The curious case of the job swap clergymen

The Rev Harry Cotton Smith became Vicar of Bourne in 1913 amid curious circumstances that have never been fully explained but the available evidence indicates that he obtained the appointment as the result of his friendships within the parish and the unpopularity of the then vicar, the Rev Thomas Cowpe Lawson, with some members of the church.

In 1911, it was decided to hold an Art and Industrial Exhibition in Bourne similar to that staged at Castle Bytham during the two previous years, in 1909 and 1910, largely through the efforts of Cotton Smith who had been vicar there since 1898. Both events were extremely popular and as a result, he was persuaded by several influential people in Bourne, lead by Mr Robert Gardner, magistrate and bank manager, Thomas Baxter and Alderman William Wherry, two leading businessmen, to increase the scope of the exhibition and move it to a larger venue within the town. He agreed to the idea and became honorary secretary of the organising committee and when the exhibition was held at the Corn Exchange in June 1911, it attracted widespread support and was a tremendous success.

Cotton Smith became close friends with the organisers, some of them influential members of the parochial church council, although the Rev Thomas Cowpe Lawson, who was then vicar, played no part in the proceedings. Two years later, he resigned the living and his announcement on Saturday 14th June 1913 came as a complete surprise to the inhabitants of the town. It appears that the legality of his appointment had been questioned but we do not know who raised these matters that involved technicalities over the advowson which, in ecclesiastical law, relates to the recommendation of a member of the clergy to a vacant benefice. However, an objection to his appointment was made and upheld in law and, as a result, he resigned and the living was declared vacant by the Crown.

Cowpe Lawson however, knew nothing of any opposition to his incumbency. He told the Stamford Mercury on Friday 20th January 1913: "I am entirely ignorant of the circumstances connected with the decision. I have not been informed of the grounds of the objection but I have received a notification that the living has been declared vacant and have accordingly tendered my resignation which has been accepted by the Bishop of Lincoln but I am unable to say when my duties will cease."

Cowpe Lawson had been appointed vicar two years before, in 1911, and, according to the Stamford Mercury, “had become generally popular during that time, winning a large circle of friends by his kindly disposition, while the poor found in him a sympathetic friend”. A petition was raised in the town urging the Lord Chancellor, who was responsible for the appointment of clergy, to reinstate Cope Lawson as vicar on the grounds that he had been no party to the legal proceedings of which he was an innocent victim.

But it was to no avail and in August 1913, Cotton Smith was offered the living by the Lord Chancellor and he accepted, while the Bishop of Lincoln appointed Cowpe Lawson as Vicar of Castle Bytham. It was therefore, a job swap that took place in the early autumn when both clergymen were instituted in their new parishes.

The only clue to dissatisfaction with Cowpe Lawson’s conduct came in a brief reference made by the Stamford Mercury on Friday 15th August 1913 which said that “his broad-minded principles brought him into close relationship with the non-conformists” and that may not have been acceptable to those who ran the affairs of the Abbey Church who preferred a more fundamentalist approach to the Christian religion as preached by the Church of England.

Whatever the reasons, Cotton Smith did not stay at Bourne and in 1918 he resigned after being offered the living at Brigg in North Lincolnshire while Cowpe Lawson remained Vicar of Castle Bytham until he retired in 1929.

See also The Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1911

Return to Incumbents of Bourne Abbey