Monsignor Laurance Goulder

The third master of the Guild, Monsignor Laurance Goulder, was a convert Anglican clergyman like his predecessors. Monsignor Goulder would serve as the Master of the Guild from 1951 to 1968. He was a historian and added an educational element to the many Ransom pilgrimages about the country. During the novena before the feast of Our Lady of Ransom he used to gather the posted petitions of Ransomers and take them to Walsingham. So that he should have witnesses for this, in 1952 he started the walking pilgrimage from London to Walsingham. This was an occasion of many graces for those men privileged to take part and many others, as well as being a great incentive to fund-raising for the Guild.

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Monsignor Goulder obtained the services of a priest assistant in 1966. Fr Anthony Stark was a cradle Catholic and not from a wealthy family so Monsignor Goulder felt that he ought to provide him with a stipend, whereupon the honorary secretary resigned in protest. Monsignor Goulder retired in 1968 and his assistant became the fourth master. Having outlived his siblings, Monsignor Goulder inherited all of the parental property, endowed the Guild with funds to support the Master and died in 1969. In 1967, a prominent Guild member of the time, Mr Martin Gillett, with some Anglican friends set up the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary which fostered friendships between Catholic and Anglican clergy, leading to a tide of receptions into the Catholic Church in the 1990s.