The Church of England border polls 1915–1916 were a series of referendums held in January and February 1915 (with second polls being held in two parishes in March 1916), for residents of living in nineteen

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

ecclesiastical

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, the boundaries of which crossed the England–Wales border. They were carried out to determine if the parish residents wished their parish to remain part of the Church of England or to become part of the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...

when the

Welsh Church Act 1914 The Welsh Church Act 1914 is an Act of Parliament under which the Church of England was separated and disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire, leading to the creation of the Church in Wales. The Act had long been demanded by the Nonconformist ...

took effect. (Its implementation was delayed because of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and it did not take effect until 31 March 1920). The polls eventually resulted in all but one of the border parishes voting to remain with the Church of England.

Background

The Welsh Church Act 1914 was passed by parliament to

disestablish The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

the Church of England in

Wales and Monmouthshire , Status= Historic county Ceremonial county (until 1974)Administrative county (1889–1974) , Start= 1535 , Origin= Laws in Wales Act 1535 , Motto= Faithful to both (Utrique Fideli ...

. Section 9 of the Act provided for the Commissioners for Church Temporalities in Wales (commonly called "The Welsh Church Commissioners") to hold referendums in the nineteen areas defined as "border parishes", parishes whose ecclesiastical boundaries straddled the temporal boundary between England and Wales, to decide if the parish wanted to join the Church in Wales when it was disestablished or to remain part of the established Church of England. Section 9 of the Welsh Church Act required the Commissioners to ascertain "the general wishes of the parishioners" but did not specify how "parishioners" was to be defined. The

Commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

therefore interpreted the provision broadly. The Welsh Church Act provided that the Church in Wales parishes would no longer retain private endowments granted to them before 1662 (though this was later partly compensated for by the Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act 1919).

Electorate

The eligibility to vote in the ballots was extended to all men and women over 21 who lived in the respective parishes; non-resident ratepayers were also entitled to vote. The inclusion of all men and women over 21 extended the voting franchise beyond the limited franchise given to women by the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

. It was one of the first examples of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

in the United Kingdom prior to the introduction of the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928, which gave women the same voting rights as men in parliamentary elections. However, the extended franchise meant that there was no suitable register for the

to use, which exacerbated their difficulties in holding the elections. They also posted ballot papers to parishioners serving in the Forces. Turnout for the votes was high compared to other elections.

Results

The results of the referendums were given as a Written Answer in the House of Commons by the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

, Reginald McKenna. When reporting, the

took the view that, in spite of the difficulty in conducting the elections, in all the 17 parishes for which results were published there was a "marked preponderance of opinion" in favour of remaining part of the Church of England, so they needed to take no further action. The results of the ballots in Llansilin and

Rhydycroesau is a tiny village on the English-Welsh border, west of Oswestry on the B roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, B4580 road. It lies partly in the Shropshire parish of Oswestry Rural; the other part is in Montgomeryshire, Powys. ...

were not published as they were deemed to be too close to call. A second referendum, using a more precise ballot, was therefore held in March 1916. Rhydycroesau voted to remain with the Church of England, and Llansilin was the only parish to vote in favour of joining the Church in Wales. Because of the results, when disestablishment did happen in 1920, parishes and churches which were in a Welsh

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

were transferred to nearby Church of England dioceses for episcopal oversight. For example, Holy Trinity Church, Sarn in Wales was part of the Diocese of St David's but as that became a diocese of the Church in Wales, it was transferred to the Church of England's Diocese of Hereford.

Notes

Footnote

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1915-1916 Church of England border polls 1915 in England 1915 in Wales 1916 in England 1916 in Wales Anglicanism in the United Kingdom Church of England Church in Wales Referendums in England Referendums in Wales Border polls Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom