Public Worship Regulation Act 1874

Last updated

Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 [1]
Act of Parliament
Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (1837).svg
Long title An Act for the better administration of the Laws respecting the regulation of Public Worship.
Citation 37 & 38 Vict. c. 85
Introduced by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, 20 April 1874, private member's bill [2] (Lords)
Territorial extent  [3]
Dates
Royal assent 7 August 1874
Commencement 1 July 1875 (1875-07-01) [4]
Repealed1 March 1965
Other legislation
Repealed by Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 (No. 1), art 87, Sch 5
Status: Repealed

The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 85) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, to limit what he perceived as the growing ritualism of Anglo-Catholicism and the Oxford Movement within the Church of England. [5] The bill was strongly endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, and vigorously opposed by Liberal party leader William Ewart Gladstone. Queen Victoria strongly supported it. [6] The law was seldom enforced, but at least five clergymen were imprisoned by judges for contempt of court, which greatly embarrassed the Church of England archbishops who had vigorously promoted it. [7]

Contents

Tait's bill

Tait's bill was controversial. It was given government backing by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who called it "a bill to put down ritualism". He referred to the practices of the Oxford Movement as "a Mass in masquerade". Queen Victoria was supportive of the Act's Protestant intentions. [8] Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone, a high church Anglican whose sympathies were for separation of church and state, felt disgusted that the liturgy was made, as he saw it, "a parliamentary football". [9]

The act

Before the act, the Church of England regulated its worship practices through the Arches Court with an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Act established a new court, presided over by former Divorce Court judge Lord Penzance. Many citizens were scandalised by parliamentary interference with worship and, moreover, by its proposed supervision by a secular court. The act gave bishops the discretionary power to order a stay of proceedings. [10]

Section 8 of the Act allows an archdeacon, church warden, or three adult male parishioners of a parish to serve on the bishop a representation, in their opinion: [11]

  1. That in such church any alteration in or addition to the fabric, ornaments, or furniture thereof has been made without lawful authority, or that any decoration forbidden by law has been introduced into such church; or,
  2. That the incumbent has within the preceding twelve months used or permitted to be used in such church or burial ground any unlawful ornament of the minister of the church, or neglected to use any prescribed ornament or vesture; or,
  3. That the incumbent has within the preceding twelve months failed to observe, or to cause to be observed, the directions contained in the Book of Common Prayer relating to the performance, in such church or burial ground, of the services, rites and ceremonies ordered by the said book, or has made or has permitted to be made any unlawful addition to, alteration of, or omission from such services, rites and ceremonies
Illustration of Fr. Richard Enraght entering Warwick Prison in 1880 Enraghtinprison.jpg
Illustration of Fr. Richard Enraght entering Warwick Prison in 1880

The bishop had the discretion to stay proceedings but, if he allowed them to proceed, the parties had the opportunity to submit to his direction with no right of appeal. The bishop was able to issue a monition, but if the parties did not agree to his jurisdiction, then the matter was to be sent for trial (section 9). [12]

The Act provided a casus belli for the Anglo-Catholic English Church Union and the evangelical Church Association. Many clergy were brought to trial and five ultimately imprisoned for contempt of court. [13]

List of clergy imprisoned

These clergy were supported financially by George Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow, who donated considerable sums to their defence and compensation. [16]

Prosecutions ended when a Royal Commission in 1906 recognised the legitimacy of pluralism in worship, [17] but the Act remained in force for 91 years until it was repealed on 1 March 1965 by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963. [18]

Territorial extent

The Act extended to England, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Ewart Gladstone</span> British Liberal prime minister (1809–1898)

William Ewart Gladstone was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for 12 years, spread over four non-consecutive terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894. He also was Chancellor of the Exchequer four times, for over 12 years. Apart from 1845 to 1847, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1832 to 1895 and represented a total of five constituencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ritualism in the Church of England</span> Emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremony of the church

Ritualism, in the history of Christianity, refers to an emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremonies of the Church, specifically the Christian practice of Holy Communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of the Holy Cross</span> Anglo-Catholic society of male priests

The Society of the Holy Cross is an international Anglo-Catholic society of male priests with members in the Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican movement, who live under a common rule of life that informs their priestly ministry and charism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Fraser (bishop)</span> English Anglican bishop (1818–1885)

James Fraser was a reforming Anglican bishop of Manchester, England. An able Church administrator and policy leader, he was active in developing the Church's approach to education and in practical politics and industrial relations. Though his views were ecumenical and he was respected within a wide variety of religions, he became involved in contentious litigation under the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851 was an act of the British Parliament which made it a criminal offence for anyone outside the established "United Church of England and Ireland" to use any episcopal title "of any city, town or place ... in the United Kingdom". It provided that any property passed to a person under such a title would be forfeit to the Crown. The act was introduced by Prime Minister Lord John Russell in response to anti-Catholic reaction to the 1850 establishment of Catholic dioceses in England and Wales under the papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae. The 1851 act proved ineffective and was repealed 20 years later by the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1871. Roman Catholic bishops followed the letter of the law but their laity ignored it. The effect was to strengthen the Catholic Church in England, but it also felt persecuted and on the defensive.

Sidney Faithorn Green (1841–1916) was an English clergyman who, during the Ritualist controversies in the Church of England, was imprisoned for 20 months for liturgical practice contrary to the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874.

The Church Union is an Anglo-Catholic advocacy group within the Church of England.

In English law and the canon law of the Church of England, a monition, contraction of admonition, is an order to a member of the clergy to do or refrain from doing a specified act. Other than a rebuke, it is the least severe censure available against clergy of the Church of England. Failure to observe the order is an offence under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963. A monition can be imposed in person by a bishop or by an ecclesiastical court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward King (bishop of Lincoln)</span> British Anglican bishop and academic

Edward King was a British Anglican bishop and academic. From 1885 to 1910, he served as Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. Before his consecration to the episcopate, he was Principal of Cuddesdon College (1863–1873), an Anglo-Catholic theological college, and then Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford (1873–1885).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm MacColl</span>

Malcolm MacColl was a Scottish cleric and publicist, noted for his views on Islam and the Eastern Question.

Thomas Pelham Dale (1821–1892) was an English Anglo-Catholic ritualist priest, most notable for being prosecuted and imprisoned for ritualist practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladstonian liberalism</span> British Victorian-era political doctrine

Gladstonian liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstonian liberalism consisted of limited government expenditure and low taxation whilst making sure government had balanced budgets and the classical liberal stress on self-help and freedom of choice. Gladstonian liberalism also emphasised free trade, little government intervention in the economy and equality of opportunity through institutional reform. It is referred to as laissez-faire or classical liberalism in the United Kingdom and is often compared to Thatcherism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Enraght</span>

Richard William Enraght was an Irish-born Church of England priest of the late nineteenth century. He was influenced by the Oxford Movement and was included amongst the priests commonly called "Second Generation" Anglo-Catholics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premierships of William Ewart Gladstone</span>

William Ewart Gladstone was the Liberal prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on four separate occasions between 1868 and 1894. He was noted for his moralistic leadership and his emphasis on world peace, economical budgets, political reform and efforts to resolve the Irish question. Gladstone saw himself as a national leader driven by a political and almost religious mission, which he tried to validate through elections and dramatic appeals to the public conscience. His approach sometimes divided the Liberal Party, which he dominated for three decades. Finally Gladstone split his party on the issue of Irish Home Rule, which he saw as mandated by the true public interest regardless of the political cost.

Events from the year 1880 in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matrimonial Causes Act 1857</span> 1857 British divorce reform law

The Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act reformed the law on divorce, moving litigation from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to the civil courts, establishing a model of marriage based on contract rather than sacrament and widening the availability of divorce beyond those who could afford to bring proceedings for annulment or to promote a private Bill. It was one of the Matrimonial Causes Acts 1857 to 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Wilberforce</span> British Anglican clergyman and bishop

Ernest Roland Wilberforce was an Anglican clergyman and bishop. From 1882 to 1896 he was the first Anglican Bishop of Newcastle upon the diocese's creation, and from 1896 to 1907 he was Bishop of Chichester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom</span>

Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom dates back to the martyrdom of Saint Alban in Roman times. Attacks on the Church from a Protestant angle mostly began with the English and Irish Reformations which were launched by King Henry VIII and the Scottish Reformation which was led by John Knox. Within England, the Act of Supremacy 1534 declared the English crown to be "the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England" in place of the Pope. Any act of allegiance to the latter was considered treasonous because the papacy claimed both spiritual and political power over its followers. Ireland was brought under direct English control starting in 1536 during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. The Scottish Reformation in 1560 abolished Catholic ecclesiastical structures and rendered Catholic practice illegal in Scotland. Today, anti-Catholicism remains present in the United Kingdom, particularly in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

John Kensit was an English religious leader and polemicist. He concentrated on a struggle against Anglo-Catholic tendencies in the Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 was introduced to simplify ecclesiastical law as it applied to the Church of England, following the recommendations of the 1954 Archbishops' Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts. Superseding the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act 1677, other acts of Parliament it repealed included the Church Discipline Act 1840, the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, the Clergy Discipline Act 1892, and the Incumbents (Discipline) Measure 1947.

References

Citations

  1. This short title was conferred on this Act by section 1 of this Act.
  2. "Divine Service In The Church Of England.—Public Worship Regulation Bill. HL Deb 20 April 1874 vol 218 cc786-808". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 20 April 1874. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, section 3
  4. The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, section 2
  5. Murray (2005), pp. 212–4
  6. Bebbington 1993, p. 226.
  7. Chadwick 2010, pp. 348–350.
  8. Murray (2005), p. 214
  9. Jenkins (1995), pp. 383–84
  10. Yates (1999), p. 237.
  11. Douglas (1996), p. 396
  12. Douglas (1996), p. 397
  13. Yates (1999), pp. 247–275
  14. Cross 1959, p. 1123.
  15. Simpson 1933, p. 51.
  16. Howell & Saint 2017, p. 88.
  17. Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline (1906) Report of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline
  18. Text of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 (No.1), (art. 87) as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
    Text of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 (No.1), Sch. 5 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Sources

Further reading