Anti-Maynooth Conference was a conference hosted in London in May 1845 by Conservatives, evangelical Anglicans and the Protestant Association to campaign against the

Maynooth Grant The Maynooth Grant was a cash grant from the British government to a Catholic seminary in Ireland. In 1845, the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, sought to improve the relationship between Catholic Ireland and Protestant Britain by in ...

and British State funding of the Roman Catholic Maynooth College. Opponents of the Maynooth Bill formed a Committee and held a conference in the Rotunda, in Dublin. In England, The Protestant Association has set up the ''Anti-Maynooth Committee'' composed of Anglicans, Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians. The Committee collected over 10,000 petitions with over 1.2million signatures against the Maynooth Bill. The common platform shared by strands of Protestantism was quite unique, although their reasoning was quite different, mainstream Anglicans opposed the Maynooth Grant since it undermined the Established Church whereas non-conformists opposed it since they were opposed to all state religious establishments and Evangelicals opposed the bill since it undermined attempts to convert Irish Catholics to the Protestant Faith. The Maynooth Bill was introduced by Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

in April 1845. Sir Culling Eardley the former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP served as chairman of the Committee and Conference. Thomas Thompson served as Secretary to the Dublin Anti Maynooth Committee. The Conference in London between 30 April and 3 May 1845 with over 1000 participants from Ireland and Britain attend held in Exeter Hall, London. Active in the campaign against the Maynooth Grant was the Rev. A.S. Thelwall who compiled the minutes of the 1845 meeting.PROCEEDINGS - ANTI-MAYNOOTH CONFERENCE OF 1845. WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, AND AN APPENDIX
COMPILED AND EDITED (AT THE REQUEST OF THE CENTRAL ANTI-MAYNOOTH COMMITTEE,) by Rev. A.S. Thelwall MA, London. The 1845 Maynooth bill ( Maynooth College Act 1845,(8 and 9 Vic., c.25)), was carried by 323 to 176 votes, and the

was increased.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anti Maynooth Conference St Patrick's College, Maynooth

Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...