of his oldest friends, the hymnwriter Timothy Dudley-Smith.5 The sermon was based on Revelation 17:14 ‘Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful’. Eyes were directed to the risen, glorified Christ, and the sermon finished with a question often posed by John Stott as he concluded an address. Having laid out the historic facts of the gospel record, and a clear apologetic for its credibility, he would land his talk on the personal level, in a way which demanded a personal response. The Bishop did the same, finishing with Stott’s familiar question: ‘How is it between you and Jesus Christ?’
The service closed with Timothy Dudley-Smith’s much-loved hymn ‘Lord, for the Years’. Noel Tredinnick once more raised his baton and the All Souls Orchestra played the introduction as the congregation stood. With conviction, 2,000 voices sang:
Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
Urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
Sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided,
Lord of the years, we bring our thanks today.
Frances had spoken of John Stott’s integrity and consistency, and of his self-discipline and his obedience. His life was an example to follow; for like the Apostle Paul, John followed Christ’s example. The final verse of the hymn summed up the prayerful aspiration of all as the service drew to a close:
Lord, for ourselves; in living power remake us,
Self on the cross and Christ upon the throne;
Past put behind us, for the future take us,
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.
The congregation sat or kneeled as the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London led the final prayers, then the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounced the blessing. As these senior leaders of the Church of England processed out, one wondered if they would ever be seen again wearing such little emblem of high ecclesiastical office.
Around the time of Frances Whitehead’s appointment in 1956, John Stott had been approached by the board of what is now the London School of Theology, to become its Principal. This was not the only such invitation he would receive. A friend wrote to him: ‘If I were the Archangel in charge of “postings”, I should leave that said Rector where he is as long as possible.’6 That Archangel did indeed leave John there, but he did more. For he had been tracking the young woman who came to London in 1951, aged 26; a woman with a fine mind and an unusual capacity for hard work, not yet a committed Christian, but for whom God had a particular calling.
John Stott’s death had been announced on the BBC news ticker, and his UK press obituaries commanded more space than would normally be given to a serving cabinet minister.7 Many tributes appeared on social media and 30 thanksgiving services were held across the continents. Stott’s impact was such that in April 2005, TIME magazine named him as one of the ‘100 most influential people’ in the world. Under God he had exercised this ministry with barely any support staff. Without, as John called her, ‘Frances the omnicompetent’, such effective work on a range of fronts at once would not have been possible. Frances Whitehead’s story will now be told.
1. John Stott’s funeral had taken place on 8 August 2011 in All Souls Church, Langham Place, London. That was a less-formal service for the church family and for friends. His ashes were buried on 4 September 2011 in the churchyard in Dale, close to his writing retreat, The Hookses. (See pp121 ff.)
2. Charles Simeon (1759–1836), Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, was famously caught in a series of silhouettes by Edouart Augustin. While divided by nearly 150 years, John Stott was, in a sense, tutored by Simeon in expository preaching.
3. The spelling ‘virger’ is used by St Paul’s.
4. Tributes in the service were brought from senior leaders in all continents. To listen, go to johnstottmemorial.org
5. Timothy Dudley-Smith, retired Bishop of Thetford, was a friend from Cambridge days and John Stott’s authorized biographer. To listen, go to johnstottmemorial.org
6. In a letter from Douglas Johnson, founding General Secretary of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship, now UCCF. For the full quote see Timothy Dudley-Smith John Stott: The Making of a Leader (IVP, 1999) p321.
7. The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian all carried obituaries on Friday, 29 July 2011.
Part II
From Childhood to the BBC
CHAPTER TWO
Early years: 1925–36
Frances Whitehead’s father, Captain Claude Maguire Whitehead dso mc, returned from the Great War seriously injured, having had his left shoulder blown away.8 He had been educated at Repton, then at Clare College, Cambridge. He then gained a mining qualification in Sheffield before sailing to South Africa, where close relatives lived; here he became underground manager at the Robinson Deep Gold Mine in Johannesburg. Claude Whitehead happened to be back in England on holiday when war was declared in 1914, and he immediately joined up as a trooper, receiving a commission soon afterwards. The Whitehead family suffered severe loss in his generation; both of Claude’s younger brothers died within a matter of weeks on the Somme.
Frances’s mother, Evelyn Eastley, grew up in Paignton, Devon, where the Whitehead family also lived. Evelyn nursed Claude Whitehead after he came home. Before the war, she had been in love with his younger brother Hugh, so it was natural for her to be drawn into the grieving process of the family as she worked through her own grief. While Claude and Evelyn were very different in age – he 16 years her senior – and in temperament, the circumstances of life drew them together and they became engaged in 1922; a year later they were married.
Claude and Evelyn purchased a small country home with a walled garden, an orchard and several fields, at the foot of Beara Cleave, near the village of Bovey Tracey in South Devon. The village dated back to Saxon times. A house had stood on the site of the Whiteheads’ home since the eleventh century, and its name, Beara, appeared in the Domesday Book.
On their first Christmas, Claude gave Evelyn a bound volume of the Book of Common Prayer with Hymns Ancient and Modern. He wrote in the front: ‘To Darling Bobs with love from Claude, Christmas 1923’ adding the final verse of his favourite hymn, John Keble’s ‘New every morning is the Love’:
Only, O Lord, in thy dear love
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us this and every day
To live more nearly as we pray.
Pamela’s tragic illness
Two months later, on 22 February 1924, their first daughter, Pamela, was born; and on 27 March 1925 Frances arrived, named after her paternal great grandmother, the illustrious Frances Maguire. (See Interlude.) Family photographs from the 1920s show two little girls, similarly dressed, playing with family
