Editing Cosmo Gordon Lang (section)

===Stepney===

Lang's region of Stepney within the Diocese of London extended over the whole area generally known as London's East End, with two million people in more than 200&nbsp;parishes. Almost all were poor, and housed in overcrowded and insanitary conditions. Lang knew something of the area from his undergraduate activities at Toynbee Hall, and his conscience was troubled by the squalor that he saw as he travelled around the district, usually by bus and tram.<ref>Lockhart, pp. 153–56</ref>

Lang's liberal conservatism enabled him to associate easily with Socialist leaders such as [[Will Crooks]] and [[George Lansbury]], successive mayors of [[Poplar, London|Poplar]]; he was responsible for bringing the latter back to regular communion in the Church.<ref name= Wilk2/> In 1905 he and Lansbury joined the Central London Unemployed Body, set up by the government to tackle the region's unemployment problems.<ref>{{cite web|title= Central London Unemployed Body|publisher= Aim25 (Archives in London and the M25 area)|url= http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=12966&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=|access-date= 2 August 2009|archive-date= 6 June 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110606131718/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=12966&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=|url-status= dead}}</ref> That same year Lang took as his personal assistant a young Cambridge graduate and clergyman's son, [[Hugh Richard Lawrie Sheppard|Dick Sheppard]], who became a close friend and confidante. Sheppard was eventually ordained, becoming a radical clergyman and founder of the [[Peace Pledge Union]].<ref>Hastings, pp. 332–36</ref> Lang believed that socialism was a growing force in British life, and at a [[Church Congress]] in [[Great Yarmouth]] in 1907 he speculated on how the Church should respond to this. His remarks reached ''[[The New York Times]]'', which warned that modern socialism was often equated with unrest, that "the cry of the demagogue is in the air" and that the Church should not heed this cry.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bishop and Suffragan|work=The New York Times|date= 4 October 1907|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1907/10/04/archives/bishop-and-suffragan.html| access-date=2 August 2009}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

Much of the work in the district was supported by the East London Church Fund, established in 1880 to provide for additional clergy and lay workers in the poorest districts.{{sfn|Inglis|2013|loc= Ch 1: § Parish, Diocese and Nation}} Lang preached in wealthier parishes throughout Southern England, and urged his listeners to contribute to the Fund.<ref name= L161>Lockhart, pp. 161–64</ref> He resumed his ministry to the army when, in 1907, he was appointed Honorary Chaplain to the [[City of London Imperial Yeomanry (Rough Riders)]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28029|page=4012|date=11 June 1907}}</ref> He became chairman of the [[Church of England Men's Society]] (CEMS), which had been founded in 1899 by the merger of numerous organisations doing the same work. Initially he found it "a very sickly infant", but under his leadership it expanded rapidly, and soon had over 20,000&nbsp;members in 600&nbsp;branches. Later he became critical of the Church's failure to use this movement effectively, calling it one of the Church's lost opportunities.<ref name= L161/>