The Board for Social Responsibility came into being on the 1st January 1958 as an Advisory Committee to the Church Assembly. Aiming 'to promote and co-ordinate the thought and action of the Church in matters affecting family, social and industrial life', it was an amalgamation of two earlier central Church bodies - the Church of England Moral Welfare Council (MWC) and the Social and Industrial Council (SIC). The first meeting of the provisional Board was held on the 15 October 1957 at Church House, Westminster, and by the 3rd meeting the first Chairman, Sir John Wolfenden, was in post.
Meeting regularly throughout 1958 the newly formed Board grappled with defining the actual structure of the Board and the parameters within which it would operate. After much deliberation, the decision was reached to expand on the work of the absorbed Councils, albeit in a more administered and co-ordinated manner. In terms of Industry this development was guided by a BSR Working Party report on 'The Task of the Church in Relation to Work', whilst a survey was carried out to assess the work of MCW with a view of observing more regulated and professional.
Unlike the Board's predecessors a permanent Secretary was appointed, with this viewed by the members as imperative if the Board was to fulfil its obligations (permanent Secretaries of the sub-committees would follow). E.A.O.G Wedell was appointed Secretary in late 1958, with one of his first tasks being to suggest the Board needed to work in six distinct, although related, groups: Sex, Marriage and the Family; The Church and Industry; Economic Policy; Community; The Church and the changing culture pattern; Overseas and International. Wedell left in mid-1960 to be replaced by Edwin Barker, who remained central to the work of the Board until 1972.
The work of the Board was dictated either by outside requests (from Synod, individual Churchmen, Government departments) or its committees deciding that a particular task should be undertaken. Examples of issues investigated by the Board in its formative years include Work, Punishment, Abortion, Sterilization, Race Relations and aspects of Policing, with the Board priding itself on never refusing a request for help from a reputable source and in maintaining a high standard of work on the subjects placed before it. Though not directly responsible to the dioceses, its members were aware of the need for closer links with both diocese and parishes. To facilitate this, the BSR magazine 'Bulletin' was published to provide updates on the work of the Board.
The major investigations undertaken on the Board's behalf were carried out by Working Parties. Generally headed by the BSR Secretary (or BSR sub-committee Secretary) and engaged to concentrate on specific topics for a defined length of time, these parties were not restricted to Anglicans, with the only test of membership being professional excellence and 'men of integrity'. Discussion at Party meetings would centre on material (reports, articles, publications) presented to the members offering a range of arguments and viewpoints. Conclusions would be drawn, and, generally, a report of the findings presented to Synod and published.
Much of the remainder of the work under the remit of the Board was carried out by the Secretary. Tasks included; advising clergy and laity at parish level on matters of social responsibility; accepting requests to provide evidence to central Government, Royal Commissions, departmental and Select Committees; writing reports on issues and briefs for bishops involved with debates in the House of Lords; represent the Church of England on external bodies - the British Council of Churches for example, and encouraging national and international links thereby helping the Church fulfil its pastoral mission. The Board also retained an awareness not to carry out work already being carried out by other bodies, the Social responsibility Department of the British Council of Churches for example.
In 1964 the International Affairs Committee became the third sub-committee of the Board. Later this committee would take under its direction the work of the Council for Commonwealth Settlement (later to become Committee for Overseas Settlement).
Over time the scope and nature of the Board's work altered and expanded to mirror the changing issues faced by society both at home at overseas. As a result investigations into the work of the Board took place in 1973, 1978 and 1993 as part of Synod's policy of examining in depth of the major Advisory Commissions to Synod.
The Board was replaced by Mission and Public Affairs Division in 2003.
(Note: for more information on the work of the sub-committees of the Board see the relevant Administrative Histories in the catalogue entries: BSR/SPC; BSR/IND; BSR/IAC)
Chairmen of the Board:
- Sir John Wolfenden, 1958-1961
- Rt. Revd. Ronald Williams, Bishop of Leicester, 1961-1976
- Rt. Revd. Graham Leonard, Bishop of London, 1976-1982
- Rt. Revd. Hugh Montefiore, Bishop of Birmingham, 1982-1987
- Charles Green (acting Chair), 1987
- Rt. Revd. John Yates, Bishop of Gloucester, 1988-1991
- Rt. Revd. David Stuart Sheppard, Bishop of Liverpool, 1992-1996
- Rt. Revd. Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, 1997-2002
- Rt. Revd. Thomas F. Butler, Bishop of Southwark, 2002 -2003
(note: for a list of Board Secretaries see BSR/SEC)
