The 1927 – 28 Prayer Book Crisis volume 2

Joint Liturgical Studies 61

It has been thought that a focused account of the 1927-28 Prayer Book Crisis was needed. Tradition has it that W.K.Lowther Clarke planned a 400 page history, but never got around to doing it; and we have only the less than 100 pages of his The Prayer Book of 1928 Reconsidered (SPCK, 1943). It will become increasingly obvious that G.K.A.Bell’s biography of Randall Davidson (3rd ed., Oxford, 1952) is an invaluable source of both information and evaluation; and Geoffrey Cuming and Ronald Jasper in their respective A History of Anglican Liturgy (2nd ed, MacMillan, 1982) and The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662-1980 (SPCK, 1989) have brought typical clarity to complex material. But neither was studying the period for its own sake.

I have taken up the task with a two-volume project. This first Study was by way of preparation for the fireworks of the 1920s. ln this second Study I attempt to detail those years of debates, conferences, drafting and decision – taking, all of which culminated in a total of four days of Parliamentary debate – and the consequent double debacle.

Donald Gray