Bishop Edward Lee Hicks’ diary offers an honest picture of the daily life of a bishop in the period immediately before and during the first world war, a portrait of church and society in a largely rural diocese in the last phase before the radical transformation which the “Great War’ hastened. The diary presents a largely church-centred picture; but it is also valuable as a personal view of such matters as Lincolnshire social life including the impact of war on the county, conditions of travel at the beginning of the era of the motor car, characteristics of the clergy, and frequent comment on items of archaeological and antiquarian interest.Canon GRAHAM NEVILLEwas Canon andPrebendary of Lincoln Cathedral from 1982-1987.