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| Image - Advert for the Church Association (1876) |
The Church Association earned the nickname, given by Bishop Magee (a non-ritualist Bishop and future Archbishop of York) as the ‘Persecution Company Limited’, because they employed special agents to seek out ritualist priest, while many other opponents of The Church Association simply labelled it as, "The Church Ass"
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image from The Rock , Church of England newspaper (1873) |
In
1873 The
Rock
(a hard line Protestant Church
of England
Newspaper),
with the motto, 'Opposed to Rationalism, Ritualism & Romanism',
published an article under the title of The
Ritualistic Conspiracy,
which went on to list the names of every priest in England who were
members of 'ritualistic organisations'.
Fr Enraght (Curate
of St
Andrew's,
Portslade) was listed as a member of the Society
of the Holy Cross,
a 'Priest-Associate' of the The
Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
and a member of the English
Church Union.
*******
The List below, published in The Rock, gives the names of ‘ritualistic priests’ who are currently under investigation by the agents of the Church Association in the year of 1878 and a further list of priests is included who have been cited for prosecution by the Church Association since 1876 and the action by Bishops, if any, to reprimand or dismiss these 'errant priests'.
In
the list below only three priests, Revd Richard Enraght (1880) ,
Revd T. Pelham Dale (1880) and Revd Arthur Tooth (1877) served prison sentences under the Public Worship Regulations Act.
Two
names not mentioned below also served prison sentences under the Act
- Revd Sidney Faithorn Green (1880) and Revd James Bell Cox
(1887)
The
following Church Association's Presentments to Bishops have been made for prosecutions during the past
year (1878) :-
(1)
to the Bishop of London, complaining of illegal practices on the part
of the Rev. George Booker, of St. John the Baptist, Kensington ;
(2)
to the Bishop of Rochester, against the Rev. G. W. Berkeley, of
Allhallows, Southwark ;
(3) to the Bishop of Carlisle,
against the Rev. T. S. Barrett, of St. George's Barrow-in-Furness
;
(4) to the Bishop of Ripon against the Rev, G. E.
Redhead, of St. Mary Magdalen, Bradford ;
(5) to the
Bishop of Worcester, against the Rev. R. W. Enraght, of Holy Trinity, Bordesley ;
(6, 7, 8) to the Bishop of Lichfield, against
the Rev. H. Gardner, of St. Matthew, Smethwick; the Rev. E. Glover,
of Christ Church, Wolverhampton ; and the Rev. C. Bodington, of St.
Andrew, Wolverhampton ;
and to the Bishop of Chichester,
against the Rev. R. B. Tritton, of Bognor.
The
results of these Church Association's Presentments to Bishops have been as follows :-
(1.) The bishop has not replied to the presentment, and the practices continue.
(2.) Mr. Berkeley has promised to discontinue all illegal practices.
(3. ) The Bishop has ordered certain practices to be discontinued, but Mr. Barrett has resigned to avow compliance.
(4.) The Bishop has informed the complainants that they could proceed under the Public Worship Regulation Act.
(5.) The Bishop has requested
Mr. Enraght to discontinue some of the practices, but the request has
not been complied with.
(6. 7, and 8.) The bishop has
declined to take action.
The following is a summary of the representations made under the Public Worship Regulation Act since it came into force on July 1st, 1876, and the results :-
1.. Folkestone, St. Peter's : Clifton v. Ridsdale - Case carried through. ;
2. St. Vedast, Foster-lane: Serjeant and Others v. Dale - Failed because Bishop acted contrary to Statute.
3. St. Vedast, Foster-lane : Serjeant and Others v. Dale - Failed from ; want of time to
obtain Bishop to act under Sec. 16.
4. St. Vedast, Foster-lane : Serjeant and Others v. Dale - Now before Court.
5. St. James's Hatcham : Hudson and Others v. Tooth - Failed because Judge heard Case in the wrong place.
6. Donhead St. Andrew : Grove and Others v. Chapman - Vetoed by Bishop.
7. Smethwick, St. Matthew : Fowler v. Gardner - Failed from irregularity of Bishop's Registrar.
8. Smethwick, St. Matthew : Fowler v. Gardner - Stopped by death of Bishop.
9. Clifton, All Saints : Davies and Others v. Randall - Vetoed by Bishop.
10. Wolverhampton, St. Andrew : Howard; and Others v. Bodington— Failed because Bishop sent papers irregularly.
11. Wolverhampton, St. Andrew : Butcher v. Bodington — Vetoed by Archbishop.
12. Wolverhampton, St. Andrew : Butcher v. Bodington— Vetoed by Archbishop.
13. Wolverhampton, Christ Church : Howard and Others v. Glover — Vetoed by Archbishop.
14. Clewer, St. Andrew: Bulkeley and Others v. Carter — Vetoed by, Bishop.
15. Barrow-in-Furness, St. George's : Hurford v. Barrett— Vetoed; by Bishop.
16. London Docks, St. Peter's : Vile and Others v. Lowder — Vetoed by Archbishop.
17. Manningham, St. Mary
Magdalene : and Others v. Redhead — Stopped by technical objection.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton &
Hove (Edwardian Postcard) Postcard text:- Group of Idols and other Objects condemned as illegal (Public Worship Regulation Act) and removed from the Church of the Annunciation, Brighton, Sept 1st 1903 |
The Church of the Annunciation in Walsingham Street, built in 1864, was another of the ‘Revd Arthur Wagner built Brighton churches'.
The Church Association was still very much active in Brighton in the early 1900s.
The Public Worship Regulation Act, that was used to prosecute and imprison Fr Enraght in 1880, also deemed all the religious items in the above Brighton postcard illegal for display in an Anglican Church.
The Public Worship Regulation Act (1874) was kept on the Statute Books for 89 years until it was finally repealed in the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measures of 1963 (No.1)
Transcription by D. Sharp