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary report, 1 August 1942. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary report, 1 October 1942. B. L. Montgomery, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG (London, 1958), p. 114. Smyth, p. 232. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary report, 1 October 1942. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary report, December 1942. Montgomery, pp. 227–9. PPR, F.Ll. H., ‘The Chaplain’s Duty in Battle’, The Chaplains’ Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 2, Easter 1943, pp. 65–66. Montgomery, pp. 228–9. Interview between the Revd I. D. Neill SCF and Alan Robinson, Uckfield, 10 June 1998. Montgomery, pp. 204–5. Hamilton, Making, p. 406. Nigel Hamilton, Monty: Master of the Battlefield, 1942–1944 (London, 1983), p. 172. Interview between Captain Peter Martin and Alan Robinson, Chester, 13 June 1997. PPL, Edwards to Edwards, 10 November 1944. Gerard De Groot, ‘Haig’s Secret Weapon’, Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, 123 (1993), pp. 60–7. PPR, F.Ll. H., ‘The Chaplain’s Duty in Battle’, The Chaplains’ Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 2, Easter 1943, p. 65. PPR, F. L. Hughes, The Chaplains of the Grand Assault: A summary of the Experience in the Field of the Eighth Army Brotherhood of Chaplains (c.1944), p. 15. Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. Leslie Skinner, The Man Who Worked on Sundays: The Personal War Diary, June 2nd 1944 to May 17th 1945 (privately published, Cheltenham, 1996), p. 28. IWM, the Revd A. Thompson papers, ‘Hints and Suggestions for Chaplains serving in the Burma theatre of War’, December 1944. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, pp. 83–84. George Fox, Diary of the Reverend George Fox, MC, edited by Colin Fox (privately published, York, 1998), p. 63.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52.

53. 54.

225

Donogh O’Brien, ‘Preparations for D-Day’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 124–129. RAChDA, ‘War Report – Royal Army Chaplains’ Department in Marshalling Area T’. Helen and Bill Cook, Khaki Parish: Our War, Our Love (London, 1989), p. 51. Cook, p. 74. PPR, F.Ll. H., ‘The Chaplain’s Duty in Battle’, The Chaplains’ Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 2, Easter 1943, pp. 65–6. Hughes, p. 2. J. E. Gethyn-Jones, A Territorial Chaplain in Peace and War (East Wittering, 1988), pp. 68–9. Smyth, p. 234. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 100. J. Fraser McLuskey, Parachute Padre: Behind German Lines with the SAS, France 1944 (Stevenage, 1997), p. 79. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, pp. 132–3. Interview between the Revd James O’Sullivan and Alan Robinson, Arlesford, 14/09/98. Kenneth Oliver, Chaplain at War (Chichester, 1988), pp. 64–5. Joanna Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in TwentiethCentury Warfare (London, 1999), p. 290. William Douglas Home, Half Term Report (London, 1954), p. 172. Home, pp. 181–2. Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. Home, p. 184. Survey evidence compiled by Alan Robinson. Out of 18 officers who returned survey forms, only one indicated concern about the morality of war. Nigel de Lee, ‘Oral History and British Soldiers’ Experience of Battle in the Second World War’, in Time to Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West, 1939–1945, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp. 359–68 (p. 367). Skinner, p. 101. RAChDA, ‘Copies of Articles in Well Known Padres File’, Lannigan memoirs, p. 30. Hughes, p.9. IWM, 80/49/1, the Revd W. H. Miller Papers, diary, 19 November 1943. Hughes, p. 5. PPL, Edwards to Edwards, April 1944. H. Alban Boultwood, ‘With an Armoured Brigade in North Africa and Central Mediterranean’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 40–53 (p. 48). Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. R. Lester Guilly, ‘In NW Europe’, in The Priest among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 130–9 (p. 135).

226 55. 56. 57. 58.

59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68.

69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

Interview between the Revd Ben Fenlon and Alan Robinson, West Kirby, 7 September 1998. Alan Wilkinson, The Church of England and the First World War (London, 1978), p. 130. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, diary entry 20 May 1940. Brian Bond, ‘The British Field Force in France and Belgium, 1939–40’, in Time to Kill, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp. 40–9 (p. 45). Cedric Whiteman, Patriot, Padre, and Priest: A life of Henry Whiteman (Worthing, 1985), pp. 108–12. Oliver, pp. 73–4. PPR, Richard Herbert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), pp. 98–9. This account is conflated from RAChDA, ‘Arnhem’, and Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge too Far (London, 1974). Ryan, pp. 322–3. Coutler, p. 177. Gethyn-Jones, pp. 24, 27, and 32–3. Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. Coulter, p. 176. Smyth, p. 268. IWM, the Revd A. Thompson Papers, ‘Hints and Suggestions for Chaplains serving in the Burma theatre of War’, December 1944. Interview between the Revd David Izzett and Alan Robinson, Hemel Hempstead, 14 August 1998 (Izzett commented that another chaplain had a breakdown, but he could not remember that chaplain’s name). Book of Common Prayer. Revd J. P. Valentin, ‘French Priests and War’ [letters page], The Universe, 6 October 1939, p. 12. Hughes, p. 26. The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 209–210. Fox, p. 61. John Ellis, Cassino: The Hollow Victory, (London, 1985), pp. 299–301. PPL, Edwards to Edwards, 5 April 1943; Edwards to Edwards, 17 May 1944. ‘DSO for Rochdale Chaplain’, The Rochdale Observer, 22 July 1944. IWM 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt Papers, unpublished memoirs, p. 45. IWM 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt Papers, unpublished memoirs, p. 41. Skinner, pp. 73–4. Fox, p. 3. Interview between Lieutenant Colonel John Mogg and Alan Robinson, Watlington, 5 February 1998. Cook, p. 129. John Milne, ‘India and the Cocos Islands’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 62–9 (p. 66). The figures are

NOTES AND REFERENCES

83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95.

96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103.

104. 105.

227

particularly interesting since the overall impression given by Catholic chaplains who contributed essays to The Priest Among the Soldiers was far more positive. The doubts and anxieties about secularisation that were so evident among Anglican and nonconformist chaplains during the Great War were not usually a feature of Catholic writing during either World War. During the Second World War, Protestant chaplains were pleased with figures similar to those which alarmed Milne. IWM, the Revd A. Thompson Papers, ‘Hints and Suggestions for Chaplains serving in the Burma theatre of War’, December 1944. J. A. Sime, ‘Battle Exhaustion’, RAChD Journal 53, (October 1952), pp. 343– 9 (348). Sime, pp. 346–7. Sime, p. 344. Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. IWM 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt Papers, diary entry, 13 April 1943. Skinner, p. 49. RAChDA, ‘Copies of articles in Well Known Padres File’, Lannigan memoirs, p. 23. AJEX, The Revd Maurice A. Lew, ‘The Jewish Burial Service and Procedure for Funerals of Personnel of Jewish Faith’. IWM 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt papers, diary entry 13 April 1943. RAChDA, ‘Copies of articles in Well Known Padres File’, Lannigan memoirs, p. 33. Cook, p. 225. Skinner, p. 149. G. D. Sheffield, ‘The Shadow of the Somme: the Influence of the First World War on British Soldiers’ Perceptions and Behaviour in the Second World War’, in Time to Kill, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp. 29–39 (35). PPR, The Eight Army Brotherhood of Chaplains, Concerning the Death of a Soldier (Italy, 1944). PPL, Brookes to Bainbridge, 18 December 1943. Cook, p. 273. Cook, p. 272. Skinner, p. 43. IWM, 96/38/1, the Revd N. F. Jones Papers, diary entry, 9 September 1944. Duff Crerar, Padres in No Man’s Land: Canadian Chaplains and the Great War (Montreal, 1995), pp. 5 and 145–6. NA, WO/90/8, 20 November 1942, 21 August 1943. WO/92/4, 2 October 1941, 25 July 1944. WO/90/9, 6 August 1944. RCCA Box 16. When the RCCA granted me access to certain papers, I agreed not to name the chaplains concerned. Furthermore, I do not wish to embarrass the relatives of chaplains. RCCA, Box 16. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary, January 1942–December 1942.

228

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106. 107. 108.

NA, WO/169/8396, war diary, January 1943–July 1943. Fox, pp. 10–11. David French, ‘Discipline and the Death Penalty in the British Army in the War against Germany during the Second World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, 3 (1998), 531–45. IWM, 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt papers, unpublished memoirs, p. 42. IWM, the Revd A. R. C. Leaney Papers, microfilm, p. 111. IWM, 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt papers, unpublished memoirs, p. 42. IWM , the Revd J. E. C. Quinn, diary entry March 1943, and 6 May 1943. Interview between the Revd I. D. Neill SCF and Alan Robinson, Uckfield, 10 June 1998. IWM 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt papers, unpublished memoirs, p. 48. RCCA, Box 16. IWM, 96/38/11, the Revd G. P. Druitt papers, diary entry 5 April 1943. Gethyn-Jones, pp. 130–1. Cook, p. 243. Keith Robbins, ‘Religion’, in The Oxford Companion to the Second World War, edited by I. C. B. Dear, (Oxford, 1995), pp. 937–44 (p.937). Brian Barton, Northern Ireland in the Second World War (Belfast, 1995), pp. 120–7. Cook, p. 243. Skinner, p. 116. P. Middleton Brumwell, The Army Chaplain: The Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, the Duties of Chaplains, and Morale (London, 1943), p. 35. Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991), p. 302. ‘Bombed into Reunion’, The Methodist Recorder, 30 January 1941, p. 3. Bernard C. Pawley, ‘Ecumenical Reflection in the RAChD 1940 –1945’, RAChD Journal, xxi (November 1967), pp. 10–15. Coulter, p. 301. Walter Finn, ‘In Italy’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 103–15 (p. 111). Fox, p. 21. Leslie Hardman, The Survivors: The Story of the Belsen Remnant (London, 1958), p. 10. PPL, Edwards to Mrs Edwards, 26 November 1944.

109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117.

118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128.

Chapter 7: The Work of Captured Chaplains 1. Matthew 25. 36. 2. G. F. Miller, ‘Prisoner of War’, RAChD Journal, VII (January 1951), 91–100 (p.92). ‘Chaplains’ Fine Work at Singapore’, Church Times, 19 October 1945, p. 598. NA, WO/169/3886, war diary report, 1 July 1942. 3. George Forster, Priest Behind Barbed Wire (Sunderland, 1993), p. 15. 4. David Wild, Prisoner of Hope (Lewes, 1992), p. 214. 5. J. Ellison Platt, Padre in Colditz: The Diary of J. Ellison Platt, edited by Margaret Duggan (London, 1978), p. 14.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

229

Douglas Thompson, Captives to Freedom (London, 1955), p. 22. Thompson, p. 32. Thompson, p. 69. Wild, pp. 15–16. Wild, p. 17. P. R. C. Abram, ‘Arnhem Aftermath’, RAChD Journal, xxii (November 1969), 12–23 (17 and 22). Abram, p. 20. David George Coulter, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997), pp. 213 and 252. Thompson, pp. 157–158. Forster, p. 34. IWM, 80/12/1, the Revd Christopher Ross Papers, ‘A Methodist Chaplain’s Experiences in Japanese Prison Camps’, p. 5. David Rolf, Prisoners of the Reich: Germany’s Captives, 1939–1945 (London, 1988), p. 50. Forster, p. 61. Douglas McLaggan, The Will to Survive: A Private’s View as a POW (Kenthurst, Australia, 1995), p. 59. Rolf, pp. 62–4. McLaggan, p. 96. The Oxford Companion to the Second World War, edited by I. C. B. Dear (Oxford, 1995), p. 179. Forster, p. 45. Rolf, p. 44. Thompson, p. 133. McLaggan, p. 37. BRCA, Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1939–1947. Vol. 1 General Activities, p. 274. Aidan Harrison, ‘The Spiritual Welfare of German Catholic Prisoners of War in the North East, 1940–1948’, Northern Catholic History, 37 (1996), 59–72. Forster, p. 35. PPR, Richard Hebert Hill, Joy in the Morning (unpublished memoirs, 1989), p. 105. Coulter, p. 248. Forster, p. 32. Thompson, p.93. Thompson, p.93. Miller, p.95. Platt, p. 129 Wild, pp. 24–25. Platt, p.99. Wild, p. 12. Forster, p.90. Forster, p. 81. IWM, 80/12/1, the Revd Christopher Ross Papers, ‘A Methodist Chaplain’s Experiences in Japanese Prison Camps’, p. 7.

230 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

G. M. R. Bennett, ‘The Value of Faith to Prisoners of War’, RAChD Journal, XXI (November 1967), 26–31 (p. 30). Romans 8.35. John Smyth, In this Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (Oxford, 1968), p. 290. Forster, p. 65. Interview between Captain S. and Alan Robinson, 7 June 1998. Wild, p. 39. In 1942, Garbett became Archbishop of York ‘Prisoners of War’, The Church Times, 29 November 1940, p. 761. MARC, Minutes of the Navy, Army and RAF Board, 21 January 1941 and 22 May 1945. BUA, Baptist Union, Minute Book, 31 May 1940, 4 December 1941, 14 January 1943, and 2 February 1944. Coulter, pp. 209–210. Wild, p. 68. Smyth, p. 286. Forster, p. 18. Forster, p. 48. PPR, Forster to Robinson, 24 September 1999. Platt, p. 30. Platt, p. 52. Miller, p.95. Eric Rankin, A Chaplain’s Diary, 1939–1940 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 103. IWM, the Revd J. S. Naylor Papers, diary entry, 6 July 1943. IWM, 91/35/1, the Revd G. J. Chambers Papers, diary entries 27 August 1943 and 30 August 1943. Smyth, p. 295. IWM, 91/35/1, the Revd G. J. Chambers Papers, diary entry 15 June 1943. Wild, p. 175. Platt, p. 33. Wild, p. 153. IWM, 91/35/1, the Revd G. J. Chambers Papers, diary entry 24 March 1943. IWM, the Revd J. S. Naylor papers, picture book. Interview between Captain S. and Alan Robinson, 7 June 1998. Platt, p. 20. Platt, p. 227. Charles W. Davies, ‘Inside a Prisoner-of-War Camp’, The Methodist Recorder, 16 September 1943, p. 5. Platt, pp 38 and.82. Reid, Latter, p. 106. Thompson, p.91. Platt, p. 43. Reid, Latter, p. 252. IWM, 91/35/1, Captain Gilbert Inglefield Papers, unpublished memoirs, pp. 29–32. Joseph Firth, ‘Chaplains and Prisoners of War’, The Methodist Recorder, 19 August 1943, p. 3.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107.

231

Charles W. Davies, ‘Inside a Prisoner-of-War Camp’, The Methodist Recorder, 16 September 1943, p. 5. Wild, p. 52. Wild, p. 25. Wild, p.91. Wild, p. 168. Wild, p. 189. Thompson, p. 89. Wild, pp. 91 and 213. Keith Panter-Brick, Years Not Wasted, 1940–1945: A POW’s Letters and Diary (Sussex, 1999), p. xii. Wild, p. 80. Wild, pp. 51–2. Rankin, p. 113. Forster, pp. 69–70. IWM, 95/30/1, the Revd Lathaen Papers, Lathean to Williams, 17 March 1944. Wild, p. 64. Platt, pp. 165–6. Platt, p. 276. Thompson, p. 108. Thompson, p. 112. G. S., ‘Padre’s Work with Prisoners-of-War’, The Methodist Recorder, 19 October 1944, p. 5. Reid, Latter, p. 9. Reid, Latter, p. 123. Platt, pp. 64, 159–60, and 280. P. R. Reid, Colditz (London, 1972), p. 151. Forster, p. 80. Interview between Captain S. and Alan Robinson, 7 June 1998. Hugh S. Thwaites, War Memoirs of an Amateur (privately published, Enfield, 1997), pp. 57–8. Interview between Captain S. and Alan Robinson, 7 June 1998. Wild, pp. 95 and 151. Forster, p. 36. Thompson, p. 120 Forster, p. 64. IWM, 95/30/1, the Revd Lathaen Papers, Lathaen to Williams, 15 February 1944 and 17 March 1944.

Conclusion 1. Ronald Sinclair, A Religion for Battle-Dress (London, 1941), p. 13. 2. F. L. Hughes, The Chaplains of the Grand Assault: A summary of the Experience in the Field of the Eighth Army Brotherhood of Chaplains (c.1944), p. 2. 3. Stephen H. Louden, Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains since 1914 (London, 1996), pp. 116–17.

232 4. 5. 6. 7.

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

Kenneth Oliver, Chaplain at War (Chichester, 1988), p.98. MO, 1870A, MO Correspondent 1200 to England. The King’s Regulations and Orders for the Army, (1918), para. 1339. Interview between the Revd S. A. Shaw and Alan Robinson, Poole, 8 June 1998. 8. IWM, 95/30/1, the Revd Lathaen Papers, Lathaen to Williams, 15 February 1944. 9. A Mediterranean Chaplain, ‘I Wonder’, The Church Times, 11 August 1944, p. 427. 10. Interview between the Revd Ben Fenlon and Alan Robinson, West Kirby, 7 September 1998.

Bibliography PRIMARY SOURCES Archives

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WO/32/4014, Compulsory attendance of troops at Church parades to continue, 1930. WO/32/4015, Cabinet refusal to allow Intercessionary prayers on March 16th 1930 at Church parade services on behalf of persecuted Christians in Russia, 1930. WO/32/4017, Ecclesiastical status of the Chaplains-General to the Forces and the Chaplains serving under him, 1925. WO/32/4029, Pay of Chaplain-General, 1925–1929. WO/32/4031, Licences issued to Army Chaplains, 1925–1931. WO/32/4032, Amendment of wording of licences issued to Army Chaplains, 1935. WO/32/5634, Proposal by Vatican for Appointment of Roman Catholic Chaplain-General, 1915. WO/32/5636, Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains; Formation of and Reports of Meetings, 1915–1920. WO/32/5969, Scheme for future administration of Department, 1920. WO/32/6429, Question of status and sphere of action of Army Chaplains: Case Mills v Craig, Provincial Court of Dublin, concerning holding of divine service without licence of Incumbent and Diocesan, 1867–1868. WO/32/10482, Future and pay of Army Chaplains Department, 1919–1920. WO/32/14687, Compulsory Church Parades, 1943. WO/32/14820, Inter-denominational Advisory Committee on Army Chaplaincy Services, 1945–1963. WO/32/14826, Formation of interdenominational Committee on ministration to the troops, 1916–1919.

RAChD War Diaries Home Commands WO/166/60, Assistant Chaplain-General, Southern Command, September 1939–June 1941. WO/166/70, Assistant Chaplain-General, Southern Command, July– December 1941. WO/166/85, Assistant Chaplain-General, Eastern Command, August 1939– June 1941. WO/166/101, Chaplains, Western Command, September 1939–December 1940. WO/166/296, Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, VI Corps, July 1940– December 1941. WO/166/309, Chaplains, VIII Corps, August–September 1940. WO/166/6016, Assistant Chaplain-General, Southern Command, January– June 1942. WO/166/6034, Assistant Chaplain-General, Western Command, January– June 1942.

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British Expeditionary Force WO/167/58, Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, September 1939–May 1940. WO/167/167, Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, II Corps, September 1939–April 1940. Middle East Force WO/169/45, Deputy Chaplain-General, HQ Middle East Force, September 1939–December 1940. WO/169/1054, Senior Roman Catholic Chaplain, Palestine, January–October 1941. WO/169/1098, Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, Iran and Iraq, April– December 1941. WO/169/2882, Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General, East Africa, March– December 1941. WO/169/3267, Assistant Chaplain-General, Malta, September–December 1941. WO/169/3886, Deputy Chaplain-General, HQ Middle East Force, January 1942–December 1942. WO/169/8396, Deputy Chaplain-General, HQ Middle East Force, January 1943–December 1943. Central Mediterranean Force WO/170/649, Chaplains, North Africa District, January 1944–December 1944. WO/170/663, Chaplains, 1st District, Italy, January–October 1944. WO/170/680, Chaplains, 2nd District, Italy, January–December 1944. WO/170/4113, Deputy Chaplain-General, January–December 1945. North West Europe WO/171/732, Chaplains, North West Europe. WO/171/3920, CofE Chaplains, 21st Army Group, January–May 1945. WO/171/3921, Roman Catholics, 21st Army Group, January–December 1945. Other War Office Papers WO/90/8, Register of Court Martials Abroad. WO/90/9, Register of Court Martials Abroad. WO/92/4, Register of Court Martials at Home. Roman Catholic Chaplaincy Archives, Upavon Boxes, 2, 3, 5, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 25, 28, 33, and 40. J. Coghlan, Memorandum for Catholic Chaplains & Officiating Chaplains to the Forces (1942). The Revd Herbert Henry Welchmann Papers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Royal Army Chaplains’ Department Archives, Amport Arnhem. Chaplains Assistants – CWWF. Chaplains’ General. Chaplains – General, 1796. Copies of Articles in Well Known Padres File Letters about Retreat by Benstead 1929. Motor Churches, 1944. Rev ACE Jarvis CG, 1925–31. Taylor Smith – Bp John CG ,1901–25 War Report – Royal Army Chaplains’ Department in Marshalling Area T. WW2 8th Army Letters (copies) WW2, 1 Cav Div. WW2 Papers, F.L. Hughes.

Salford Roman Catholic Diocesan Archives BMB 200, Bishop Henry Vincent Marshall Papers. BMB 204, Bishop Henry Vincent Marshall Papers. BMB 206, Bishop Henry Vincent Marshall Papers. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association Archives, Aldershot Bye-Laws, c.1939. Council Minutes, January 1939 to December 1945. Instructions for Acting Scripture Readers, April 1939. List of Readers, c.1944. Memoirs of a Scripture Reader Based in Gibraltar. Ready [magazine], January 1939 to December 1945.

Survey Forms The following chaplains completed survey forms The Revd Norman Bainbridge, Hindhead. The Revd Raymond Bowers, Ergemont. The Revd William C. J. Briscoe, Wallasey. The Revd A. Aidan Chapman, Hawkhurst. The Revd Leslie ‘Gus’ Claxton, London. The Revd Maxwell Edgar Cooper. The Revd Peter A. Ettrick, Stroud. The Revd Benedict Fenlon, West Kirby. The Revd A. E. Gibbins, Sheffield. The Revd Alan Henry Gibson, Winchester. The Revd Robert John Henderson-Begg, Bedford. The Revd James Raymond Hibbert, Preston. The Revd Richard Hill, London. The Revd David Izzett, Hemel Hempstead.

237

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The Revd Vincent Charles Lucas, Birmingham. The Revd M (anonymity requested and this form will be destroyed when I have completed the research). The Revd George Mackenzie, SCF, West Chiltington. The Revd I. D. Neill, SCF, Uckfield. The Revd T. J. T. Nicol, Comrie. The Revd Kenneth William Jones, Worthing. The Revd Cornelius G. O’Callaghan, Wolsingham. The Revd James O’Sullivan, Alresford. The Revd B. Vaughan Parry, Seaford. The Revd M. C. Prescott, Boxford. The Revd Thomas Noel Roberts, Ruthin. The Revd Leslie Skinner, Tunbridge Wells. The Revd D. G. Smith, Minehead. The Revd G. T. N. Solomon, Salisbury.

The following officers completed survey forms Major J. H. Frankau, Avening. Captain Henry Robert Gibbs, Maldon. Captain Kenneth Gregory, Richmond, New Zealand. Lieutenant A. R. W. Grimsley, Chipping Norton. Major F. R. Henn, Wincanton. Lieutenant Clifford John Lawson, Shrewsbury. Lieutenant Patrick Hugh Mackintosh-Grant, Tomatin. Captain Henry Butler McKenzie Johnston, London. Lieutenant Colonel John Mogg, Watlington. Captain Austin Muir, Moreton-in-Marsh. Lieutenant Simon Robert Moorson Frazer, Rhayader. Major R. N. Norfolk, Liverpool. Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway, Tadworth. Lieutenant G. H. Paton, Lewes. Captain S (anonymity requested). Lieutenant Peter Thorburn, Wells. Captain M. C. Thursby-Pelham, Finchampstead. Lieutenant Michael White, Princes Risborough. The following soldiers completed survey forms Private John Ball, Glossop. Private T. A. Beck, Norwich. Private N. Cochrane, Bradford. Private Leo Coley, Bristol. Private Cliffe Collinge, Manston. Corporal C. C. Cooper, Braunston. Private Edwin Coram, Stockport. Private Norman Cotton, Portsmouth.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

239

Sergeant Charles Edward Davis, Chester. Private Edwin Robert Dunster, Yeovil. Private E. J. Hales, Newcastle, Staffs. Sergeant Ron Hampshire, Nottingham. Private G. A. Harrison, Daventry. Private William N. Heap, Hemel Hempstead. Warrant Officer G. W. Home, Polegate. Lance Corporal Anthony Howard, London. Private F. R. Johnston, Abergele. Lance Corporal Geoffrey A. Jones, Caldy. Corporal T. C. Kellett, Preston. Corporal Edwin C. Kimber, Hornchurch. Warrant Officer Ralph Lake, Sedbergh. Warrant Officer H. D. MacFarlane, Hampton. Private H. L. Martin, Poole. Private Gordon Mitchell, Preston. Private M (anonymity requested). Private W. O’Neill, Helsby. Corporal Trevor Owen, Swansea. Lance Corporal George Porter, Southwick. Private Hugh Rawlinson, Leatherhead. Private William Robertson, Bolton. Private Gilbert B. Robinson, Dewsbury. Staff Sergeant James Sim, Portslade-by-Sea. Corporal Edward N. Sinclair, Wallingford. Sergeant W. H. Stevenson, Seahouses. Sergeant Roland Stockley, Stourbridge. Lance Corporal F. R. Sydenham, Lostwithiel. Private A. G. Taylor, Kings Lynn. Corporal Richard Vincent, Leicester. Private S. G. F. Wilson, London. Private Ernest H. Woodfield, West Worthing. Leading Aircrafts Man (RAF equivalent of Lance Corporal) N. Cecil Wright (he was attached to army units).

Oral History Interviews Interviews conducted by Alan Robinson Chaplains Revd Norman Bainbridge, Hindhead, 8 June 1998. The Revd Leslie ‘Gus’ Claxton, London, 12 August 1998. The Revd G. Corcoran, West Kirby, 19 March 1998. The Revd Walter Evans, Llandysul, 2 June 1997. The Revd Ben Fenlon, West Kirby, 7 September 1998. The Revd James Hibbert, Preston, 1 March 1998.

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The Revd David Izzett, Hemel Hempstead, 14 August 1998. The Revd I.D. Neill SCF, Uckfield, 10 June 1998. The Revd R.D.St.J. Smith, Prestatyn, 21 May 1998–26 May 1998. The Revd S.A. Shaw, Poole, 8 June 1998. The Revd James O’Sullivan, Alresford, 14 September 1998.

Women Chaplains’ Assistants Mrs F. E. Catford, Tunbridge Wells, 21 October 1998. Lady Laura Eastaugh, Liss, 6 March 1997. Chaplaincy administrative staff The Confidential Clerk for the Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General London District, 1942–1945, and 19 September 1998 (anonymity requested). Officers Major J. H. Frankau, Avening, 6 June 1998. Captain Peter Martin, Chester, 13 June 1997. Lieutenant Colonel John Mogg, Watlington, 5 February 1998. Several officers, Huntley House (retirement home for former officers) Bishop Tainton, 8 June 1998. Captain S, 7 June 1998 (anonymity requested). Captain Peter Thorburn, Wells, 07 June 1998. Lieutenant Colonel Ken Trevor, Chester, 16 March 1998. Soldiers Private Cliffe Collinge, Manston, 15 June 1998. Donald Hodge, Maggie Cousins, Seaford, 5 December 1996. Private Leo Coley, Bristol, 6 June 1998. Private Norman Cotton, Portsmouth, 8 June 1998. Lance Corporal George Porter, Southwick, 11 June 1998.

Imperial War Museum Sound Archives 5197/3, Interview between the Revd Dominic Devas and Anglia TV, 1981. 4411/4, Transcript of interview between the Revd John Duffield and IWM, 9 April 1979. 4770/1, Interview between the Revd L. Martin-Andrews and Anglia TV, 1981.

Twenty Twenty Television, London Interview between Oliver Huskinson and Twenty-Twenty Television, Middlesbrough, 4 April 1996 (extracts from these interviews were shown in Canterbury Tales, first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1996). Interview between Rhoda Mansell and Twenty-Twenty Television, Smethwick, 3 April 1996. Interview between Walter Williams and Twenty-Twenty Television, Weston, Shropshire, 1996.

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241

Unpublished Memoirs Hill, Richard Hebert, Joy in the Morning (London, 1989).

Army and Government Reports and Publications The Army Chaplains Act, 1868, in The Law Reports: The Public General Statutes, vol. 3 (London, 1868), pp.571–3. Army List, 1910–1950. Army Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Proposed Disciplinary Amendments of the Army and Air Force Acts, Cmd 2376 (London, 1925). The Eighth Army Brotherhood of Chaplains, Concerning the Death of a Soldier (Italy, 1944). First Army Instructions for Chaplains to the Forces (c.1941). House of Commons Debates, Official Reports, 1914–1945. The King’s Regulations and Orders for the Army, (1918). Report of the Committee on Amenities and Welfare Conditions in the Three Women’s Services, Cmd. 6384, (London, 1942). J. H. A. Sparrow, Morale (London, 1949) (private War Office report in PRO, WO/277/16). The War Office, The Soldier’s Welfare (London, 1944). Newspapers and Journals The Baptist Times, 1939–1945. The Chaplains’ Magazine, 1943. The Church Times, 1939–1945. The Methodist Recorder, 1939–1945. The RAChD Journal, 1922–1998. The Universe, 1939–1945. Books and Chapters in Books Anon, Advice to the Officers of the British Army [1782] (London, 1946). St Augustine, City of God [1467] (London, 1984). Barry, F. R., ‘Faith in the Light of War’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 33–67. Period of My Life (London, 1970). Benstead, Charles R., Retreat: A Story of 1918 (London, 1930). The Bickersteth Diaries 1914–1918, edited by John Bickersteth, [1995] (London, 1996). Boultwood, H. Alban, ‘With an Armoured Brigade in North Africa and Central Mediterranean’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp.40–53. Brumwell, P. Middleton, The Army Chaplain: The Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, the Duties of Chaplains, and Morale (London, 1943). ELC, He Will Swallow up Death in Victory. Where, O death thy Victory? (tract produced by the Bible and Gospel Trust, Hounslow).

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Cairns, D. S., The Army and Religion: An Enquiry and its Bearing Upon the Religious Life of the Nation, preface by E. Talbot, Bishop of Winchester, (London, 1919). The Catholic Directory (London, annual publication). Clark, Andrew, Echoes of the Great War: The Diary of the Reverend Andrew Clark, 1914–1919, edited by James Munson, (Oxford, 1988). Clarke, J. M., ‘The Senior Chaplain’s Problems’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 92–102. Coghlan, John, ‘Introduction’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey (London, 1947), pp. 1–6. Cook, Helen and Bill, Khaki Parish: Our War, Our Love (London, 1989). Crockford’s Clerical Directory (Oxford, annual publication). Doudney, Edmund, The Best of Good Fellows: The Diaries and Memoirs of the Rev. Edmund Doundney, MA, CF, edited by Jonathan Horne, (London, 1995). Dunn, James C., The War the Infantry Knew [1938] (London, 1987). Egan, Bernard, ‘Parachutist Chaplains: Training’, in The Priest among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 140–6. Finn, Walter, ‘In Italy’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 103–15. Forster, George, Priest Behind Barbed Wire (Sunderland, 1993). Fox, George, Diary of the Reverend George Fox, MC, edited by Colin Fox, (privately published, York, 1998). Frankland, Noble, History at War: The Campaigns of an Historian (London, 1998). Gethyn-Jones, J. E., A Territorial Chaplain in Peace and War (East Wittering, 1988). Graves, Robert, Goodbye to All That [1929] (London, 1957). Grigg, P. J., Prejudice and Judgment (London, 1948). Guilly, R. Lester, ‘In N.W. Europe’, in The Priest among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 130–9. Hammerton, John, I Was There, 4 vols, (London, c.1930s). Home, William Douglas, Half Term Report (London, 1954). Hughes, F. L., The Chaplains of the Grand Assault: A summary of the Experience in the Field of the Eighth Army Brotherhood of Chaplains (c.1944). Jessop, T. E., Questions Soldiers Ask (India, c.1944). Kirk, Kenneth E., ‘When the Priests Come Home’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 407–26. Lloyd George, David, War Memoirs, vol. 1, (London, 1938). McLaggan, Douglas, The Will to Survive: A Private’s View as a POW (Kenthurst, Australia, 1995). McLuskey, J. Fraser, Parachute Padre: Behind German Lines with the SAS, France 1944 [1951] (Stevenage, 1997). Macnutt, Frederick B., ‘The Moral Equivalent of War’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 1–31. Milne, John, ‘India and the Cocos Islands’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 62–9.

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243

Milner-White, E., ‘Worship and Services’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 173–210. Montague, C. E., Disenchantment (London, 1922). Montgomery, B. L., The Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG (London, 1958). O’Brien, Donogh, ‘Preparations for D-Day’, in The Priest Among the Soldiers, edited by Martin Dempsey, (London, 1947), pp. 124–9. Oliver, Kenneth, Chaplain at War (Chichester, 1988). Panter-Brick, Keith, Years Not Wasted, 1940–1945: A POW’s Letters and Diary (Sussex, 1999). Pearce, Winifred M., In the Service of the King of Kings: A brief war history of the Army Scripture Readers and Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Christian Association (London, c.1946). Platt, J. Ellison, Padre in Colditz: The Diary of J. Ellison Platt, edited by Margaret Duggan (London, 1978). Potts, Charles, Soldier in the Sand (London, 1961). Rabinowitz, L., Soldiers from Judaea (London, 1945). Rankin, Eric, A Chaplain’s Diary, 1939–1940 (Edinburgh, 1978). Raven, Charles, Is War Obsolete? A Study of the Conflicting Claims of Religion and Citizenship (1935). Reid, P. R., The Latter Days at Colditz (London, 1965). Colditz (London, 1972). Rider, R. J. (eds Alan Robinson and P. Hair, Reflections on the Battlefield (Liverpool, 2001). Salisbury Woodward, C., ‘Worship and Services’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 211–36. Sheppard, H. R. L., We Say ‘No’: A Plain Man’s Guide to Pacifism (1935). Sinclair, Ronald, A Religion for Battle-Dress (London, 1941). Skinner, Leslie, The Man Who Worked on Sundays: The Personal War Diary, June 2nd 1944 to May 17th 1945 (privately published, Cheltenham, 1996). Spurr, Frederic C., Some Chaplains in Khaki (London, 1916). Stangate, Margaret, My Exit Visa (London, 1992). Studdert-Kennedy, G. A., ‘The Religious Difficulties of the Private Soldier’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp.373–405. Talbot, Neville S., ‘The Training of Clergy’, in The Church in the Furnace, edited by Frederick B. Macnutt, (London, 1918), pp. 267–287. Thompson, Douglas, Captives to Freedom (London, 1955). Thwaites, Hugh S., War Memoirs of an Amateur (privately published, Enfield, 1997). Wakefield, H. R., A Fortnight at the Front (London, 1915). Whiteman, Cedric, Patriot, Padre, and Priest: A life of Henry Whiteman (Worthing, 1985). Wild, David, Prisoner of Hope (Lewes, 1992).

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SECONDARY SOURCES Books and Chapters in Books Abercrombie, Clarence L., The Military Chaplain (Beverley Hills, 1977). Ahrenfeldt, Robert H., Psychiatry in the British Army in the Second World War (London, 1958). Barton, Brian, Northern Ireland in the Second World War (Belfast, 1995). Bebbington, D. W., Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A history from the 1730s to the 1980s (London, 1995). Becker, Annette, War and Faith: The Religious Imagination in France, 1914–1930, translated by Annette Becker, (Oxford, 1998). Beckett, Ian F. W., ‘Military History’, in Modern British History: A guide to Study and Research, edited by L. J. Butler and Anthony Gorst, (London, 1997), pp. 183–94. Beckett, Ian F. W., and Simpson, Keith, A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War (Manchester, 1985). Bidwell, Shelford, The Women’s Royal Army Corps (London, 1977). Blake, Robert, The Private Papers of Douglas Haig, 1914–1919 (London, 1952). Bond, Brian, British Military Policy between the Two World Wars (Oxford, 1980). ‘The Army between the Two World Wars 1918–1939’, in The Oxford History of the British Army, edited by David Chandler (Oxford, 1996), pp. 256–71. ‘The British Field Force in France and Belgium, 1939–40’, in Time to Kill, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp.40–9. Bourke, Joanne, An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in TwentiethCentury Warfare (London, 1999). Bradley, James E., and Muller, Richard A., Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods (Michigan USA, 1995). Brereton, J. M., A Guide to the Regiments and Corps of the British Army (London, 1985). Brown, Malcolm, The Imperial War Museum Book of the First World War (London, 1993). Bullock, F. W. B., A History of Training for the Ministry of the Church of England from 1875 to 1974 (London, 1976). Calder, Angus, People’s War: Britain, 1939–1945 (London, 1969). Ceadel, Martin, Pacifism in Britain (Oxford, 1980). ‘Christian Pacifism in the era of the Two World Wars’, in The Church and War, edited by W.J. Sheils (Oxford, 1983). Clayton, Anthony, Forearmed: A history of the Intelligence Corps (London, 1996). Coates, A. J., The Ethics of War (Manchester, 1997). Crang, J.A., ‘The British Soldier on the Home Front: Army Morale Reports, 1940–1945’, in Time to Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West, 1939– 1945, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder (London, 1997), pp. 60–74. Crerar, Duff, Padres in No Man’s Land: Canadian Chaplains and the Great War (Montreal, 1995). Crosby, Donald F., Battlefield Chaplains: Catholic Priests in World War II (Kansas USA, 1994).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

245

Dear, I. C. B. and M. R. D. Foot (eds), The Oxford Companion to the Second World War, (Oxford, 1995). de Lee, Nigel, ‘Oral History and British Soldiers’ Experience of Battle in the Second World War’, in Time to Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West, 1939–1945, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp. 359–368. Dobbie, Ian, Sovereign Service: The Story of SASRA, 1838–1988 (privately published Aldershot, 1988). Elton, Oliver, C.E. Montague: A Memoir (London,1929). Ellis, John, Cassino: The Hollow Victory (London, 1985). Ferguson, Ronald, George MacLeod: Founder of the Iona Community (London, 1990). Fletcher, Richard, The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity, 371– 1386 AD (London, 1998). Forty, George, British Army Handbook, 1939–1945 (Stroud, 1998). Foster, Stewart M., A History of the Diocese of Brentwood, 1917–1992 (Brentwood, 1994). Fussell, Paul, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford, 1977). Gill, Robin, The Myth of the Empty Church (London, 1993). Halsey, A. H. (ed.) British Social Trends since 1900: A guide to the Changing Social Structure of Britain, (Basingstoke, 1989). Hamilton, Nigel, Monty: The Making of a General, 1887–1942 (London, 1981). Monty: Master of the Battlefield, 1942–1944 (London, 1983). Monty: The Field Marshal, 1944–1976 (London, 1987). Hastings, Adrian, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1990 (London, 1991). Hennessy, Peter, Whitehall (London, 1990). The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution (London, 1995). Hoover, A. J.,God, Britain, and Hitler in World War II: The View of the British Clergy, 1939–45 (Westport, USA, 1999). Iremonger, F. A., William Temple: Archbishop of Canterbury: His Life and Letters (London, 1948). Jackson, H. C., Pastor on the Nile: The Life and Letters of Llewellyn H. Gwynne (London, 1960). Johnstone, Tom and Hagerty, James, The Cross on the Sword: Catholic Chaplains in the Forces (London, 1996). Keegan, John, A History of Warfare (London, 1994). Keegan, John and Holmes, Richard, Soldiers: A history of Men in Battle (London, 1985). Lee, J. J., Ireland: Politics and Society, 1912–1985 (Cambridge, 1993). Lockhart, J. G., Cosmo Gordon Lang (London, 1949). Louden, Stephen H., Chaplains in Conflict: The Role of Army Chaplains Since 1914 (London, 1996). McGrath, Alister E., Christian Theology: An Introduction (Oxford, 1996). MacKenzie, S. P., Politics and Military Morale (Oxford, 1992). The Home Guard: A Military and Political History (Oxford, 1996).

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Markus, R. A., ‘Saint Augustine’s views on the ‘Just War’’, in The Church and War, edited by W.J. Sheils, (Oxford, 1983) pp. 1–13. Mews, Stuart, ‘The Sword of the Spirit: A Catholic Cultural Crusade of 1940’, in The Church and War, edited by W.J. Sheils, (Oxford, 1983), pp.409–30. Moloney, Thomas, Westminister, Whitehall and the Vatican: The Role of Cardinal Hinsley, 1935–1943 (London, 1985). Overy, Richard, Why the Allies Won (London, 1996). Payne, Ernest A., The Baptist Union: A Short History (London, 1982). Ranson, Stewart, Bryman, Alan, and Hinings, Bob, Clergy, Ministers and Priests (London, 1977). Robbins, Keith, ‘Religion’, in The Oxford Companion to the Second World War, edited by I. C. B. Dear, (Oxford, 1995), pp. 937–44. Rolf, David, Prisoners of the Reich: Germany’s Captives, 1939–1945 (London, 1988). Ryan, Cornelius, A Bridge too Far (London, 1974). Sheffield, G. D., ‘The Shadow of the Somme: the Influence of the First World War on British Soldiers’ Perceptions and Behaviour in the Second World War’,in Time to Kill, edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder, (London, 1997), pp. 29–39. Smyth, John, In This Sign Conquer: The Story of the Army Chaplains (London, 1968). Snape, Michael, God and the British Soldier: Religion and the British Army in the First and Second World Wars (Abingdon, 2005). Stevenson, J. and Frend, W. H. C., A New Eusebius: Documents illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337 (London, 1992). Strachan, Hew, The Politics of the British Army (Oxford, 1997). Taylor, Brian, ‘The Cowley Fathers and the First World War’, in The Church and War, edited by W.J. Sheils, (Oxford, 1983), pp. 383–90. Taylor, Gordon, Sea Chaplains (Oxford, 1978). Thomson, Ronald W., Ministering to the Forces: The story of the Baptist and Congregational Chaplains and the work of the United Navy, Army, and Airforce Board, 1914–1964 (Brighton, 1964). Thomson, T. B. Stewart, The Chaplain in the Church of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1947). Travers, Tim, ‘The Army and the Challenge of War, 1914–1918’, in The Oxford History of the British Army, edited by David Chandler, (Oxford, 1996). Weinberg, Gerhard L., A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (Cambridge, 1994). Whitlow, Maurice, J. Taylor Smith: Everybody’s Bishop (London, 1938). Whiteman, Cedric, Patriot, Padre, and Priest: A life of Henry Whiteman (Worthing, 1985). Wilkinson, Alan, The Church of England and the First World War (London, 1978). Dissent or Conform: War, Peace and the English Churches, 1900–1945 (London, 1986). Winter, Denis, Death’s Men: Soldiers of the Great War (London, 1978).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

247

Winter, J. M., ‘Spiritualism and the First World War’, in Religion and Irreligion in Victorian Society, edited by R. W. Davies and R. J. Helmstadter, (London, 1992). Zahn, Gordon C., Chaplains in the RAF: A Study in Role Tension (Manchester, 1969).

Journal Articles Brown, Stewart J., ‘"A Solemn Purification by Fire": Responses to the Great War in the Scottish Presbyterian Churches, 1914–1919’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 45 (1994), 82–104. DeGroot, Gerard, ‘Haig’s Secret Weapon’, Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, 123 (1993), 60–7. French, David, ‘Discipline and the Death Penalty in the British Army in the War against Germany during the Second World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, 3 (1998), 531–45. Girvin, Brian and Roberts, Geoffrey, ‘The Forgotten Volunteers of World War II’, History Ireland, 6 (Spring 1998), 46–51. Grieves, Keith, ‘C. E. Montague and the Making of Disenchantment, 1914– 1921’, War in History, 4 (1997), 35–59. Harrison, Aidan, ‘The Spiritual Welfare of German Catholic Prisoners of War in the North East, 1940–1948’, Northern Catholic History, 37 (1996), 59–72. Hendrickson, Kenneth, ‘Winning the Troops for Vital Religion: Female Evangelical Missionaries to the British Army, 1857–1880’, Armed Forces and Society, 23 (Summer 1997), 615–34. Howson, Peter, ‘Deaths among Army Chaplains, 1914–20’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 83 (2005), 63–77. Hunt, Nigel and Robbins, Ian, ‘Telling Stories of the War: Ageing Veterans Coping with their Memoirs through Narrative’, Oral History, 26 (Autumn 1998), 57–64. Machin, G. I. T., ‘British Churches and Social Issues, 1945–60’, Twentieth Century British History, 7 (1996), 345–70. MacKenzie, S. P., ‘Morale and the Cause: The Campaign to Shape the Outlook of Soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force, 1914–1918’, Canadian Journal of History, 25 (1990), 215–32. Morgan, D. Densil, ‘"Christ and the War": Some Aspects of the Welsh Experience, 1914–18’, Journal of Welsh Religious History, 5 (1997), 73–91. Robinson, Alan C., ‘“Lighten our Darkness”? Army Chaplains of the British Empire during the World Wars’, War in History, 6 (1999), 479–85. Summerfield, Penny, ‘Mass Observation: Social Research or Social Movement’, Journal of Contemporary History, 20 (1985), 439–52. Thompson, J. H., ‘Army Chaplains and the English Presbyterians’, The Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society, 5 (1995), 383–92. Welch, John C., ‘An Ordinary Chaplain’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 69 (1991), 29–31.

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Wilkinson, Alan, ‘The Paradox of a Military Chaplain’, Theology, (July 1981), 249–57. Williams, Sarah C., ‘The problem of belief: the place of oral history in the study of popular religion’, Oral History, 24 (Autumn 1996), 27–34.

Theses Brown, Alison M., ‘Army Chaplains in the First World War’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, St Andrews, 1996). Coulter, David George, ‘The Church of Scotland Army Chaplains in the Second World War’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1997). Stanley, N. S., ‘“The Extra Dimension”: A study and assessment of the methods employed by Mass-Observation in its first period, 1937–1940’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Birmingham Polytechnic, 1981).

Index

Army Chaplains Act (1868), 13, 43 Army Scripture Readers, Evangelisation of soldiers, 136–7 Formation, 133–5 Theology, 135 relationship with chaplains, 138 Arnhem, 159–60, 177 Asquith, Herbert H., 20 Astbury, Canon Stanley, 81–2, 107 Baptists, 67, 173 chaplains becoming Anglicans, 95–6 recruiting chaplains, 93 Barry, Bishop F. R., 64–5 Bell, Bishop George, 64 Bovenschen, Sir Frederick, 114 Brade, Sir Reginald H., 14, 18 Burma, 151 Chambers, Revd G. J., 186–8 Chaplains, becoming combatants, 27, 145–6

burying the dead, 26, 165–7 conflicts with army officers, 130, 154 contribution to morale, 329 court-martials, 168 decorations, 27, 161–2 duties and ministry, 24, 40, 82, 103–6, 121, 129, 145, 150, 158–9 ecumenical movement, 77, 81, 112, 158, 172, 185 establishment ratios, 87–8 equipment, 151 ministering to wounded, 27, 157, 164 motives for volunteering, 12, 99–103 organising entertainments, 25, 127 pay, 113–15 role conflict debate, 2, 39, 40 shell shock, 164–5, 167–70 training courses, 80–2, 107–12 views on executions, 25

250

views on soldiers, 30, 100, 125, 132 wartime prayers, 103, 153 Chaplaincy theology, 46, 50, 103, 109, 128, 198 Chester College, 81–2, 107–9 Christianity moral vindication for war, 58 Churches, authority over chaplains, 15, 43, 50–2, 69–75, 79, 200, 201 position before 1914, 4, 8–9 views on WW2, 64–6 welfare work, 144–5 Church history, 5–6 Church of England, 9, 18, 184 Advisory Committee on Church of England Chaplains, 18–20 appointment of African clergy, 91 churchmanship, 22, 26, 104–5, 186 concerns with RAChD, 72–6 confirmation classes, 126 licences, 43–4, 75 prayer book reform, 47–9 recruiting chaplains, 89–91 Church of Scotland, 71, 160, 185 position on chaplaincy pay, 115

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

recruiting chaplains, 92 Church parades, 24 Churchill, Winston, 61, 65 Creedy, Sir Herbert, 4, 39, 49, 51 Coghman, Rt. Revd John, 77 Congregationalists, see United Board Colditz, 185, 189 Dey, Bishop James, 76–7, 94 Douglas Home, Capt William, 156 Duncan, Revd George, 27–8, 150 Ecumenical movement, 34, 66 Edwards, Revd Ronald, 162, 174 Forster, Revd George, 178 General strike, 46 Geneva Convention, 161, 178 George V, 49 Graves, Robert, 30, 55, 56 Great War, church reactions, 11–12 criticism of chaplains, 26, 30–1, 55–8 impact on religious belief, 32–3 The Army and Religion, 34–6, 41

251

INDEX

Grigg, P. J., 61–2, 74, 115 Gwynne, Rt. Revd Dr L. H., 17 Haig, Field Marshal Douglas, 27–9, 150 Hinsley, Cardinal, 65 Hughes, Revd F. L., 63 appointment as ChaplainGeneral, 149 relationship with Montgomery, 147–50 Interdenominational Advisory Committee, 20–21, 45, 80 Irish nationalism, 11 Jarvis, Revd A. C. E., 42–4, 49 Jews, 68, 70, 71, 124 reaction to holocaust, 173–4 recruiting chaplains, 96–7 views on WW2, 68, 102–3 Just war tradition, 9–10 Lang, Archbishop Cosmo, 64–5, 73, 138 Leaney Revd A. R. C., 1, 123, 125–6 Lloyd George, David, 11, 20 Macdonal, Revd Murdo, 160, 177 Macready, Lt. Gen. Neville, 19

Marshall, Bishop Henry Vincent, 93–4 Mass Observation, 131–2 Methodists, 41, 67, 69, 140 recruiting chaplains, 92, 101 welfare work, 144 Mogg, Lt. Col. John, 163–4 Montgomery, Field Marshal B. L., 64 views on chaplains, 64, 146 relationship with Hughes, 147–50 Neill, Revd I. D., xi Officiating Chaplains to the Forces, 133 Owen, Bishop Leslie, 75 Padres’ Hour, 81–2, 124–5 Pacifism, 10, 53–5, 101, 116 Parliament, 44–8, 53, 113–15 Presbyterians, 21 Prisoners of War, denominational differences, 184, 193 ecumenicalism, 185 food, 179 German camps, 179, 182, 191 Italian camps, 180–1 mistreatment of, 179–80, 183 religious life, 188, 195–6 views on chaplains, 190, 194 work, 179, 194

252

Japanese camps, 180 Pope Pius XII, 94 Quinn, Revd J. E. C., 169–70 Rider, Revd R. J., 36 Roman Catholics, 9, 17, 25, 65–7, 107, 144, 181 special faculties, 78 Sword of the Spirit, 66 recruiting chaplains, 93–5, 99 views on Fascist regimes, 65 Ross, Revd Christopher, 183–4 Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, administrative arrangements, 14–15, 38–9, 42, 118–20 church parades, 24, 45, 83–4, 122–3 liaison with MI5, 119–20 guidance to chaplains, 23, 106, 145 promotion prospects, 96–8 relationship with government, 46, 49–52 relationship with churches, 49–52 shortage of chaplains, 95 Territorial Army, 98, 105 Shaw, Revd S. A., 156, 203 Sheppard, Revd Dick, 54–5 Soldiers,

CHAPLAINS AT WAR

anxiety about war, 152–4, 156 agnostics, 132 religious beliefs, 30, 34–6, 126, 131–2, 155 Studdert-Kennedy, Revd Geoffrey A., 31–2 Symons, Revd C. Douglas, 62–3, 73 Taylor Smith, Rt. Revd John, 14–15 Temple, Archbishop William, 71–6 Thorold, Revd Ernest H., 58–9 Thompson, Revd Douglas, 176 Tuckey, Canon J. G., 80 United Board, 2, 16, 70 War Office, 14–5, 61, 86 Morale Committee, 84 Wilcox, Revd A. J., 148 Wild, Revd David, 176, 192 Winnington Ingram, Bishop, 64 Women Chaplains’ Assistants, church perspectives, 138–41 establishment, 139 pastoral activity, 142–3 recruitment, 141 relationship with chaplains, 143–4