‘Mass Anywhere on Sea or Land’: Catholicism and the Royal Navy, 1901–1906

What is it about?

Before the First World War, the law stated that only Anglican clergy could perform religious services aboard British warships; clergy of other denominations were, other than in exceptional circumstances, barred from undertaking this role. For a brief period at the start of the twentieth century an informal and unpublicized attempt was made to circumvent this requirement and provide Catholic sailors with access to their own priests at sea. The reasons for this policy, how it operated and why it ended are explored in this article.

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Why is it important?

The attitude of the pre-First World War Royal Navy to Roman Catholicism is under-researched and widely misunderstood. This article corrects some of those problems.