The Occasional Conformity Act (10 Anne c. 6), also known as the Occasional Conformity Act 1711 or the Toleration Act 1711, was an
Act of the
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...
which passed on 20 December 1711. Previous Occasional Conformity bills had been debated in 1702 and 1704, the latter causing the '
Tackers
Tackers was the name given to High Tory Members of Parliament who in 1704 tried to attach ('tack') an Occasional Conformity Bill to money bills in order to pass it through the House of Lords and into law.
The Tackers ultimately failed in their eff ...
' controversy. It was passed by the Tories to undermine the
Whig party, and to ensure that elections to Parliament were under the control of
Tories, with non-conformists locked out. It applied to any national or local official in England or Wales who was required to attend
Church of England services and take the
Lord's Supper. If such a person attended "any conventicle, assembly or meeting" of any other religion, they would be subject to a penalty of £40 and permanently barred from government employment. (The Act did not extend to Scotland, the independence of whose
Presbyterian state church (''kirk'') was guaranteed by the
Acts of Union.)
A notable occasional conformist had been the Queen's husband,
Prince George, a practising
Lutheran; despite this, he had voted for the earlier failed bill in the House of Lords at his wife's request, but died in 1708 before the passage of the act.
Its purpose was to prevent
Nonconformists and Roman Catholics from taking "occasional" communion in the
Church of England in order to become eligible for public office under the
Corporation Act 1661 and the
Test Act. Under these acts only members of the Church of England were allowed to hold any office of public trust. The 1711 Act was repealed in 1719. When it was in effect it had little impact. Non-conformist officials were either protected by powerful patrons, or attended private services that were not covered.
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...
became a major topic in English political history in the early 18th century. The
Toleration Act of 1689 allowed for certain rights, but it left Protestant
Nonconformists (such as Congregationalists and Baptists) deprived of important rights, including that of office-holding. Nonconformists who wanted office ostentatiously took the Anglican sacrament once a year in order to avoid the restrictions. High Church Anglicans were outraged and outlawed what they called "occasional conformity" in 1711 with the Occasional Conformity Act. In the political controversies using sermons, speeches, and pamphlet wars, both high churchmen and Nonconformists attacked their opponents as insincere and hypocritical, as well as dangerously zealous, in contrast to their own moderation. This campaign of moderation versus zealotry peaked in 1709 during the impeachment trial of high church preacher
Henry Sacheverell. By its very ferocity, the debate may have contributed subsequently to more temperate and less charged political discourse. Occasional conformity was restored by the Whigs when they returned to power in 1719.
[Mark Knights, "Occasional conformity and the representation of dissent: hypocrisy, sincerity, moderation and zeal". ''Parliamentary History'' 24#1 (2005): 41–57.]
Notes
Further reading
* Sirota, Brent S. "The Occasional Conformity Controversy, Moderation, and the Anglican Critique of Modernity, 1700–1714". ''Historical Journal'' 57.1 (2014): 81–105.
{{UK legislation
Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1711
History of Christianity in the United Kingdom
History of the Church of England
Christianity and law in the 18th century
Repealed Great Britain Acts of Parliament
Law about religion in the United Kingdom
1711 in Christianity
Prince George of Denmark