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The Wesleyans, The ‘Romanists’ and the Education Act Of 1870

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

John T. Smith
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Extract

The Wesleyan Church in the second half of the nineteenth century exhibited a high degree of anti-Catholicism, a phenomenon which had intensified with the ‘Romanising’ influence of the Tractarian movement in the Church of England. To many Wesleyans Roman and Anglo-Catholicism seemed synonymous and the battleground of faith was to be elementary education. The conflict began earlier in the century. When in 1848 Roman Catholic schools made application to the government for grants similar to those offered to the Wesleyans there was an immediate split in Wesleyan ranks. At the Conference in Hull in 1848 Beaumont, Osborn and William Bunting attacked their leadership. They claimed that Methodists should not accept grants in common with Catholics. Jabez Bunting, the primary Wesleyan spokesman of his age, was however rather less critical of the Roman Catholic Church than he had been previously and clearly advocated the continuation of the grant:

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , May 1996 , pp. 127 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1996

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References

Notes

1 Gregory, B.: Sidelights on the Conflicts of Methodism., Cassell and Co., London 1899, pp. 428–429.Google Scholar

2 Graham, T. J.: To the Ministers, Leaders and Members of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, (pamphlet) 12 Oct. 1848. p. 2.Google Scholar

3 Ibidem p. 3.

4 W.E.R. 1849, p. 15.

5 Ibidem, 1849, p. 52.

6 Ibidem, 1850, p. 35.

7 Ibidem, 1850, p. 29.

8 Ibidem, 1849, p. 16.

9 Ibidem, 1860, Appendix II, p. 40.

10 Rigg, J. H.: ‘Popular Education’, London Quarterly Review, July 1859 Google Scholar reprinted in Rigg, J. H.: Essays for the Times on Ecclesiatical and Social Subjects, London, 1866. pp. 483 Google Scholar seq..

11 Ibidem, p. 500.

12 Ibidem, pp. 529–530.

13 Ibidem, pp. 528–529.

14 W.E.R. 1870, p. 11.

15 Telford p. 173.

16 Watchman, 25 May 1870, p. 167.

17 Ibidem, 12 May 1869, p. 153.

18 Ibidem, 12 Jan. 1870, p. 10.

19 Ibidem, 11 May 1870, p. 154.

20 Ibidem, 7 July 1869, p. 215.

21 Ibidem, 11 Aug. 1869, p. 460.

22 B.L. 44421 f. 73 (30 June 1869).

23 Rigg, J. H.: ‘Denominational and National Education’. (Report from the London Quarterly Review, Jan. 1870) p. 26.Google Scholar

24 Ibidem, p. 30.

25 Vasey, M. J. V.: The Life of Thomas Vasey. By his Widow. London, 1874, p. 322.Google Scholar

26 W.E.R. 1865, p. 2.

27 Ibidem, p. 31–32.

28 Ibidem, p. 32.

29 Ibidem, pp. 29.

30 quoted in Curtis, S. J.: A History of Education in Great Britain, Univ. Tutorial Press, London, 1968 p. 238.Google Scholar

31 Watchman, 12 May 1869, p. 153.

32 Ibidem, 29 July 1869, p. 238.

33 Ibidem, 29 July 1869, p. 240.

34 Ibidem, p. 240.

35 Watchman, 29 July 1869, p. 239.

36 Denominational Education op.cit. p. 25.

37 Watchman, 23 Feb. 1870, p. 60.

38 Ibidem, 18 May 1870, p. 160.

39 Spectator, 21 April 1906, p. 613.

40 Ibidem.

41 Ibidem.

42 Watchman, 1 June 1870, p. 176.

43 Times, 26 May 1870, p. 5.

44 Matthew, H. C. G.: The Gladstone Diaries with Cabinet Minutes and Prime Ministerial Correspondence. Vol. 7 (Jan. 1869–June 1871), Clarendon Oxford, 1982, pp. 297–300.Google Scholar

45 Matthew, H. C. G.: Gladstone 1809–1874, Clarendon, Oxford 1986. p. 304.Google Scholar

46 Ibidem p. 305.

47 Morley, J.: The Life of W. E. Gladstone, Vol. 1 (1859–1880), Macmillan, London, 1904 p. 298.Google Scholar

48 Watchman, 22 June 1870, p. 201.

49 Ibidem, 29 June 1870, p. 206.

50 Hansard, 202/281.

51 Telford, p. 181.

52 B.L.Add.MS.44419 f. 147 (Letter from Rigg to Forster, 2 March, 1869).

53 Telford, p. 184.

54 Ibidem, p. 185.

55 M.R., 23 April 1896 p. 286 Rigg wrote to the Times, (5 October 1895 p. 7):. Mr. Forster, from the year 1869 onwards, honoured me with his confidence in regard to the question of national education … He felt strongly the weight and force of the Secularist pressure put upon the Government. He intimated to me more than once that he was not absolutely certain that the Cabinet might not give way to that pressure, but he said that if the Ministry yielded, he should cease to have charge of the Bill..

56 Watchman, 29 June 1870, p. 209.

57 quoted in Mathews, H. F.: ‘Methodism and the Education of the People since 1851’ unpub. Ph.D., London (Ext.) 1954 p. 158.Google Scholar

58 Watchman, 17 Aug. 1870, p. 268.

59 Ibidem, 24 Aug. 1870, p. 274.

60 W.E.R., 1871, pp. 13–16.