Church, State, and Nation: The Journals of Herbert Hensley Henson, 1900-1939.

Hensley Henson (1863-1947), Bishop of Durham, 1920-39, was a famously trenchant public moralist, and his unpublished journals are masterpieces of commentary and opinion - indeed, one of the greatest of English diaries. Research on Henson and his journals will make a large contribution to the political, intellectual, and ecclesiastical history of Britain during the early 20th century. For the most part, these historical sub-disciplines exist in relative isolation from one other, hindering deeper understanding of important elements in modern Britain. Henson's journals offer a unique means to overcome these limitations. He was a leading controversialist not only on religious and ecclesiastical issues - he was the first bishop to advocate disestablishment of the Church of England - but across wide areas of social, political, industrial, moral and even medical debate. He fulfilled this role as a prolific preacher, speaker in the House of Lords, author, and contributor to newspapers. So far no systematic use has been made of the journals, because of the neglect of crucial modern intersections between politics, thought, and organised religion. The journals reveal the fluid boundaries between political and religious institutions, and the dependence of these institutions on a common set of ideas about the state, a national church, the free churches, nationhood, and community.

Following a pilot project during 2014-15 funded by Durham University, the research will create a digital scholarly edition of two-thirds of the journals, the 63 volumes from 1900 to 1939 when Henson was most prominent as a public moralist and as a commentator on the great events and great figures of these turbulent years. The journals provide exceptional insight not just into all aspects of the Church (institutional, episcopal and pastoral), but also national and regional politics; social issues concerning the metropolitan elite at one extreme and the Durham coalfields at another; social and religious thought and literary life; and international affairs. The research potential of the journals will be demonstrated in scholarly articles that cut across these concerns. The digital edition will enable Henson's literary gifts and unique insights into his age to be enjoyed by a wide readership.

The questions that will guide the research include the following. How far has secularisation in British public life been affected by shifts of power between institutions, and by changes in public attitudes towards religion? What were the implications for Church-State relations of the growth of democracy during the early 20th century? Which voices, lay and clerical, were most prominent in the debates about the place of religion in national life? How effectively did leading figures within the Church engage with public, political, and intellectual opinion on issues of public policy? What authority - cultural, moral, spiritual, and political - did the Church command, both locally and nationally? What contribution did the Church make to shaping English and British national identity, both in partnership with and in opposition to other churches in the UK? To what extent were alliances and conflicts within the Church shaped by wider networks of influence in public life?

The research has many benefits for scholarship in British history, political thought, life-writing, religious studies, and literary history. It will generate new perspectives on the secularisation of British society during the 20th century, and the effectiveness of the Church in countering it. The subtleties of Henson's individualism and Unionism will enhance understanding of Conservative political thought. The journals will bring new insights on the modern relationship between clergyman and parish, dean and chapter, bishop and diocese, and changing styles of preaching. They also contain a wealth of biblical and literary discussion of value to literary historians. The edition will prove of enduring importance.

The main beneficiaries of this research outside the scholarly community will be members of cathedral and diocesan communities and a wider public interested in the religious heritage of the United Kingdom, including its relationship to national politics. More broadly, it will attract readers of diaries as a literary and political genre, as well as local history groups.

These members of the public will benefit directly as follows. First, they will be able to access the journals of one of the most articulate, independent-minded and prominent churchmen of the 20th century. In doing so, they will be able to enjoy Henson's acerbic commentary on people and institutions; and his eye-witness accounts of general elections, Parliamentary debates, wars, industrial and political crises, and royal events. They will find Henson's records of private conversations with powerful public figures - from archbishops and bishops to prime ministers and royalty - especially revealing. Moreover, they will be moved by Henson's use of the journals to record his sense of personal disappointment, thwarted ambition, despair at what he imagined were the shortcomings of his ministry, and constant need of divine guidance. The attention of readers will be held by a sense of intimacy with, yet distance from a diarist who was at the heart of national affairs; more broadly, the journals will develop their historical and literary imagination.

Second, free exhibitions based on the research will enhance the experience of visitors to Durham Cathedral and Auckland Palace. The displays will mark the centenary of Henson's return to Durham as Bishop in 2020 and will feature extracts from the journals and other sources.

The exhibition at the Cathedral will focus on Henson's connection with it as Dean and Bishop and will be staffed by volunteers working on the project; they will also lead 'spotlight talks' on Henson's life and work as a controversialist and renowned preacher at the adjoining Priors Hall. At the talks, audiences will be invited to debate the value of political intervention by the Church, past and present, reinforcing the annual Henson lecture established jointly by the Cathedral and the University in 2015 on 'The Church in Politics'.

The exhibition at nearby Auckland Castle, home of the Bishops of Durham until recently, will emphasise the pride and pleasure Henson took in his official residence and include some of the famous guests he entertained there. Talks by members of the research team will also accompany this event.

There will be a strong regional interest in a Dean and Bishop who engaged intensely with Durham City and the north-east of England, and who won the respect of miners, despite his political differences with them. But aspects of his life and work as a national figure will also feature in the displays, ensuring that the exhibitions appeal to visitors from the rest of the UK and beyond, too.

The journals will also be the centre of public discussion at a panel in the annual Durham Book Festival.

Other organisations which might benefit from this research are ecclesiastical establishments with a strong Henson connection outside of Durham. Examples are Westminster Abbey, where Henson's sermons drew large crowds between 1900 and 1913, and Hereford Cathedral following his controversial appointment as Bishop of Hereford in 1917. Permission will be sought to place a display stand at these venues publicising the journals and their account of the activities that once took place there by a well-placed but detached 'insider'.

In organising the events, researchers involved in the project will gain valuable new writing, communication, and technical skills which can be applied to other public engagement work subsequently.

The research will begin to make an impact from the end of the grant period when the exhibitions and Book Festival panel will take place. The journals will be of enduring interest to a growing body of readers.