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In many ways the First World War was a watershed. It forced many social changes and brought home to most people the reality and horrors of modern warfare. The cosy assumptions of the Victorian and Edwardian periods vaporised and the real nature of the social divisions in Britain were exposed.
Glebe lands were sold off piece by piece and eventually the assets of the church which had been land and produce based (and hence inflation proofed) were converted to cash whose value could be wiped out at a stroke or eroded by inflation. Fortunately Britain did not suffer the hyperinflation or revolution which afflicted many countries, but it did suffer the depression.
In the religious field the impact of universal education, the rise of science and the improvement in communications vasued many to regard the church as irrelevant and attendances dwindled. The landed gentry no longer saw it as their duty to maintain and support the churches and while many did, most did not. Purley had lost its Lord of the Manor with the death of Major Storer in 1902 and no-one really took his place.
The interwar period saw the end of tithes. They had been converted to an annual rent by the Tithe Act of 1836 and many landowners took the opportunity to commute their tithes to a fixed sum. This had happened for example with the railways, although they had not redeemed all their land. In 1921 they redeemed parcel 140 (which had been assessed at an annual charge of £6-2-6) by purchasing an annuity of £6-12-6 payable to the rector. Mr Wilder did likewise in 1922 in respect of parcels 187, 2, 188, 189a and 211 etc for which the charge was £43-9-11. This was equivalent to a capital sum of £817-16-10.
By an Act of 1936 tithes were finally abolished and landowners had to pay a final commuted sum which was handed over to Queen Anne's Bounty to administer and share between parishes. The last parcel recorded for Purley was 225H charged at 2s 2d which was redeemed on 5th July 1935 for £3-6-5 but this had to be handed to Queen Anne's Bounty.
Richard Pring was instituted as rector of Purley on the 4th April 1915. He had obtained his BA in 1884 from Trinity College, Dublin and had been ordained in 1887. His spells as curate were at Rumboldswyke, Sussex (1887-91), South Hackney (1891-93) and St Ann's Brookfield, Highgate (1893-95). He became vicar of Morton in Cheshire in 1895 but returned to St Ann's to retake his job as curate in 1902. In 1907 he was appointed chaplain to the British Legation in Berne and moved on to a similar post in Algiers in 1914 where he stayed until his appointment to Purley.
As had his predecessor, he became chairman of the Purley Parish Meeting. The Minute Book which he kept gradually became more informative about the affairs of the Parish than it had under his predecessors.
In 1915 a working party was set up at the rectory to make surgical necessities for the wounded under the auspices of Reading War Hospital's Supply Depot. Money for the material came from collections at the Friday Evening services. The church also purchased six 15/6 War Savings Certificates and one £5 War Bond. Donations to the various war charities continued until well after the war was over.
In 1917 J.R.Wright, who had held the post of organist since 1887, resigned.
Leila Downing-Fullerton, Daughter of the late Major Storer of Purley Park, died in 1918 and left £300 to the Churchwardens to be invested for the upkeep of the church. The money was invested to purchase 5% War Stock 1929-47 and yielded £15-5-2 pa interest. The next year her four children installed the clock on the south face of the tower in memory of her and her husband George. The mechanism was manufactured by Gillett & Johnson Ltd of Croydon, Surrey. One of their daughters, Myra, had given a paten to commemorate the end of the First World War in 1918.
The bells had been put back into commission and a group of ringers was established at the church. Several certificates survive which record membership of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers.
In 1920 the question of a War Memorial was discussed at a special Parish Meeting on Nov 16th. The meeting considered a report from a special committee and agreed to a tablet being erected at the church at a cost of no more than £80. The order was placed with Messrs Millwall Bros of London.
Richard Pring resigned the living of Purley in 1924 to become chaplain to the SPG at St Andrew's Pau. In 1930 he moved to St. Jean de Luz in France, still with the SPG.
Charles Coe was instituted rector of Purley on December 27th 1924. He had obtained his BA degree from St John's College Cambridge in 1893 and was ordained in 1895. He served as curate successively at St George's, Altringham (1895-1902); Knighton, Radnorshire (1902-03); All Saints, Maidstone (1903-07); Merworth (1907-12) and Speldhurst (1912-14).
From 1914 to 1924 he was Rector of Offham and Chaplain to Malling University.
The old rectory was sold to the Lister family in 1926 for £3000, following a proposal to build a new rectory to the south of the railway. A Parsonage House Delapidation Fund had been started in 1925.
1926 saw the General Strike and the miners stayed out on strike long after everyone had gone back to work. There was widespread hardship and Purley had three special collections for the Miner's Distress Fund in 1928 which yielded £9-16-9.
The Churchyard was extended in 1926 when an additional fifth of an acre to the north was donated by Mr. Farmiloe of Purley Park who also contributed £20 towards the costs of the necessary levelling and fencing works.
Charles became the first Chairman of Purley Parish Council when it was formed in 1927. However he was soon caught up in a scandal which involved choirboys and he was hastily removed by the bishop. He left Purley in the middle of 1927 to become Rector of Ladbrooke with Radbourne. He was then successively incumbent of Boughton Malherbe, Kent (1932-36); Preston Bagot (1936-39) and Nunstead from 1939 to some time after 1947 when it is believed he died.
Arthur Harris-Rivett was inducted as rector of Purley on 13th November 1927. He had been ordained in Australia in 1901 and was curate of Glenraven, Victoria from 1901-2. He came to England briefly to serve as curate of St. Michael's Stockwell from 1902-3 and returned to Australia as Minister of Rutherglen, Victoria from 1904 to 1907.
He was appointed vicar of Streatham in 1907, rector of Graffham in 1909 and then served as vicar of Seaview, IOW from 1912 to 1913. He spent the war in South America being Archdeacon of the Falklands from 1913 to 1915 and Archdeacon in Brazil from 1915 to 1919, during which time he served as Chaplain to the British Embassy in Rio De Janeiro. He returned to England as Vicar of St Mary's Southampton from 1921 to 1924 when he resigned. He was ‘Permitted to Officiate’ at St John Langton from 1925 to 1927 before being appointed to Purley.
The new Rectory had not been completed when he arrived and
so he had to go and live in West Lodge Cottage for a while. This was one of a
pair of cottages that used to form the gatehouse for
It was during his incumbency that in 1930 the organist, Nelson Cooper, and his wife gave a new sanctuary lamp. This small lamp sat inside the old lamp, which had been brought to Purley from a ruined French church during the war. The old lamp burned large quantities of an oil which smoked very badly. The new lamp was given to commemorate the Cooper's newly born son and burned a smokeless oil which was also much more economical.
Arthur resigned the living in 1931 moving to be perpetual curate of Braywood near Windsor until 1937 when he was reappointed rector of Graffham in the Ely Diocese. He died in 1946.
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