I have long been an admirer and beneficiary of the endeavours of the Church of England Records Society, and it was with much excitement that I received this volume for review. There is scant reward, in the modern academy, for those who undertake the arduous labour of collecting, editing and commentating on primary source materials, but what they do plays an important role in opening such materials to new audiences, facilitating meaningful engagement with the materials in question, and advancing knowledge and understanding of diverse fields of study. Perhaps I have been thinking more on this subject than usual, as I contemplate taking up a post in the collections expertise and engagement team at the National Archives, but it seems to me to be truer now than it has ever been. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that, for much of the last two years, many researchers have had restricted access to key archives. The fruits of the labours of the Church of England Records Society, and other similar organisations, have been a key means of keeping the fires of academic and wider interest and endeavour burning.

The current volume forms part of a four-part series commissioned by the Church of England Records Society to bring together and provide commentary on the sources of national prayers or special worship in the United Kingdom since the Reformation. Previous volumes have provided a general introduction to the subject of special worship and collected the sources for the period 1533–1688, and then collated and introduced the sources from 1689–1870. A fourth volume is in preparation, which will bring together for examination the sources on anniversary commemorations from 1533–2016. Taken together, these volumes, which might at first be seen as a rather esoteric endeavour of interest only to ecclesiastical historians and ecclesiastical ‘anoraks’ (of which I am admittedly one…) yield a rich harvest for those interested in a wide array of themes, ideas and developments. Like all good collections of primary sources, they help us to interact with, and tease out, the many stories told, and pictures painted, by primary source materials – stories which seem obvious once they have been brought to our attention, but which might not ever have occurred to us without the help of skilled commentators.

Turning to the substance of this volume, we are warned that, in the period under consideration, the definition of special worship becomes ‘more fluid’ (vi), and that the editors have had to make some (not entirely unproblematic) distinctions between national occasions, reflecting the concerns of the nation (or some part of it), and church occasions, addressing internal church concerns and audiences. The focus here is upon occasions of national significance. Focusing on the worship of the established churches of the British Isles, the volume brings together three types of text for the period which begins with the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. The first of these is the orders issued by state authorities or church leaders in connection with the arrangements for occasions of special worship. The second is the forms of prayer or worship published for such occasions, and the third is the addresses published in connection with such events. These primary sources are accompanied by commentary, which varies in length from one occasion to the next, but which provides readers with information relating to the context of the occasion, any notable details, and notice of significant developments in practice or form. They are prefaced by a truly estimable and lengthy introduction by Philip Williamson. That introduction, like those of other volumes, can be read as a detailed treatment of, and reflection upon, the development and evolution of special national worship in the period covered. The aim, which is amply fulfilled, is to provide readers with ‘the general and contextual material necessary to use, understand and interpret the texts which follow’ (xxxiv).

Several themes come out of the introduction, which provide food for thought for the reader as they delve into the texts set out in the volume. The first is a rather prosaic reflection upon what those texts tell us about the shape of the nation and its arrangements in relation to religion. In 1871 the state or nation included Ireland and the broader geopolitical context was one of empire. By the mid-twentieth century, Eire had been born and imperial realities were passing into history. Similarly, the number and geographical reach of the established churches was diminished over this period, which begins with Irish disestablishment and encompasses the disestablishment of the Church in Wales. The contents of this volume reflect these changes. They also, however, reflect deeper realities about the changing role of religion in national life, and the changing relationship between church and state. So, for example, this is a period which, with some exceptions in relation to war and royal events, sees a move away from the use of orders in council and state initiative in ordering occasions of special national worship. Instead, the established churches take the initiative. Ultimately, while this change reflects a reality of pluralism, declining church attendance, declining levels of Christian belief, and the rise of pluralism, it paved the way for the organisation of special national worship for a much more diverse range of reasons and occasions than in previous eras.

So, the texts tell us much about the shape of the state and the development of constitutional ideas and arrangements. They tell us, too, about the changing role of the monarchy as a unifying figurehead in the life of the nation. Many of the increased numbers of occasions of special national worship covered in this volume relate to royal events. They reflect the outworking of the symbolic role, faith and religious adherence of the monarch, and how that has changed over time. They provide ample scope, also, for reflections on how the agency of individual monarchs and other church leaders has shaped developments in special worship – thinking particularly of Queen Victoria's interventions in this and Randall Davidson's emphasis on special worship of a truly national and comprehensive character during the Great War.

These materials, national in character though they are, also have much to tell us about theological developments and developments in the internal life and arrangements of the churches. They reflect, for example, a retreat from an emphasis upon entreating the specific providence of God, to a greater concern with His general providence, and a move away from special days of prayer for particular purposes, and towards a concern to promote ongoing prayerfulness and dependence on God. Equally, changes in form as well as substance are seen over time. While the Church of Scotland, which has always had a strong tradition of extemporary prayer, showed a greater willingness to engage with published forms or prayer and worship, the Church of England, which had historically placed great emphasis upon uniformity and conformity with the uses of the Book of Common Prayer, showed greater willingness to embrace diversity and initiative in the precise forms and expressions of prayers and services to be used on such occasions.

Another theme concerns the part that the diminished role of the state, or the increased role of the churches, in organising events of special national prayer or worship played in the development of the ecumenical movement. The seeds for this were planted by the increasing co-operation between the Archbishops of the Church of England and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in organising events of special worship at the turn of the century and during the World Wars. These developments, nurtured by the concern of new forms of broadcasting to create events which were truly national in character, and enhanced by the apparent spiritual independence of the established churches in this period, paved the way for the creation of the first multi-church events. In this period, then, we see the first examples of acts of national worship which involved not only the Protestant free churches, but also leaders from the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches as well as of Jewish congregational bodies. Thus, even in an age of pluralism and the decline (perhaps) of Christian belief, the first half of the twentieth century witnessed acts of special national worship which were more genuinely national in character than ever before.

All in all, this is a commendable and fascinating volume which has given me much to think and reflect on. Given the retreat from the use of legal forms, its content is not predominantly legal in character, but it has much to tell us about the evolving relationship between church, state and nation, and about the changing and evolving role of faith and religion in the life of the nation. I commend it to your notice, noting as I do so that the cost of membership of the Church of England Records Society is, unlike that of this volume, extremely modest, and carries with it the benefit of receiving the published works of the Society.