Volume 20, Issue 1

Arthur Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London, features prominently in all the scholarly narratives of the activities of the Church of England during the First World War. Particular emphasis has been placed on his description of the conflict as a “Holy War”, on his assertion that those who died in the cause of Britain and her allies should be seen as martyrs, and on his very successful efforts to persuade men to enlist as combatants. Furthermore, many books claim that the Bishop in a 1915 sermon called on his hearers to “Kill Germans”. This paper closely examines contemporary narratives of that sermon and the way in which an anti-clerical writer of the 1930s edited the original text, thus seriously distorting Winnington-Ingram’s message. An analysis of the Bishop’s declaration which was made in 1960, but significantly modified in 1971, is identified as being highly influential in shaping contemporary perceptions of him. The context of a short article in which the Bishop described the conflict as a “Holy War” is examined and an attempt is made to show that such pronouncements were the logical development of the then widely-held perception of Britain as a nation especially chosen by God to take to the world both the benefits of its Empire and the light of the Gospel. It is shown that the most balanced assessments of his activities have come from non-British historians and theologians who have been able to offer a more detached and less anachronistic analysis than, in particular, some ordained Anglican writers. The way in which the scholarly critique of Winnington-Ingram has in recent years been taken up by more popular authors in a process of distillation and embellishment is described. Finally, his repudiation of popular calls for reprisals against German civilians, in the context of the serious loss of life incurred through the German bombing of London, is offered as a corrective to the highly prejudicial way in which the war-time activities of Arthur Winnington-Ingram have been presented in both the scholarly literature and popular narratives.