Welsh Journals

Bishop Watkin Williams and the "Lambeth Farce" John R Guy In his study of "Puller of Roath as a Christian Apologist" John V Stewart makes passing reference to "the contemporary initiatives for a greater amity between the Anglican Communion and the Russian Orthodox Church" during what he calls "the golden years" of Fr Puller's life. Puller, he says, "visited Russia as a member of an offical delegation in 1912." Part of the story of that 1912 visit, and what perhaps could be lightheartedly termed the "Lambeth Farce" which preceded it a farce in which one Welsh bishop had a prominent if unwitting role can be found in the papers of Archbishop Randall Davidson of Canterbury now deposited in Lambeth Palace Library. In the summer of 1911, perhaps as a fruit of his third Duma's policy of increasing contact with Europe, and at a time of financial stability and prosperity, the Tsar Nicholas II issued an invitation for a "Representative Visit to Russia" by members of British institutions. He had settled upon January 1912 as the date. Professor Bernard Pares of the School of Russian Studies at the University of Liverpool was most anxious that the "English Church [be] thoroughly represented" on the visit. Pares, who made more than twenty visits to Russia, and as a British observer with the Russian Third Army was to have first-hand experience of the Revolution of 1917, was already well acquainted with the religious 1 John V Stewart, "Puller of Roath as a Christian Apologist, Journal of Welsh Ecclesiastical History, 7 (1990) 55-67. 2 Ibid, p 56. 3 Ibid. 4 Lambeth Palace Library, R T Davidson Papers, Vol 475, Russia 1911-1927. As all the correspondence cited in this paper is to found in this volume, letters, reports, telegrams, etc, have not been individually referenced. In this paper references to Davidson's "suffragans" are to the English and Welsh diocesan bishops then in the province of Canterbury, and not to suffragan bishops within the diocese of Canterbury itself (in 1912 these were Croydon and Dover.) 5 For the favourable economic and political climate of 1911-12, see Bernard Pares, The Fall of the Russian Monarchy. A Study of the Evidence, (New York 1939, pbk ed 1961), pp 152-3.