Naughty vicar guilty

Well, at least on the charges pertaining to drinking in pubs. No real surprise there, given the amount of evidence.

He got off the swearing and pissing in public charges.

"‘Good Fellow’
SAYS THE
VILLAGE
By "HERALD" REPORTER
THEY sang “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” in the bar of the Barley Mow at Dogmersfield, Hampshire, last night.

But the jolly good fellow was not with them.

The Rev. Hugo Dominique de la Mothe, rector of Dogmersfield, with the words "guilty . . . drunk . . . resorting to taverns . . . tippling . . .” in his ears, had left a dingy office in Westminster a few hours before, and, puffing slowly at his pipe and leaning on the arm of his friend set out for Paddington and a month's holiday in Devon.

There he will consider whether to appeal against the findings of the Chancellor of the Diocese of Winchester that he was guilty of three of the charges preferred against him at the Consistory Court at Basingstoke last month.

Mr. G. H. G. Scott, the Chancellor, who had presided over the Consistory Court, told Mr. de la Mothe in the Board Room of Queen Anne's Bounty yesterday:

“You have been found guilty of frequently being drunk: resorting to taverns and tippling: being drunk at Dogmersfield on June 16, 1943.

"I find you not guilty on the charges of swearing and of making a nuisance of yourself in the presence of women.

"You will pay the whole of the costs with the exception of the shorthand writer’s charges.”
Daily Herald - Thursday 07 December 1944, page 4.

Now I'm wondering who the rector's friend was he was going off on holiday with.

He remained popular, in the Barley Mow, at least.

“A Good Man"
The Barley Mow received the news with dismay.

“We are all very sorry to hear it.” the proprietor, Mr. William Farrant, said. “The Rector was very popular here, and we thought him a good man.”

As I walked with Mr. de la Mothe from the Queen Anne's Bounty he told me;

"My total income is only £283 a year and a house I cannot afford to keep up, so I live in an outhouse. The costs of this case will probably be £500.

“The whole thing is the result of village gossip.

“For six months I have been dogged by private detectives, and I know who set them on to me, but I was doing no wrong.

“I have 28 days in which to decide whether I shall appeal to the Privy Council, and in the meantime I am going to Devonshire for a holiday.

"If I feel like a drink while I am there I shall certainly go into a pub."
Daily Herald - Thursday 07 December 1944, page 4.

How the hell could the rector afford to go on holiday if his costs were going to be almost double his annual salary? Of course, he'd be visiting pubs while away. Where no busybody neighbours could shop him to the bishop.

But most intriguing is the mention of private detectives. Is that true? And, if so, who employed them?

"During the hearing of the case in the Consistory Court the vicar admitted that he went to the Queen's Head and the Barley Mow sometimes.

He said he went there in connection with his civil defence duties or to talk over parochial matters with the churchwardens.

Yesterday, the Chancellor said: "I cannot help thinking that a more suitable place might have been chosen for the purpose.”

The Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Mervyn Haigh, will announce his decision from the pulpit of Winchester Cathedial."
Daily Herald - Thursday 07 December 1944, page 4. 

Guilty, but no sentence yet. Weird that the sentence would be announced from a pulpit.