Like A Swift Hurricane: People, Clergy & Class in a Midlands Diocese 1914-1919 by Michael Austin

Description

In 1914 the diocese of Southwell, created in 1884, included the whole of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, extending from the remote High Peak and thinly populated south-west of Derbyshire, through the textile and mining districts of Derwent Valley and the great coalfield stretching from Nottingham through Mansfield and Chesterfield, to rural east and south of Nottinghamshire. It included a major city and second important industrial town.

This book examines how the bishop, his clergy and the laity of this large and diverse diocese faced the unprecedented challenges of the first global war: how public opinion changed as the war continued much longer than first expected; how initial certainties as to the morality of war turned to doubts; how the clergy who served as both chaplains and combatants were forced to reappraise their ministry and theology; and how lay people of all classes, from peers in the Dukeries of north Nottinghamshire to miners in the villages which had grown around the pits sunk over the previous forty years, responded to new demands.  256pp