Randall Davidson

Randall Davidson.
Randall Davidson (1848–1930) was an Anglican priest who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. Conciliatory by nature, he spent much of his term of office striving to keep the Church together in the face of deep and sometimes acrimonious divisions between evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics. Under his leadership the Church gained some independence from state control, but his efforts to modernise the Book of Common Prayer were frustrated by Parliament. Though cautious about bringing the Church into domestic party politics, Davidson did not shy away from larger political issues. He urged moderation on both sides in the conflict over Irish independence and campaigned against immoral methods of warfare in the First World War. He played a key role in the passage of the Parliament Act 1911 and led efforts to resolve the 1926 General Strike. He was the longest-serving Archbishop of Canterbury since the Reformation, and also the first to retire from the office.