Hensley Henson and the Appointment of Bishops: State, Church and Nation in England, 1917–1920 and Beyond

Abstract

The nomination of Hensley Henson as bishop of Hereford in 1917 provoked a famous ecclesiastical controversy, the ‘Hereford scandal’, which threatened a split within the Church of England and a crisis between the Church and the State. The point of contention has always been understood to have been doctrinal, but this article argues that this was largely a proxy for disputes over Church policies, and that the outcome had significant consequences for the continuing character of the national Church. It also explains how the Hereford episode both stimulated and arrested demands for reform in the prime ministerial nomination of bishops.