A Church and its People 1872-2022
Christopher Kitching
Matador 2022
Confession: this is the 65th book review I have written, and the only one where I have not read every word of the book that I am reviewing.
This is no fault of the author, Dr Kitching, who writes excellently. But 374 pages on the history of a single parish church is probably only fascinating to those who attend it. What is interesting to a wider audience is the early part of this church’s history during the ritualist controversies and during the 1901-1915 incumbency of the Revd Percy Dearmer, author of The Parson’s Handbook, and editor of The English Hymnal. I read those parts of the book and only skimmed the recent years.
Dr Kitching begins with a good summary of the ritualism controversy:
“Tensions between the Evangelical wing of the Church of England and those of a more high-church persuasion came to a head in the 1860s. Any clergyman who by then committed himself to practices outside the norms of the Church of England laid down in the Book of Common Prayer […] risked being disciplined by this bishop, and after the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1875 he could even be tried in a secular court and imprisoned if found guilty. […]
There was an increasingly unsavoury atmosphere in which those opposed to ritualism deliberately attended services conducted by clergy of a ritualist persuasion in order to note down exactly what happened and report it to the diocesan bishop in the hope of triggering disciplinary action and the enforcement of strictly Prayer-Book practice as they interpreted it. This kind of spying, which had become institutionalised with the foundation of the Church Association in 1865, would continue for half a century” Pages 22-23.
The first minister at All Saints, the Revd Charles Fuller (Priest in charge, 1872-1889; Vicar 1885-1889) was high-church:
“in February 1875 […] Revd Charles Stuart, the chaplain of Kensal Green Cemetery, wrote to the bishop reporting that Fuller had recently come there to officiate at a child’s burial, ‘arrayed in what is generally understood to be the Ritualistic stye’, and had interpolated prayers not authorised by the Prayer Book. The child’s desolate father protested that all the interpolations were from Scripture, and were at his own special request, but to be on the safe side Fuller, who seems genuinely not to have wished to antagonise his bishop, admitted his error, promised not to use unauthorised words in future, and signed off his letter of apology: ‘Yours obediently’.” Page 25.
However, things got worse for Fuller. In 1877:
“Spies […] attended services […] to note down every deviation. By 1 August they had mobilised all but one of the magistrates of the ancient parish of Hampstead, plus other ‘gentlemen of high standing’, to sign a […] petition to the bishop on the ‘illegal proceedings and practices at the unconsecrated church of St Mary the Virgin in this parish’. Having received representations from such distinguished signatories Bishop Jackson could no longer turn a blind eye, and on 17 August he wrote to Fuller formally requiring him to ‘desist from all illegal practices complained of […] and to remove the crucifix which is stated to be against the wall over the pulpit.’” Pages 28-29.
Fuller replied:
“ ‘I conscientiously maintain that the vestments and catholic practices used at St Mary’s Primrose Hill are the rightful inheritance of the Church of England and are in accordance with the Ornaments Rubric as it stands in the Book of Common Prayer’” Page 29.
Fuller appealed:
“to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who took the line that there were no grounds to intervene unless the bishop were to revoke Fuller’s license. So, after four full months of struggle, and with a heavy heard, Fuller wrote to Bishop Jackson on 29 November saying that he had no choice but to obey him, and […] agreed that, in obedience to the bishop’s command, there would henceforth be no vestments, no mixed chalice” Page 31.
A member of the church wrote:
“after Evensong came the terrible stripping of the church, even to removing the crucifix over the pulpit; and then began the sorrowful time of no vestments and lights, and, for a time, no Sung Mass. It was agony to us all, and Mr Fuller from that time was a broken man” Page 31.
Percy Dearmer was the third vicar, and even in his time the controversy continued:
“Dearmer became convinced that vestments, ceremonial and colour in the liturgy all had lawful, and importantly English roots, traceable in the rubrics of the First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549), and ultimately in the tradition of the medieval church in England.” Page 82.
“From 1904 to 1904 a Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline took evidence from many witnesses. Its voluminous proceedings include page after page of reports from agents of the Church Association and others seeking to entrap ritualist clergy. Percy Dearmer would have made a good catch indeed if they had been able to trip him up, and they again tried their best, sending spies to services at St Mary’s on two occasions in June and July 1904 to note down in the most minute detail everything that went on, and to add their comments and interpretations. […] Dearmer submitted a written rebuttal, but also attended in person to give evidence to the Commission (which included the Archbishop of Canterbury). […] In response to one charge that at a certain point in the eucharist he had placed his elbows on the altar, he quipped, ‘I cannot remember the exact position of my elbows on 23rd June, but the implied suggestion that there was some kind of ceremony going on is false.’” Page 87.
It is amusing to read that in 1909 during Dearmer’s time, the choir boys were paid, but this pay was subject to deductions for any irreverent conduct. The choir rules included:
“The BOYS of the CHOIR will remember that in future their quarterly payments will entirely depend upon a high level of REVERENCE being maintained by them during the Services […]
The following fines will in future be strictly enforced
ONE PENNY for: 1. Being late for Service or Practice. 2. Talking while entering Church after the Prayer has been said in the Vestry. 3. Failing to kneel upright during Divine Service. 4. Lolling about while standing or kneeling. 5. Want of smartness while standing up or kneeling down. 6. Inattention and failing to sing during the services. 7. Unnecessary noise in replacing books or music at close of the Service.” Page 112.
I wonder what would happen if we tried such fines today?
August 2025
Adrian Vincent.