"IDOL OF EAST END."

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17855, 30 August 1923, Page 14

"IDOL OF EAST END."

DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF CHELMSFORD. ■,?p.om ora own cokrespokdent.) LONDON, July 17There are many people in Zealand who would learn with regret of the death of Dr. J. E. Watts-Ditch-field, first Bishop of Chelmsford, who was in the Dominion not many years ago in connexion with the Church of England Men's Society. He passed awav two days ago after an operation for appendicitis. Before his consecration ho was one of the best-kno>Mi figures in London church life. For seventeen years he was vicar of St. ■James-thf-Less, Bethnal Green, and his close study of the daily life of the poor enabled liim to speak with authority on pressing social problems. D:. Watts-Ditchfield, who was the son of Methodist parents, and once a pupil-teacher, began his clerical career as curate of St. Peter's Higiigate where ho founded a great men's service One of the most scholarly men m the cliuicn lie was twice select preacher at Cambridge University, and lecturer m Pastoral Theoiogy. During the seventeen vcars ho spent in Bethnal Gieen tie obtained a big influence over hundreds of working men. When the religious census ot London was taken he had by- Jar tho'largest congregation of all the Anglican churches in the parish. He once said that wliat determined him to live in the East End was reading "Oliver Twist."

Beds at Sixpence a Night. ' "He built up a dying parish, made it a very live one, and ono of tlie hnest parishes in tho Kingdom," said the Itov. J. P. Itees-Jones, tlw: present vicar of St. James-tho-Less. "He found a -congregation of o, and laised it to 1300, while lie collected £30,000 for church restoration and parish buildings. He got right down to the mind of the working-man. H<? knew exactly what the East-Ender needed, and ho gave it to him. 'that was the beauty of his work here. He built a 'doss' house and provided at lid a night. That was an example of practi'.al .Christianity, and be was always concerned with the social life of the people. That work is still going on. it was no flash in the pan, but ia still thriving.' AH the missions ho founded are still going, and the congregations are good. He did more for the EastEi;der than any living man. and by them he was held in the greatest esteem and affection." Chelmsford Djocis<» was carved out of the diocese of St. Albans just before the war, and Dr. W.itts-Ditchfield's _ appointment ns Bishop was something in the nature of a surprise. The diocese includes such populous towni as West Ham, East Ham, and llford, the area known in church . circles as London-over theBoarder. TJnconventionalities. Numerous are stories told of the Bishop, who could be rather unconventional on occasion. Once he staggered his congregation by reciting'from the pulpit the following verse

He dropped his penny in the piste And meekly raised his eycß; One week's, rent was duly paid •. For-mansions in the skies 1 Oncb ne tried to win a woman to go to church. • She kept breaking her promises, and one evening he called an tour befiork tho ifsryice and again asked her to attend. "I can't" she said. "J-have that basket of clothes to manglw to-night." "You go and get ready and I'll do the mangling," returned the Bishop. He did, and recounting tho incident subsequently he 6aid: "How I did it! and what thepeople said when the clothes were returned, I never enquired. But that night the woman was touched by the tiaviour." The Bishop was probably the only clergyman, afterwards to reach episcopal rank, who was ever "arrested." Onco while waiting at a Lancashire railway station for the return of his Sunday-school excursion, he was pounced upon by two 6mart detectives and promptly handcuffed. They had mistaken hnn for a notorious forger, who \v«s reported to be m the district disguised as a clergyman. However, instead of spend the *ngbt in the cells he supped with the Superintendent of Police, who wao responsible foi his arr«At. . When ho was appointed to the See or Chelmsford he startled his East End 'friends by appearing without his moustache. ."I 'ardly Know'd him,' 6aid ono old woman. "It was not only 'is face. 'E used to wear a squashy 'at; now 'e's got a toppy." An old man's comment was; "It may be disreverential to say sc., but the vicar s legs do look skinny in gaiters." He was a champion coconut shier among the clergy. On one" occasion as a' parish priest, when trying his ski," against a party of young men from his parish, he knocked down so many cocanuts that the showman, in charge refused to let the contest continue.

A Deathbed Message. As a bishop, Dr. Watts-Ditchfield naturally proved himself a good organiser, but that was the least of his contributions to the life of the diocese and the life of the Church as a whole. The "Daily Telegraph" says: "He was a true Father in God, and laboured unremittingly to win souls to Christ. To that end all his energy was ultimately disected, whether it found expression in the endeavour to provide better maintenance for his clergy or his eagerness to understand and sympathise with points of view-widely different from his own. It was this latter characteristic of his ministry that was perhaps the distinguishing mark of his episcopate. He was by birth, association, and conviction a staunch Evangelical. Yet none of the English diocesan bishops took such pains as he did to enter into the spirit of the AngloCatholic movement and to recognise the motives that animate those concerned with it. At the opening session of the Anglo-Catftolic Congress at the Albert Hall, last week, for example, the chairman read a letter of greeting from the Bishop, in which the following passage occurred: "I should be false to you and to myself if I did not say frankly that, on some points, there is a great gulf between us, and concerning which I am in no small anxiety. I am a convinced Evangelical, but on my sick bed I am striving to look at you (may I say it without presumption) as m 3" Blessed Lord is looking at you, and to view you with His Mind and in His Spirit* I believe that I see in the Albert Hall a band of men and women whose hearts are full of devotion to their Saviour, and -who m their lives show forth the fruits of His Redemption, and who vearn for Him to reign on the earth. Bv His Grace, the spiritual life of the whole Church has been enriched by you—of this there can be no doubt. The Cross is the centre of your Faith and Message, and therein lies vour strength. Forgive my adding this: Let your Congress turn to the deep things of God. which are the inheritance of all God's children. Leave in these perilous days all secondary matters alone —they can wait. The Kin? Himself has waited far too long for the whole-hearted consecration of His disciples to His great work. Hith (Continued at foot of next column.)

all my heart I send, with loving affection, a real 'God bless you.' " To many who heard them these words sounded Apostolic in their love and care. It is not too much to say that in- his life he showed forth that Christian charity and-tolerant strength which alone can bring unity to the Church. By his death the Church of England is 6adly the poorer. She has need of men such as he.