Henry
Scott Holland
was born at Ledbury,
Herefordshire, on 27th January, 1847. Henry's father, George Holland,
was extremely wealthy and could afford to send his son to Eton.
Henry was not an outstanding student and he initially failed his entrance
exam at Oxford University. He tried again
in 1866 and this time he was successful.
Holland struggled academically until he came under the influence of
Thomas
Hill Green, the senior tutor in philosophy at Balliol. Holland was
inspired by Green's ideas on religion and social reform and he eventually
obtained a "First in Greats", one of the highest academic
honours at Oxford.
Impressed by his academic achievements, Holland was offered the post
of lecturer in philosophy at Christ Church
College. As well as teaching Holland found time to publish several
books and articles including The
Duties of the Parochial Clergy Toward Some Forms of Modern Thought
(1873).
Holland also began visiting industrial slums in Britain. He was deeply
shocked by what he discovered and began to argue for Mission Houses
to be built that would serve as a point of contact between the "academic
community and the deprived classes".
In 1884 Holland left Oxford University
and became a canon at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Holland's experience of social problems in London
convinced him that the Church of England
needed to change. In his controversial book Lux
Mundi (1889) Holland
argued that Christianity was to be experienced, not contemplated.
He suggested that the Church needed to reject the "old truths"
and to "enter into an understanding of the new social and intellectual
movements of the present". Holland pointed
out that the "streets of London reek with human misery"
and the Church could no longer afford to ignore this suffering. Holland
advocated radical reform, or what he called, the "Christianization
of the social structure whereby all men live in accordance with the
principles of divine justice and human brotherhood".
Henry Scott Holland formed a group called PESEK (Politics, Economics,
Socialism, Ethics and Christianity). Members of the group investigated
social problems and came to the conclusion that the plight of the
urban poor was due to the way capitalists "exploited the working
classes". In one report Holland declared that "Powerless!
that is what the workers bitterly experience. They have been enfranchised
only to find themselves powerless to determine how they will live
their own lives."
In Holland's opinion modern capitalist companies had no conscience
and were therefore acting immorally. According to Holland, capital
and labour should be cooperating forces, sharing a common objective,
but the system had turned them into unequal rivals. Holland's solution
to the problem was state regulation. Only the state was powerful enough
to "evoke, to direct, to supervise, to empower, and to regulate
the actions" of capital and labour. The role of the Anglican
Church declared Holland should be to convince society that "duty
to God and duty to man are the same thing."
In 1889 Holland formed the Christian Social Union
(CSU) to provide direction to this new social gospel. The stated purpose
of the CSU was to "investigate areas in which moral truth and
Christian principles could bring relief to the social and economic
disorder of society". Local chapters of the CSU were established
throughout Britain.
The Christian Social Union also published a
journal, Commonwealth,
that provided a forum for discussions on religion and social reform.
The journal and upset the leaders of the Liberal
Party in 1897 when he claimed that the party had failed to protect
labour from capitalism. The Commonwealth
suggested that wealthy Liberals who showed no sympathy for the poor
should be ousted from the party.
The Commonwealth
also carried out an investigation into the injustices of bad housing,
pollution and low wages. It also campaigned strongly against the Poor
Law that forced people into the workhouse. The Christian
Social Union also published a large number of pamphlets and booklets
that suggested solutions to social problems. This included a minimum
wage and state benefits for the unemployed.
In 1910 Holland returned to Oxford University
as Regius Professor of Divinity. Holland's health deteriorated after
1914 and he was restricted in the work that he could
do. Henry
Scott Holland died on 17th March, 1918.
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