Birthday book

Just finished an interesting book - and a book on an unusual subject for me - on Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Alterius Orbis Papa) during the 1930's. Written by Lockhart, published by Hodder & Stoughton (deceased, I think) and sourced from Oxfam, not sure which one, for the relatively large sum of £2.49. As it happens the book was printed during the month in which I was born, but I don't think that is what prompted me to buy it.

But I am glad that I did as Lang had an interesting life, starting relatively humbly in a Scottish manse, brains propelling him to Oxford, to All Souls and from thence to the church. Rapid climb through the ranks to do 20 years as Archbishop of York, getting on for 15 as Archbishop of Canterbury and still having time to retire in good order. An old fashioned clerical bachelor of huge energy with fingers in all kinds of pies, including royal ones. Sometimes thought to be a touch too keen on his friends and connections in lordly places.

On which topic there was a not very edifying anecdote about Edward VIII. His father, George V, who died just before midnight, was in the habit of keeping all the clocks in his various houses half an hour fast (not something I am aware of people still doing). A few minutes after midnight the new king, perhaps as his first act, ordered them all to be put right. Lang, being on the spot was in a position to know the story and one suspects that Lockhart was not too keen on Edward VIII either or he would not have retold it.

Lang was also a very persuasive speaker, able, perhaps without going as far as bullying, to propel people into agreeing to things that they regretted afterwards. Which I found telling: it is not enough to win on the day, of say the committee. You need your colleagues to be happy with what they have signed up to the next day, and the day after that.

One of the things on which he spent much energy was on the promotion of Christian unity, with modest progress being interrupted by the advent of the Second World War. But, as someone with both an atheist and a large organisation background, I found the whole business fascinating.

So suppose we have an idea for a club, an association or a community. Bearing in mind how many such do go in for written constitutions and management committees, if not chiefs, how and when does the need for constitutions and leaders emerge?  Should one have entry requirements and entry procedures - for example initiations or baptisms - for members? How does one manage the transition from one leader to the next? When is the gladiatorial method said  (at meetings of the Wolf Cubs) to have been used by wolf packs appropriate?

And then, suppose the idea is a strong one and takes root across a country. Is there a need for a national organisation to hold the local organisations together? Do local leaders get proposed locally and rubber stamped nationally or is it better the other way around? What happens when a local organisation wants to affiliate to the national organisation? Do all the local members and leaders need to be formally admitted into the national organisation, or can they just be rolled in without fuss or formality? Who staffs the national organisation? How do they get chosen? Where does the money come from?

Does a member of the Dundee branch have automatic rights of entry and participation in the life of the Swansea branch? Rights which certainly do exist in the case of clubs affiliated to the C&IU. Would the leader of the Dundee branch be good for leading the Swansea branch, if invited by Swansea?

I am mindful here of the natural desire of a large national organisation to maintain standards, in marketing speak to maintain the brand. If you join the Theocreationists in Epsom (a group of which Professor G., for once, does not seem to have heard) you want to be sure that they are the same sort of outfit as you used to belong to in Surbiton. That the appointed leader is generally sound and can, in particular, be trusted with your children or with the prize organ.

And then, suppose you decide that it would be a jolly good idea to merge the English organisation with the Italian one. The Italians might say fine. All you chaps are welcome to join our outfit, but you will have to start again. Members will need to be initiated again (accordng to our rites and rules) and leaders will need to be consecrated again - and we reserve the right to weed out any undesirables along the way. To which the English might say no deal.

One starts to see how the sociology of organisations gets interesting. Why sociology was for a while a very popular subject for undergraduate study, although by my time at LSE, sociologists were already starting to be regarded as a bit of a breed apart. I wonder if they still are.

And this was just one of the balls which Lang tried to keep in the air. He also had a lot of grief with something called the reserved sacrament, but I am having some difficulty in getting to the bottom of what that was all about. My prayer book, large and impressive though it is, has not yet done the business and I do not suppose the Chambers will be much help either.

PS 1: one nice feature of the book is the carefully made and matt finished black and white photographs used as illustrations. I have refrained from scanning one as I doubt if my scanner would do it justice.

PS 2: having read the Lang/Lockhart account of the 1937 coronation, it was interesting to turn up Roy Strong's account of that and the other three twentieth century coronations. I note in passing that I had forgotten that the consecration and crowning of a king, in this country anyway, is not that far removed from the consecration of, say, a bishop and includes communion. The whole business is very much bound up with the the king - or queen - being the head of our Established (Protestant) Church. A touch awkward given that, for example, some of the Dominions were either represented by Catholics or were predominantly Catholic - and as far as I can make out De Valera did not attend, busily plotting his exit from the Commonwealth at the time. There will be even more fun and games on this point - no doubt amongst others - next time around.