Editing Randall Davidson (section)

==Early years==
Davidson was born in Edinburgh on 7 April 1848, the eldest of the four children of Henry Davidson, a prosperous [[grain merchant]], and his wife Henrietta, ''née'' Swinton.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 5</ref> Both parents were [[Church of Scotland]] [[Presbyterian]]s – Henry's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were Presbyterian [[Minister (religion)|ministers]].<ref name=odnb>Mews, Stuart. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32733 "Davidson, Randall Thomas, Baron Davidson of Lambeth (1848–1930), archbishop of Canterbury"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2011. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210093539/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32733 |date=10 December 2019 }}. Retrieved 8 December 2019 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> The family was, nonetheless, in Davidson's words, "very undenominational&nbsp;... I have no recollection of receiving any teaching upon Churchmanship, either Episcopal or Presbyterian, the religion taught us being wholly of the personal sort but beautiful in its simplicity."<ref>Hughes, p. 10</ref> Davidson's biographer [[George Bell (bishop)|George Bell]] writes that the Davidsons were deeply religious without being solemn, and that it was a happy household.<ref>Bell (Volume I), pp. 5–6</ref> Davidson was educated by his mother and a succession of [[governess]]es and private tutors, before being sent, aged 12, to a small private school at [[Worksop]] in the English [[Midlands]]. The teaching there was inadequate; in particular, Davidson regretted all his life his lack of grounding in Latin and Greek.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 10</ref>

[[File:Montagu-Butler-Brooke-Westcott-Harrow.png|thumb|left|upright=0.5|alt=left: head and shoulders shot of balding, portly white man with a bushy bears; right: side-whiskered but otherwise clean shaven younger white man with dark hair|[[Henry Montagu Butler]] and [[Brooke Foss Westcott]], inspirations at [[Harrow School|Harrow]]]]
In 1862, at the age of 14, Davidson became a pupil at [[Harrow School]].<ref name=to/> The school was [[Anglican]] in its religious teachings and practices, and he took part in [[confirmation]] classes. [[Scarlet fever]] prevented him from being confirmed along with the other boys at Harrow, and he was confirmed in June 1865 at [[St George's, Hanover Square]] by the [[Bishop of London]], [[Archibald Campbell Tait]], a longstanding friend of Henry Davidson.<ref name=odnb/><ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 14</ref> The greatest influences on Davidson at Harrow were [[Henry Montagu Butler]], the headmaster, and [[Brooke Foss Westcott]], his second [[housemaster]]. Davidson was inspired by Butler's sermons and by Westcott's wide-ranging instruction on topics from architecture and poetry to philosophy and history.<ref>Davidson, ''quoted'' in Bell (Volume I), p. 16</ref> Davidson and Westcott became lifelong friends, and each came to turn to the other for advice.<ref name=to/>

In the summer holidays of 1866, before his final year at Harrow, Davidson suffered an accident that affected the rest of his life. While rabbit-shooting along with his brother and a friend, Davidson was accidentally shot in the lower back.<ref name=odnb/> The wound was severe and could have been fatal,<ref name=to/> but he slowly recovered. He recalled:

{{blockquote|I got about at first on crutches, which I had to use for a long time, and it was supposed that my leg would always be more or less helpless; but by degrees this went away, and I got back full power, save for a permanently weak ankle, which seems a strange effect to follow from a wound in the hip. There were also other troubles inaugurated, which have never passed away, though I have been able to ignore them more or less.  Had anyone prophesied in those autumn months that I should a couple of years later be winning a cup at racquets at Oxford, it would have been ludicrous.<ref>Quoted in Bell (Volume I), p. 19</ref>}}

Although Davidson gradually made an unexpectedly good recovery,{{refn|He was nevertheless left with lifelong after-effects. Some of the shot remained in his body and caused recurring abdominal illness;<ref>Begbie, p. 206</ref> damage to the hip caused frequent [[lumbago]] and a [[hernia]] obliged him to wear a [[Truss (medicine)|truss]].<ref name=odnb/> Despite this, he remained active throughout his life. In 1926 [[Winston Churchill]] recorded his surprise that Davidson, who was by then 78, continued to play [[squash (sport)|squash]] frequently.<ref>Gilbert (1977), p. 1373</ref>|group=n}} the accident marred his last year at Harrow, where he had hoped to compete for several senior prizes;<ref>Bell (Volume I), pp. 20–21</ref> it also ruined his chances of an Oxford scholarship.<ref>Hughes, p. 11</ref>

Davidson went up as a [[Commoner (academia)|commoner]] to [[Trinity College, Oxford]], in October 1867. The college was undistinguished at the time, and Davidson found the Trinity faculty disappointingly mediocre.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 21</ref> Although [[high-church]] versus [[low-church]] controversies were rife in Oxford, he was not greatly interested in them, being, as always, more concerned with religious than with [[Christian liturgy|liturgical]] considerations.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 23</ref> His chief aim was to complete his studies and go on to be [[ordained]] as a priest. His health affected his studies; he had hoped to study [[Literae humaniores|Greats]] (classics and philosophy), but as a result of his injuries he had, he later said, "intense difficulty in concentrating thought on books" and opted for the less demanding subjects of law and history.<ref>Barber, p. 415</ref> He graduated with a third class [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree, conferred in November 1871.<ref>"University Intelligence", ''The Times'', 18 November 1871, p. 6</ref>{{refn|An [[Oxford MA]] degree was conferred on Davidson in 1875.<ref>"University Intelligence", ''The Times'', 12 June 1875, p. 14</ref>|group=n}}

After leaving Oxford, Davidson rejoined his family in Scotland and then went with his parents on a six-week tour of Italy. On his return he began a course of study in London with [[Charles Vaughan (priest)|Charles Vaughan]], [[Master of the Temple]], with a view to ordination.<ref>Hughes, pp. 11–12</ref> Davidson's health was still precarious, and after three months he was obliged to abandon his studies.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 29</ref> After further rest and another leisurely holiday, this time in the Middle East,<ref name=h12/> he resumed his studies in October 1873 and completed them the following March.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 33</ref>