account of our interviews is quite correct, except in one
detail. I did not intend to say that I did not know how the
Service of the Holy Communion affected the state of the dead.
There is, however, one practical question.
“I must conduct the Services as I have for the last ten years.
Do you wish me and my staff to go away at once, or to wait until
Dr. Fearon has appointed my successor? I am ready to follow
either course; only for fear of mistakes arising, I should like
to say that as long as I am in charge the Sunday and daily
services remain the same.
I am, your lordship’s obedient servant,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_10th December, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I am exceedingly sorry to learn that you feel it to be your
duty to leave St. Agatha’s forthwith, but, of course, I
recognise that your decision is perfectly consistent with what
you said to me at our first interview.
“With regard to your question, What is to be done as to the
services until your resignation takes effect, I have no sort of
wish to press unfairly upon you, and I think it would be a grave
misfortune were St. Agatha’s Church to be closed pending the
appointment of your successor.
“I think that until that appointment is made you had better
continue to officiate. This will, I hope, be in accordance
both with your own wish and with the wish of your people; and,
though I must not be supposed to be giving formal sanction to
the teaching or usages to which I have called your attention,
and must adhere to my decision respecting the third altar, I
am far from wishing to cause unnecessary difficulty in any
way. Should anything lead you to modify your decision, and to
desire to remain at St. Agatha’s, it will be a pleasure to me
to hear from you to that effect. I am glad that I succeeded
in my endeavour to represent fairly what you told me at our
interviews. The particular words to which alone you take
exception in my account, are contained in the memorandum I made
at the moment, and read to you for your approval. But the point
is comparatively unimportant, and, of course, I accept the
correction you desire to make.
“I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_11th December, 1895_.
“DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“You will not blame me if I say that your letter amazes me. If
my teaching is so contrary to the mind of the Church of England
that it necessitates a step so disastrous as the disruption of a
work like this, I cannot imagine how you can allow me to remain
here one single day.
“I want, therefore, to make it clearly understood that I have
unscreened the altar, and am using it, and that I shall conduct
the services exactly as I have conducted them for the last eight
years. I know you will understand that I do not say this in
any spirit of bravado, but I desire, above all things, to be
perfectly plain with you. Having said this, I am content to stay
here for a short time, but there are two reasons that urge me
to request you to fix a date not later than January 10th--(1)
The Mission expenses are nearly £100 per month, and I am already
very much overpressed with debts; in fact, winding up all the
different charities and other expenses here, and repairing the
parsonage and other property I have bought, and the paying for
the church, will, I think, necessitate my begging £1500 before
I leave, perhaps even more, and your action will very likely
dry up some of our sources of charity. (2) I have to consider
my own and my sister’s health. I doubt if your lordship could
imagine what it is to be here. It is almost impossible for us to
go out of doors; the tears and lamentations of our poor people
are more than we can bear for any length of time. I write this
all with more confidence because your letter of to-day confirms
my own remembrance of our interviews when I assured you I should
have to leave, and, therefore, I am assured you have already
considered the difficult question of a successor.
“I am, your lordship’s obedient servant,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“OXFORD,
“_13th December, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“Owing to ceaseless pressure of other work I have not, since
your letter reached me yesterday, had a free moment for writing
to you.
“I can only repeat that I have no sort of wish to expedite the
resignation on which you have, to my great regret, and in spite
of my remonstrance, decided.
“I cannot easily reconcile your action in ‘unscreening’ the
third altar with what you said to me on our first interview,
but in present circumstances I say no more upon that, and I am
anxious to make every allowance for your acts and words at a
time of such stress and strain.
“I have just read in the _Times_ what you are reported to have
said at a meeting last night. I can hardly doubt that the report
must be inaccurate. You could not, I feel sure, have represented
me, after all that has passed, as thinking it ‘necessary that
disruption should take place,’ or as harassing you with minute
insistence on matters of mere rubrical detail. A grave question
of Church order has come formally before me for decision as
Bishop of the Diocese. With anxious care, and with an earnest
wish to consider your difficulties, I have decided in accordance
with what seems to be my duty, and thereupon, to my great
regret, you have resigned at once, instead of waiting until
the time you have publicly announced. I can scarcely conceive
that anyone who studies our Ordinal, and realises a Bishop’s
obligations and responsibilities, could wish me to have acted
otherwise than I have.
“I must in all kindness remonstrate against your
resignation--even at a time of excitement--as though it were my
act rather than your own. Few things in my life have caused me
more sorrow and anxiety than this.
“With regard to the date when you cease to officiate at St.
Agatha’s; the appointment of your successor rests, as you know,
with others, and not with me.
“I earnestly trust that if you persist in your resignation you
will consider the difficulties of the Mission District, or
Parish, and of those with whom the appointment rests, and will
do what you can to meet, or to relieve them.
“I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_14th December, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I cannot quite understand what you mean by ‘in spite of my
remonstrance you are resigning.’
“Under your two predecessors we conducted service exactly as we
desire to do in our new church. The little altar is the same,
the memorials are the same, except that they are put on better
materials. But no single act do we desire to perform, no single
word to say, that was not done and said in old S. Agatha’s. That
is, as far as I can judge, if your predecessor had been here, we
should not have gone away.
“He objected personally to the little altar, but not officially.
The people here feel this so strongly that they want to lock up
the new church and return to the old. Therefore it is surely
through your action--unwilling action, I am sure--that I must
either alter things or go away. Is there any other alternative?
I cannot alter things, because I should be declaring to my own
people that doctrines which have been taught among them for the
last eight years I could conscientiously change at your bidding.
“I quite recognise your difficulty in the matter, and I hope
that you will, in the enclosed paper, from which report that
in the _Times_ is condensed, read what I say about your
action. It is your condemnation of my teachings, which you deem
so erroneous and contrary to the forms of the Church of England,
that necessitates the disruption.
“Dr. Fearon has already consulted with your Lordship about my
successor; and has already, with your consent, offered the post
to another man. So there is no difficulty about my going. Indeed
he thinks the date--January 10--reasonable. I have told him that
I shall be delighted to show the new Priest the details of the
work here, and introduce him to the church workers, etc.; and I
have sent him a few statistics about the parish, copies of which
I send to your Lordship, and I am sure they will interest you.
I am,
“Your Lordship’s obedient servant,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_17th December, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I thank you for your letter of the 14th. It followed me to
Bournemouth, where I was busy all day yesterday. Hence the delay
in my reply. The cutting you kindly sent me shows that, as I
supposed, the summary published in the London papers failed,
perhaps necessarily, to represent quite fairly what you really
said; and I thank you for the tone of many parts of your speech,
and for the statistics you have enclosed.
“Pardon me if I say that it still seems to me to be true that
‘you are resigning in spite of my remonstrance.’ When, at our
first interview, you told me of your intention, I deprecated it,
and I do so still. Elementary principles of Church order seem
to me to suggest a different course as at least possible, but I
realise that you have made up your mind, and that it is useless
to press you further.
“With regard to your reference to my predecessors in the See,
you cannot, I think, suppose that if the question which came
formally before me had come formally before either Bishop
Thorold or Bishop Harold Browne, the ultimate decision would
have been a different one.
“I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_17th December, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“The question would not have come before Dr. Thorold officially.
He provided for that by not requiring a new licence.
“From memory I cannot speak with much authority of Bishop
Harold Browne’s attitude towards us, except that several times
different Protestant Societies complained to him about us; and
though, as far as I remember, he wrote letters showing that he
personally did not approve of our methods, he never publicly or
officially condemned them.
“But about Dr. Thorold I can speak with assurance. Directly he
was designated by the Crown for the Bishopric, he asked me to
stay with him in London, and we had two very long conversations
about our work here; and I quite well remember his saying to me,
when I told him how many celebrations we had on Sundays and on
week-days, ‘Surely it is not good for your people to go so often
to Communion.’ And when I explained to him that at some of the
celebrations on Sundays, and many on week-days, there were no
communicants, he turned round sharply, and said, ‘Mr. Dolling, I
do not like that at all.’
“After I had explained my difficulties to him, and the power
that I believed these celebrations were to us and to my people,
though I do not think he was convinced by my argument, he made
no further objection.
“The first time he stayed here to confirm he went with me to
look over the church. He was delighted with the memorials of
the confirmed, &c.; but when he came to our little altar he
said, ‘I think that is the ugliest thing I ever saw.’ And when
I explained to him more about celebrations for the departed and
prayers for the dead, he said, ‘I don’t believe in it for a
moment.’
“We talked over the point for a long time, but I am positively
sure that he never forbade me; and when I showed him at
Farnham the plans of the new church, after he had said, ‘I
am so glad you are building a basilica,’ though objecting to
the baldacchino which was in the picture, I enlarged upon my
intention of making the church as beautiful as I could by
paintings, mosaics, &c. I said, ‘We are going to have nothing
ugly or unworthy in it; even the little altar which you thought
so ugly the people have collected money to beautify, in memory
of Ross’--and I told him the story. I think there were tears in
his eyes when I had finished, and I am quite certain he said
nothing.
“Of course I have written all this from memory, but I can give
you an exact proof. Some years ago he was approached by the
Protestant Alliance, on the subject of a book which our children
used at their Celebration, and at his request, I withdrew it,
and wrote a new book, which though he could not personally
sanction, he permitted us to use. In the enclosed copy you will
find in pages 25, 26, the words which the children use aloud
directly after the Consecration, and especially on page 26, you
will see the Memorial of the Dead. On pages 10–12 you will see
what I teach about representing to the Eternal Father, both for
the Living and the Dead, the Propitiatory Sacrifice, which our
Lord made once for all upon the Cross.
“You will see, therefore, that he perfectly understood my
attitude with regard to these two questions, and my method of
teaching them to my children.
“If by going back to our old church, we could put back our
altars in their former places, and be authorised by you to
use the exact services we have used in the past under your
predecessors, it might solve the difficulty.
“Or the alternative, whether in the new church at the High Altar
or at the Subsidiary Altar, we could use the services we have
used under your predecessor, is, I think, a question for your
Lordship to suggest to me.
“But the two points which your letter seemed to forbid, were
the offering of the Blessed Sacrifice for the Dead, and the
Celebrations without Communion, and not the merely technical
point whether there may be three altars in the church.
“Of course, Winchester is the chief factor in the question, and
I think that the enclosed letter of Dr. Fearon, when I told him
that our people had proposed, as a _modus vivendi_, that we
should settle the question by going back into the old church,
determines the matter as far as I am concerned.
I am, your Lordship’s obedient servant,
“R. RADCLYFFE DOLLING.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_19th December, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I thank you for your letter of yesterday, telling me further
details of what passed between my predecessors and yourself.
What you say seems to make it quite clear that, whatever may
have passed in conversation, the question now at issue was never
formally submitted to either of them.
“My replies addressed yesterday to the two memorials from
‘The Church Workers of S. Agatha’s’ and from ‘Communicants of
S. Agatha’s,’ taken in connection with my previous letters
to yourself, will, I hope, have made clear to you what is my
position in the matter, and I do not think you will feel it to
be necessary that I should add anything further.
I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_20th December, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I cannot bear to close this correspondence without saying that
if, by any word of mine, I have spoken with disrespect either of
you personally, or of your high office, I beg you will pardon
it, and believe that it was perfectly unintentional.
“We leave on the morning of January 11th, and I shall be here
every day till then getting matters finally arranged.
“I hardly like to suggest to your Lordship, because, of course,
you know what is best; but I think it would materially help your
guidance of this most needy place, in the future, if you could
spare a few hours to see it before I go.
“There are matters about the church schools, which I won with
great difficulty, which are especially pressing.
“I would offer to come to Farnham, if you would receive me, but
I do not think you would be able to judge unless you came here.
“I am, your Lordship’s obedient servant,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“_Friday Night, 20th December, 1895._
“MY DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“In the stress of Ember days, with an ordination pending
to-morrow, and some thirty men in the house, I can but send
you a single line to reply to your letter just received. Pray
believe that nothing could be further from my thoughts than to
find cause of offence in any word you have said during this time
of extreme trial for both of us. I have felt far too deeply for
you to even think of such trifles. I remember you many times
daily in my prayers.
“It can seldom, I hope, happen to anyone in a position of
responsible authority in the Church to have to give a decision
so painful to himself in the consequences it is found to
involve, as that which it was my duty to give in this matter.
I can but rest on the firm belief that He who calls one to the
discharge of such responsibilities, will give ear to the prayer
for grace that they may be discharged aright.
“While the question of what you would finally resolve to do
remained in any way open, I felt that I might seriously confuse
the issue to the minds of your people, were I to visit the
parish, as though to judge of the work going on; whereas, as it
seemed to me, the point at issue was quite independent of this.
Now that you have come to a final decision, I should esteem it a
privilege to go quietly and privately over the ground with you,
and learn any details that you can tell me. Next week is not,
perhaps, a good one for such a purpose, but it seems my only
chance. If I go on Friday, 27th, would it suit you? I could be
with you on that day from 11.39 to 2.15.
“I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
“_It is the record of a work very remarkable in all its aspects,
written with all modesty; and we think that to not a few weary workers
among the sinful and degraded it may bring fresh lessons of courage and
hopefulness._”--CHURCH TIMES.
“_Will be read with the greatest interest by all who desire to learn
the secret of Mr. Dolling’s wonderful success in a most difficult
task._”--GUARDIAN.
“_A vivid and breezy account, from Mr. Dolling’s own unconventional
pen, of the singularly successful work done by him in connexion with
the Winchester College Mission, in the regeneration of the district of
St. Agatha’s, Landport._”--TIMES.
“_Simply it is the record of ten years’ stupendous work, performed by
Mr. Dolling among the poor of the difficult district of Portsmouth
known as Landport; and, moreover, it is a record most modestly--even
pathetically modestly--presented; a record that is convincing in its
bare truth, and in every line of it beyond expression interesting.
He has given lay readers a picture of such work that they should, in
all humility, most carefully study. It is not too much to say that
the book is absorbingly full of incentives to thought; for every page
reveals something wonderful in the way of resource, self-restraint,
and accomplishment, not only on Mr. Dolling’s part, but on the part of
those connected with him at St. Agatha’s._”--PALL MALL GAZETTE.
“_It would be wholly impossible for us to give any detailed account
of the working of the Mission described in Mr. Dolling’s book. But
the full account will be found in the book itself. A record of
ministration to little children, to boys and girls, to young men and
women, to old men and women, to sailors and soldiers, to waifs and
outcasts, to prostitutes and thieves. A story which is alive with human
interest._”--DAILY NEWS.
“_We cannot lay down his book without regretting that its author
should be whipped from pillar to post in the Church of England. We
know of no slum record so well told or so important in its practical
significance. Mr. Dolling gives the reader an excellent idea of
the district and people. Liberal Churchmen ought to consider these
chapters, as they have an important bearing upon the future of the
Church of England; and the book should be carefully read by everyone
interested in the practical work of social reform. Mr. Dolling’s
method, as the world knows, is religion of the broadly sympathetic and
ceremonial kind._”--PROGRESSIVE REVIEW.
“_It is the story of a genial, vigorous, unconventional, and
thoroughly liberal-minded worker._”--SPEAKER.
“_His Mission has been, from first to last, a triumph of the
voluntary principle._”--DAILY CHRONICLE.
“_A book to make men think and act._”--THE COMMONWEALTH.
“_The book is enthrallingly interesting, and this value is greatly
enhanced by the illustrations._”--CHURCH REVIEW.
PLYMOUTH:
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON,
PRINTERS.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
3. Different font is shown as =xxx=.