The Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

which separated the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

from the

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 Brit ...

and disestablished the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small minority of the population of Ireland. The Act was passed during the first ministry of

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...

and came into force on 1 January 1871. It was strongly opposed by Conservatives in both houses of Parliament. The Act meant the Church of Ireland was no longer entitled to collect tithes from the people of Ireland. It also ceased to send representative bishops as

Lords Spiritual The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who serve in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. 26 out of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual (not counting retired archbi ...

to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

in Westminster. Existing clergy of the church received a

life annuity A life annuity is an annuity, or series of payments at fixed intervals, paid while the purchaser (or annuitant) is alive. The majority of life annuities are insurance products sold or issued by life insurance companies however substantial case ...

in lieu of the revenues to which they were no longer entitled:

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

s, rentcharge, ministers' money,

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work p ...

s and augmentations, and certain marriage and burial fees. The passage of the Bill through Parliament caused acrimony between the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

and the

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

personally intervened to mediate. While the Lords extorted from the Commons more compensation to alleviate the disestablished churchmen, in the end, the will of the Commons prevailed.McKechnie, ''The reform of the House of Lords'' p.49 The Irish Church Act was a key move in dismantling the

Protestant Ascendancy The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...

which had dominated Ireland for several centuries previously.

Sources

;Primary: * * *

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...

br>1869
** Commons vol 194–6: 2nd readin
18 Mar19 Mar22 Mar23 Mar
Committe
15 Apr16 Apr19 Apr22 Apr23 Apr26 Apr29 Apr3 May4 May6 May7 May
Consideratio
13 May
3rd readin
31 May
** Lords vol 196–7: 2nd readin
14 Jun15 Jun17 Jun18 Jun
Committe
29 Jun1 Jul2 Jul5 Jul6 Jul
Repor
9 Jul
3rd readin
Jul 12
**Vol 19
Commons rejects Lords amendments Jul 16Lords insists 22 JulCommons accedes 23 Jul

References

* Fair, John D. "The Irish disestablishment conference of 1869." ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 26.4 (1975): 379-394. * MacCarthy, Robert ''Ancient and Modern: a short history of the Church of Ireland''. Four Courts Press Ltd., 1995 * McCormack, Christopher F. "The Irish Church Disestablishment Act (1869) and the general synod of the Church of Ireland (1871): the art and structure of educational reform." ''History of Education'' 47.3 (2018): 303-320. * McDowell, Robert Brendan. ''The Church of Ireland 1869-1969'' (Routledge, 2017_. *Todd, Charles Hawkes. The Irish Church Act (1869): With Observations. Hodges, Foster & Co. Dublin. 1869
Google Books
* Lee, Alfred Theophilus. The Irish Church Act. A Popular Account of "The Irish Church Act, 1869," 32 & 33 Victoria, c. 42. P S King. London. Hodges, Foster & Co. Dublin. 1869
Google Books
* Bernard William Leigh. The Irish Church Acts, 1869 & 1872: And Various Statutes Connected Therewith. Hodges, Foster & Co. Dublin. 1869
Google Books
* Bernard, William Leigh. Decisions under the Irish Church Act, 1869, 32 & 33 Victoria, Cap. 42, and Details of the Annuities Ordered and Declared by the Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland, with an Index. Alexander Thom. Hodges, Foster & Co. Dublin. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. London. 1869
Google Books
* Jellett, Morgan Woodward. The Irish Church Act. The Compensation and Commutation Clauses Considered; with which are Combined Opinions of Sir Roundell Palmer M.P., D.C.L., and References to the Rules and Orders of the Commissioners. Second Edition. Hodges, Foster & Co. Dublin. 1869
Google Books

eISB. *"Irish Church Act 1869". The Statutes Revised, Northern Ireland. HMSO. 1982. Volume 2. Page 649
Google Books
*Chronological Table of and Index to the Statutes. Eleventh Edition. 1890
p 347

External links

Church of Ireland: Disestablishment 150
online resources and 2019–2020 programme of events marking the 150th anniversary of disestablishment
A Brief History of Disestablishment
United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough {{UK legislation Anglicanism History of Christianity in the United Kingdom Church of Ireland Religion and politics British constitutional laws concerning Ireland United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1869 1869 in Ireland Christianity and law in the 19th century Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Ireland 1869 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1869 in Christianity Law about religion in the United Kingdom July 1869 events Constitutional laws of Northern Ireland

See also

Sources

References

Further reading

External links