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A ‘Feminist Conspiracy’: Maude Royden, women's ministry and the British press, 1916–1921

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 22; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09612025.2013.769382

1747-583X

Sue Morgan,

Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

AbstractThis article examines Maude Royden's rise to fame as a preacher through a detailed consideration of three episodes: the National Mission of 1916, her Congregational City Temple years between 1917 and 1920, and the St Botolph's affair of 1919 and 1921. It argues that Royden's life illustrates the constellation of ideological connections between feminism, suffrage and women's ordination and explores the way in which these controversial issues were negotiated by individual churchmen through the religious and popular press. Conflicting clergy reactions to her radical religious activism are discussed to highlight the deep divisions and tensions within Anglican ecclesiastical patriarchy. Notes‘A “Feminist Conspiracy”’, Manchester Guardian (Saturday 12 August 1916), p. 6. The Manchester Guardian changed its name to The Guardian in 1959. For accuracy and to avoid confusion with the London-based Guardian, an Anglican High Church weekly periodical (1846–1951), this article uses the exact title of the editions under consideration. Thanks to Tim Jones for clarification on this.Olive Anderson (1969) Women Preachers in Mid-Victorian Britain: some reflections on feminism, popular religion and social change, Historical Journal, 12(3), pp. 457–485.Jennifer Lloyd (2010) Women and the Shaping of British Methodism: persistent preachers, 1807–1907 (Manchester: Manchester University Press), p. 3.For a rethinking of historical periodisation around women's preaching see Lloyd, Women and the Shaping of British Methodism. See also Deborah Valenze (1985) Prophetic Sons and Daughters (Princeton: Princeton University Press); Brian Heeney (1988) The Women's Movement in the Church of England, 1850–1930 (Oxford: Clarendon Press); Beverly Kienzle & Pamela J. Walker (Eds) (1998) Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity (Berkeley: University of California Press); Janice Holmes (2000) Religious Revivals in Britain and Ireland, 1859–1905 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press); Pamela J. Walker (2001) Pulling the Devil's Kingdom Down: the Salvation Army in Victorian Britain (Berkeley: University of California Press); Sandra Stanley Holton (2007) Quaker Women: personal life, memory and radicalism in the lives of Friends, 1780–1930 (London: Routledge).Timothy Willem Jones (2012) ‘Unduly Conscious of Her Sex’: priesthood, female bodies and sacred space in the Church of England, Women's History Review, 24(4), pp. 1–17. Pamela Walker (2010) ‘With Fear and Trembling’: women, preaching and spiritual authority, in Sue Morgan & Jacqueline deVries (Eds) Women, Gender and Religious Cultures in Britain, 1800–1940 (London: Routledge), pp. 94–116. The term ‘priesthood’ was itself denominationally specific and would not have been used by Nonconformists.See Jacqueline deVries (2010) More than Paradoxes to Offer: feminism, history and religious cultures, in Morgan & deVries (Eds), Women, Gender and Religious Cultures, pp. 188–210; Jacqueline R. DeVries (1998) Challenging Traditions: denominational feminism in Britain, 1910–1920, in Billie Melman (Ed.) Borderlines: genders and identities in war and peace, 1870–1930 (London: Routledge), pp. 266–283; Kabi Hartman (2003) ‘What made me a suffragette’: the New Woman and the new (?) conversion narrative, Women's History Review, 12(1), pp. 35–50.See Sheila Fletcher (1989) Maude Royden. A Life (Oxford: Blackwell) and Heeney, The Women's Movement in the Church of England.See Billie Melman (1988) Women and the Popular Imagination in the Twenties: Flappers and Nymphs (Basingstoke: Macmillan); Adrian Bingham (2004) Gender, Modernity and the Popular Press in Inter-War Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press); Alison Oram (2007) ‘Her Husband was a Woman!’ Women's Gender-Crossing in Modern British Popular Culture (London: Routledge).Oram, ‘Her Husband was a Woman!’, p. 6.Laura Beers (2009) Education or Manipulation? Labour, Democracy, and the Popular Press in Inter-War Britain, Journal of British Studies, 48 (1), p. 129.Bingham, Gender, Modernity and the Popular Press, p. 52.Ibid., p. 51.Bernard Palmer (1991) Gadfly for God: a history of the Church Times (London: Hodder & Stoughton), p. 104.Ibid., p. 95.Lucy Delap (2011) Conservative Values, Anglicans and the Gender Order in Interwar Britain, in Laura Beer & Geraint Thomas (Eds) Brave New World: imperial & democratic nation building in Britain between the wars (London: University of London School of Advanced Study, IHR), pp. 121–140.Angela John (Ed.) (1997) The Men's Share? Masculinities, Male Support and Women's Suffrage in Britain, 1890–1920 (London: Routledge), p. 11.Ibid., p. 2. Cliona Murphy has shown for the Irish context that not all clergy were anti-suffrage; see Murphy (1997) The Religious Context of the Women's Suffrage Campaign in Ireland, Women's History Review, 6(4), pp. 549–564 and Krista Cowman (1998) ‘We Intend to Show What Our Lord Has Done For Women’: the Liverpool Church League for Women's Suffrage, 1940–1918, in R. N. Swanson (Ed.) Gender and the Christian Religion. Studies in Church History 34 (London: Boydell & Brewer), pp. 475–486.Frances Parkinson Keyes, ‘Torch-Bearers to Humanity’ Good Housekeeping (January 1928), 86(1), p. 31.Maude Royden to Kathleen Courtney, 23 April 1903, Bundle 5, Deposit 3, Lady Margaret Hall Archive, University of Oxford (henceforth LMH Archive). For Royden's friendship with the Hudson Shaws, see her autobiographical memoir (1947) A Threefold Cord (London: Victor Gollancz).Kathleen Courtney cited in Francesca Wilson, Dame Kathleen Courtney, unpublished memoir typescript (n.d.), p. 8, Deposit 3/1, LMH Archive.Millicent Fawcett (1920) The Women's Victory—and After: personal reminiscences, 1911–1918 (London: Sidgwick & Jackson), p. 76.Ibid., p. 76. Edward Talbot was a great supporter of women's higher education and a founder of Lady Margaret Hall, Royden's old Oxford college.Maude Royden, (1912) The Ethical Aspect of the Women's Movement, in The Religious Aspect of the Women's Movement cited in Fletcher, Maude Royden, pp. 101–102.Heeney, The Women's Movement in the Church of England, p. 89. The second approach, according to Heeney, was represented by Louise Creighton, wife of the Bishop of London.Maude Royden (1918) The Hour and the Church (London: George Allen & Unwin), p. 40.Maude Royden (1924) The Church and Woman (London: James Clarke & Co.), p. 157. Constance Coltman contributed a chapter to the book on Women and the Free Churches.Edith Picton-Turbervill (1916) ‘The Coming Order in the Church of Christ’ and ‘The Spirit and the Letter’, Nineteenth Century and After, reprinted in Rev B. H. Streeter & E. Picton-Turbervill (1917) Woman and the Church (London: T. Fisher Unwin), p. 47.Ursula Roberts (1914) Letter included as part of a published pamphlet by Athelstan Riley on ‘Women and the Priesthood’ (Church Printing Company, London), Davidson Papers, vol. 360, National Mission (henceforth NM), Lambeth Palace Library (henceforth LPL).Ibid.Maude Royden to Mrs Roberts (24 July 1913), Autograph Letter Collection: Women in the Church (1913–1963), 9/06/007, Women's Library (henceforth WL).Jacqueline DeVries (1998) Transforming the Pulpit: preaching and prophecy in the British Women's Suffrage Movement, in Kienzle & Walker (Eds), Women Preachers and Prophets, p. 319.‘Archbishop's Call to the Nation’, Daily Mirror (2 October, 1916), p. 2. Davidson was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1903 and 1928.Stuart Mews (2002) Randall Davidson's attitudes to work, rest and recreation, in R. N. Swanson (Ed.) The Use and Abuse of Time in Christian History (London: Boydell), pp. 386–387. Four volumes (359–362) of the Davidson Papers at LPL are thick with correspondence from various bishops and dioceses disagreeing over the workload, principles and even the name of the National Mission.‘Repent or Rejoice: does the National Mission answer the war?’, Daily Mirror (10 October 1916 ), p. 5. See also Daily Mirror (3 October and 9 October 1916).Cited by Athelstan Riley in ‘The National Mission: Labour questions and the feminist movement’, Church Times (28 July 1916), p. 80. See Louise Creighton to Randall Davidson (4 August 1915), Davidson Papers, vol. 360, NM, LPL for her suggestion of women Mission speakers.Riley to Davidson, reprinted in the Church Times (11 August 1916), p. 114.See Morning Post (11 March 1915) for Royden's comment on women priests, cited in Riley, ‘Women and the Priesthood’ (1916), Davidson Papers, Item 253, vol. 360, NM, LPL.Riley to Davidson, Church Times (25 July 1916).Edith Picton-Turbervill to Miss C.S. Wilkinson (21 January, 1914?), Autograph Letter Collection: Women in the Church (1913–1963), 9/06/026, WL.Fletcher, Maude Royden, p. 147.See Riley to Davidson (5 August 1916), Davidson Papers, Item 279, vol. 360, NM, LPL.‘Peace Congress in London. Women Cranks to Hold a Private Meeting’, Daily Express (30 September, 1915), p. 6.‘A Scandal in the Church’, Daily Express (5 August, 1916), p. 4.Davidson to Lord Halifax (6 August 1916), Davidson Papers, Item 287, vol. 360, NM, LPL.Hugh W. Cecil to Davidson (10 August, 1916), Davidson Papers, Item 297–300, vol. 360, NM, LPL. See also ‘This Morning's Gossip’, Daily Mirror (4 August, 1916), p. 10 for comment on Winnington-Ingram.‘Bishop to Reconsider His Decision’, Daily Express (Thursday 17 August, 1916), p. 5.J.A.P. Correspondence on ‘The Women's Movement and the National Mission’, Church Times (18 August 1916), p. 130.Rev. John Lee, Correspondence on ‘The Women's Movement and the National Mission’, Church Times (8 August, 1916), p. 130.‘Artifex’, Manchester Guardian (Thursday 3 August, 1916), p. 10.Winnington-Ingram, Church Times (15 September, 1916), p. 214.Royden, The Church and Woman, p. 144.Episode cited in Edith Picton-Turbervill (1939) Life is Good. An Autobiography (London: Frederick Muller), p. 135.Louise Creighton and Cosmo Lang to Randall Davidson (28 July 1916), Davidson Papers, Item 265, vol. 360, NM, LPL. The list of female messengers was: Mrs Creighton, Mrs Gow (of Westminster), Mrs Montgomery, Miss Gurney (SPG), Miss MC Gollock (one of the secretaries of the Mission), Mrs Horace Porter, Miss Eleanor Gregory, Lady Henry Somerset, The Duchess of Bedford, Miss Ruth Rouse, Miss Faithfull.Royden, The Hour and the Church, p. 83.See Albert Clare (1940) The City Temple, 1640–1940 (London: Independent Press).Greenfield Women's Guild to Royden (11 March 1917), Royden Papers (henceforth RP), 7AMR/1/26, FL 222, WL.Picton-Turbervill to Royden (8 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/26, FL 222, WL.Manchester Dispatch (23 July 1917) RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL 379, WL.Rev. Francis Eeles to Maude Royden (10 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/26, FL222, WL. Eeles was a specialist on early church history and secretary to the Archbishop's Research Committee to report on women's role in the Church.Royden (1 July 1917), carbon copy of typed letter, RP, 7AMR/1/26, FL222, WL. For Talbot's response in the Challenge (22 April 1917), see Fletcher, Maude Royden, p. 163.Royden, (20 March, 1917), carbon copy typed ms, RP, 7AMR/1/26, FL222, WL.See Shields Daily Gazette, Halifax Courier and Liverpool Echo (19 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL379, WL.Christian Commonwealth (21 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL379, WL.‘A Portia in the Pulpit’, The Globe (26 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL379, WL.Manchester Guardian and Midland Tribune (19 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL 379, WL.Halifax Evening Courier and Daily Chronicle (19 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL 379, WL.Illustrated Sunday Herald (18 March 1917). Joseph Fort Newton wrote that a ‘new day had dawned for women’ in The British Weekly (19 July 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/86, FL 379, WL.Margaret Hardy to Maude Royden (21 March 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/26, FL222, WL.William Temple to Maude Royden (4 July 1917), RP, 7AMR/1/26, FL222, WL.Royden, ‘Life and Liberty and the Women's Movement’, Church Times (16 November 1917), p. 408.‘Voice of the Pew’, Daily Express (11 September 1918), p. 3.See Royden, ‘Sermon Book. A. M. R.’, RP, 7AMR/1/37, FL 218, WL.‘Tribute to Suffrage Pioneers’, Manchester Guardian (11 February 1918), p. 8.Joseph Fort Newton (1922) Preaching in London: a diary of Anglo-American friendship (New York: George H. Doran), pp. 59–61.See Mrs Humphry Ward's description of Shaw when she heard him preach in his previous parish of Old Alderley in 1910, cited in J. P. Trevelyan (1923) Life of Mrs Humphry Ward (London: Constable & Co.), p. 258.Royden (n.d.) ‘Short summary of the controversy about the Three Hours Service etc conducted by women’, Typed mss, RP, 7AMR/1/25, FL 222, WL.‘Miss Maude Royden’, Manchester Guardian (Friday 20 September 1918), p. 4.Shaw to Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram (23 September 1918), RP, 7AMR/1/18, FL 221, WL.‘A Popular Prelate’, Daily Mirror (17 July 1916), p. 10.Royden, A Threefold Cord, p. 59.Winnington-Ingram to Shaw (17 April 1919), RP, 7AMR/1/18, FL 221, WL.‘Easter Three Hours Service’, Guardian (24 April 1919), RP, 7AMR/1/12/8, FL220, WL.Royden, The Church and Woman, p. 210.Ibid., p. 208.Winnington-Ingram cited in ‘Woman's Place in the Church: Dr Ingram and Miss Royden’, The Times (18 April 1919).‘Miss Royden and the Bishop’, Christian Commonwealth (20 April 1919). See also ‘Miss Royden's Three Hour Service’, Manchester Guardian (19 April 1919), RP, 7AMR/1/12/8, FL 220, WL.‘Banned City Service: petition to Bishop of London on Miss Royden's case’, Daily Chronicle (n.d.), 7AMR/1/12/8, FL220, WL.‘Let the Church Learn!’, National News (20 April 1919), RP, 7AMR/1/12/8, FL220, WL.Shaw to Winnington-Ingram (22 April 1919), RP, 7AMR/1/18, FL221, WL.Miriam Homersham, Common Cause (25 April 1919), p. 17, cited in Fletcher, Maude Royden, p. 187.Rev. A. Magee, ‘Women in the Church. The Obstacle of Sex’, Evening Standard (28 May 1919).‘Women as Priests: vicar objects to “Faith and Flirtation”’, Daily Express (Saturday 7 June 1919), front page. See also The Guardian (Saturday 7 June 1919), p. 10.Picton-Turbervill, Life is Good, pp. 134–135.Patricia, ‘Her Farewell’, Daily Express (Saturday 6 March 1920), p. 3.William Hudson Shaw, ‘Maude Royden, 1902–1920’, International Woman Suffrage News (May-June 1920), pp. VII-VIII.‘The Ministrations of Women—The Reform of Convocation’, Church Times (25 February 1921), p. 185.Shaw to Winnington-Ingram (28 February 1921), RP, 7AMR/1/18, FL221, WL.The Observer (Sunday 20 March 1921), p. 15.Shaw, ‘Women and the Church: Miss Royden and tomorrow's service at Bishopsgate’, The Evening Standard (Thursday 24 March 1921).Ibid.‘Women of To-day and To-morrow. No 10—Maude Royden’, The Times (4 March 1921).‘Rusticus’, ‘St Botolph's, Bishopsgate’, Church Times (1 April 1921), p. 316.Indeed, although beyond the remit of this article, the role of church feminist campaigns for ordination in the 1920s and 1930s, and the way in which these might stimulate new narratives of pre- and postwar feminism remains badly neglected.Bingham, Gender, Modernity and the Popular Press p. 82.Royden, The Church and Woman, p. 150.Judith M. Bennett (1989) Feminism and History, Gender and History, 1(3), pp. 251–272.Fletcher, Maude Royden, p. 79.Maude Royden to Ursula Roberts (18 December 1935) and (4 January 1936), Ursula Roberts Papers, 7URO, FL636, WL.