Correspondence

The correspondence in this section cover a wide range of subjects and include various individuals. Subjects include politics and ideologies, religious or spiritual concerns, formal items such as Johnson's admission as vicar at Dunham Massey and confirmation of his appointment as Dean from Downing Street, and personal concerns.

Letters from Nowell Johnson form a large part of this section and many of these letters are illustrated by Nowell. The wartime correspondence with Nowell, who was in Wales with their two daughters while Hewlett remained in Canterbury, is particularly interesting and has been digitised. There are also a substantial number of letters from Johnson's colleagues at the Cathedral, notably the canons and the Archbishops. Other correspondents include Paul Robeson, Ivan Maisky and the Reverend Frederick Shirley, Headmaster of The King's School, Canterbury from 1935 to 1962. The vast majority of the correspondence in this section are single letters written to Johnson in admiration, support, recrimination and opposition and represent a wide range of views.

Hewlett Johnson corresponded with a wide range of people and appears to have kept much of this material.

Johnson's correspondents include his family, his fist wife Mary and second wife Nowell, friends, including notable names such as Sybil Thorndike and Victor Gollancz, his professional contacts and strangers who wrote to him in his capacity as a clergyman. Johnson was Dean of Canterbury Cathedral under four Archbishops; with Cosmo Gordon Lang (1928-1942) and Geoffrey Fisher (1945-1961), Johnson had something of a stormy relationship, while his relationships with his old advocate William Temple (1942-1945) and Michael Ramsey (1961-1974) were more cordial. In his capacity as an author and advocate of socialism and pacifism, Johnson earned praise and condemnation from those he knew and strangers who wrote to him.