Church Temporalities Act 1833

The Church Temporalities Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 37), sometimes called the Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act 1833,^{[n 1]} was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which undertook a major reorganisation of the Church of Ireland, then the established but demographic minority church in Ireland.^[3]

Church Temporalities Act 1833

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to alter and amend the Laws relating to the Temporalities of the Church in Ireland.
Citation	3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 37
Territorial extent	Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	14 August 1833

Provisions and outcomes

The Act provided for the elimination of Vestry Assessment (church rates or "parish cess", which allowed vestries to tax the entire population) to alleviate the Tithe War, although disturbances persisted until the Tithe Commutation Act 1838.^[4] The Act also allowed for merger of dioceses effective from the next vacancies, replaced first fruits with an annual tax, and provided for the ensuing revenue to augment low clergy stipends and benefit the Church.^[5]

At the time of the Act, the Church of Ireland had 852,064 members, fewer than the bishopric of Durham alone; allegedly one third were not even residents of Ireland.^[6][3] By comparison the Irish population totaled 7.77 million in 1831, most of whom were Catholic.^[7] Using the Act, Parliament suppressed 10 of the 22 Irish bishoprics and merged the corresponding dioceses. Many appointees in the eliminated bishoprics had no religious duties or church, and when services were performed, they had been undertaken by a curate paid only a small portion of the clergy stipend.^[6]

According to historian Stewart J. Brown, the Act represented Parliament's understanding that the Church of Ireland was unlikely to expand further and thus needed to be sustained economically.^[8] The Act induced debate among the Anglican Communion about the relationship between church and state, inciting the Oxford Movement.^[9]

Footnotes

1. The short title in Ireland is Church Temporalities Act 1833, assigned by the Statute Law Revision Act 2007.^[1] The description "Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act 1833" was used in Hansard.^[2] The long title is "An Act to alter and amend the Laws relating to the Temporalities of the Church in Ireland."

Sources

• "Church Temporalities Act, 1833". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 21 November 2014.