Prayers

The Edwardian Navy had a pronounced Anglican ethos. Three quarters of its sailors were members of the Church of England, as were all of its chaplains. If there was, thus, ample spiritual provision for the conformist majority, the religious needs of the non-conformist minority were less well catered for. Such discrimination was becoming increasingly unsustainable in the more pluralist era of the early twentieth century. Consequently, in the run-up to 1914, the Admiralty enhanced provision for Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic sailors, who were afforded ever-greater access to their clergy when ashore. However, the naval leadership consistently refused to allow non-Anglican clergy to minister aboard its warships. With the outbreak of war, there was considerable pressure to change this. It was accepted that those who might fight and die deserved a priest of their choice. Accordingly, Churchill introduced reforms that broadened the religious character of the Navy for ever.