Episode 75. Shell Shocked Prophets: Chaplains and the Great War
SYNOPSIS
The declaration of hostilities by the British government in August 1914 profoundly affected the size and standing of the chaplain service within its armed forces. The number of chaplains swelled from 117 at the First World War’s inception in 1914 to almost 3,500 in 1918 as career padres were supplemented by volunteer ministers from across the denominational spectrum.
The patriotic impulse that had led to enlistment was encouraged from pulpits across the land, but soon faced the reality of industrialized siege warfare, when the voluntary troops realized that they would not be permanently home by Christmas 1914. Under regular bombardment, British soldiers dug into their trenches, from which they launched bloody and often ineffectual campaigns. The military establishment had to work out how best to deploy their new legion of chaplains., who, in turn, had to work out how to deploy theological arguments to justify what appeared to some to be meaningless carnage.
Concentrating on Anglican chaplains, this episode looks at how these ‘shell-shocked prophets’ faced up to their formidable challenges in ministering to and motivating their men. It then focuses upon two chaplains, Tubby Clayton of the Toc H movement and the poet activist Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (‘Woodbine Willie’), tracing their later social engagement back to an overwhelming need to bring meaning out of the “War to end all Wars”.
GUESTS
Dr Linda Parker is one of the UK’s leading historians of religion and the First World War. She is the author of biographies of Tubby Clayton and Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy.. Her book Shell-Shocked Prophets developed out of post-graduate study at the University of Birmingham. Linda is a member of the Royal Historical Society, the Western Front Association and the Society for Military History and a Trustee of the Toc H movement..
To access Linda’s website, Google linda-parker.co.uk
Simon’s interview with Linda Parker was recorded at her home on 22 July 2025.