Public and private in the life, thought, and faith of R. H. Tawney: the Scott Holland Lecture 2022

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is an expanded version of the centenary Scott Holland Memorial Lecture delivered to an online symposium organised by the Scott Holland Trust on 4 November 2022. R. H. Tawney, one of the most important socialist thinkers and historians of the twentieth century, gave the first Scott Holland Lectures in 1922. This essay examines two controversial aspects of Tawney’s life, the relationship of his Christian faith to his politics and Tawney’s marriage to Jeanette, the sister of William Beveridge. It explores differences and tensions between public perceptions and private realities in Tawney’s biography. Although his private reflections were strongly influenced by his faith, it is argued that Tawney’s public political declarations were largely secular in nature. In reassessing Tawney’s private failings as a husband and companion, it is cautioned that there should be no present-minded rush to judgement.