At
the beginning of the 19th century the Church
of England was the official established church of the nation. Nonconformists,
Roman Catholics and members of the Jewish
Church all suffered from legal discrimination. Members of these
religious groups were unable to hold civil or military office. Nor
were they able to be awarded degrees from Oxford
and Cambridge universities. As both
the House of Commons and the House
of Lords only admitted Anglicans, members of other churches found
it impossible to persuade Parliament to introduce laws that would
guarantee religious liberty.
Anglicans lost their monopoly of public office after the repeal of
the Test and Corporation Act in 1828. Eight
years later, the Prime Minister, Robert Peel,
set up an Ecclesiastical Commission to propose reforms to the Church
of England. The result was an Act of Parliament that reshaped some
dioceses and distributed bishops' incomes more equitably. Other reforms
followed including the abolition of sinecures and non-residence among
the clergy.
The religious census of 1851 showed that non-Anglicans had more chapels
and active members that the Church of England. The census also revealed
that 42% of the population attended no church at all. By the 1880s
church non-attenders were in the majority. Although Anglicanism
remained strong in the rural areas, people living in the fast the
growing industrial towns and cities were more likely to be members
of Nonconformist churches.
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