THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

[After October 1931]

My Dear Dean¹

I need hardly say that I appreciate very much the honour you propose.  Nevertheless I feel that such things are really not for me – I have no real connection with anything ecclesiastical & no longer count myself a member of the Church of England.
I drifted into hymns more or less by accident (chiefly to prevent someone else doing it & making a mess of it).  Church music will be splendidly represented by Martin Shaw.²
Yrs sincerely

R Vaughan Williams

1. Frederick William Dwelly had become the First Dean of Liverpool Cathedral in October 1931, and remained so until his retirement in 1955.
2. This letter may be in response to an informal offer from Dwelly on behalf of the Archibishop of Canterbury of a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, a degree conferred on Martin Shaw in 1932. It would doubtless have been offered in recognition of VW’s contribution to the English Hymnal, Songs of Praise and Oxford Book of Carols.