Ivor Bulmer-Thomas - Church of England

Church of England

In the same year as losing his Parliamentary seat, Bulmer-Thomas had found a seat in the House of Laity of the Church Assembly. There, as he had at Westminster, he intervened frequently in debate with some extravagant and controversial speeches The issue which had become the most pressing for Bulmer-Thomas on the Church Assembly was the care of the fabric of Churches. In 1951 he was appointed Chairman of the London Diocesan Advisory Committee on the care of Churches, and in June of that year he successfully moved a motion in the Church Assembly to set up a £4 million trust for the preservation of historic Churches.

The Historic Churches Preservation Trust achieved its desired funding and persuaded the Church Assembly to pass the Inspection of Churches Measure, to properly assess the condition of old Churches every five years. Bulmer-Thomas' obituary in The Independent commented that "more than any other single Act, this modest Measure has prevented many of those sudden 'repairs crises' which carry off too many fine churches".