Many people campaigned to get Archbishop Welby to admit that he was wrong when he accepted in 2015 that Bishop George Bell, a towering figure in Christian history who died in 1958, had on the balance of probabilities sexually abused a young girl. Welby admitted his gross error in 2021. Rather belatedly, it has at last been decided to restore Bell’s name to a building in Chichester, from which it had been removed. That was the background to this letter published (minus the second paragraph which was edited) in The Spectator on 26 August.
Sir: It was with the assistance of repeated interventions from Charles Moore that the reputation of the great Bishop Bell was rescued from the terrible damage inflicted on it by Archbishop Welby and the current Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner. As he says, the return of George Bell House ‘all but completes the formal restoration of Bell’s reputation’ (Notes, 5 August). In Chichester, Its final and absolute completion should take the form of a service of rejoicing and thanksgiving in the cathedral on 3 October, the date of Bell’s death on which he is commemorated in the Anglican calendar.
Bishop Warner should preach at that service, and proclaim the innocence of his famous predecessor, which he has so far failed to do. In February 2019 he said that ‘Bishop Bell cannot be proven guilty’, a shamefully inadequate statement.
One final task would then remain. When Bell was unjustly condemned in 2015, work stopped on the statue of him that is to erected on the west front of Canterbury Cathedral, where he served as dean from 1924 to 1929. The cathedral announced in 2019 that the statue would be completed. Archbishop Welby said he was ‘delighted’. Yet the resumption of this work in his own cathedral is still awaited.
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords, London SW1A
Postscript. On 3 October, a service of choral evensong with thanksgiving for the life of Bishop George Bell was held at Chichester Cathedral. Alistair Lexden read the first lesson. The service was followed by the rededication of George Bell House.
