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Anti-Reredos Cases and the Fight against Idolatry in the Late Victorian Church, c. 1860–c. 1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2021

Hugh Pattenden
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Abstract

This article considers attacks on reredoses in the late Victorian Church of England with the objective of placing such controversies within the context of anti-idolatry and anti-ritualism campaigns of the period. By doing so it seeks to rectify the lack of focus in the historiography on how the ritualist controversy affected discussion of changes to church architecture. In particular, by using local newspapers, it extends consideration of the reredos issue beyond the two main cases, namely those of Exeter and St Paul’s cathedrals. It argues that the reredos cases provide a powerful tool for considering how the Church of England moved towards a more ‘catholic’ position on ornamentation during this period, showing how it became impossible for the more Protestant members of the Church to prevent what they saw as the ‘Romanization’ of ecclesiastical spaces. This was part of a broader process by which ornamentation was coming to be accepted on purely aesthetic terms, and not as a challenge to the theology of the Church of England. It further assesses the significance of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 in relation to cases involving church fabric, arguing that the introduction of the bishops’ veto had only limited practical effects on such disputes.

Keywords

anti-ritualismChurch AssociationPublic Worship Regulation Act 1874reredosVictorian Church
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , November 2022 , pp. 164 - 184
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Copyright
© The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2021

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Footnotes

1

Hugh Pattenden is an independent scholar. He would like to offer his thanks to Dr Luke Blaxill, Fr Christopher Johnson, SSC, and Dr Hugh Reid for their advice and support in the writing of this article.

References

2 For a discussion of the different parties within the Church during this period, see M.A. Crowther, ‘Church Problems and Church Parties’, in G. Parsons (ed.), Religion in Victorian Britain. IV. Interpretations (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988), pp. 4-27; J. Shelton Reed, Glorious Battle: The Cultural Politics of Victorian Anglo-Catholicism (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1996), ch. 6. Useful discussions of the composition of the ‘High Church’ party can be found in R. Strong, ‘Introduction’, in R. Strong (ed.), The Oxford History of Anglicanism. III. Partisan Anglicanism and its Global Expansion, 1829–c.1914 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 1-23 (6-7), and K. Hylson-Smith, High Churchmanship in the Church of England: From the Sixteenth Century to the Late Twentieth Century (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), esp. ch.10. There is also much debate about the precise relationship between the Tractarians and Ritualists. It is unclear whether the latter should be seen as a direct development of the former. On this see G. Herring, The Oxford Movement in Practice: The Tractarian Parochial Worlds from the 1830s to the 1870s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), ch. 11.

3 A. Symondson, ‘Theology, Worship, and the Late Victorian Church’, in C. Brooks and A. Saint (eds.), The Victorian Church: Architecture and Society (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), pp. 192-222; W. Whyte, Unlocking the Church: The Lost Secrets of the Victorian Sacred Space (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), p. 11; N. Yates, Buildings, Faith and Worship: The Liturgical Arrangement of Anglican Churches, 1600–1900 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), ch. 8.

4 This is how they often referred to themselves. An alternative name might be ‘evangelicals’.

5 F. Temple to E. Sandford, 21 April 1874, in E. Sandford (ed.), Memoirs of Archbishop Temple by Seven Friends (2 vols., London: Macmillan, 1905), I, p. 531.

6 The Times, ‘Law Report: Arches Court, July 3’, London, 6 July 1874, p. 13; Lambeth Palace Library, MSS Arches Aaa50, Arches Ff66,67, Arches H 959/1-43. Note: Robert Phillimore was the father of Walter, who also appears in various cases. Both were lawyers who took an interest in ecclesiastical matters.

7 The Times, ‘The Exeter Reredos Case’, London, 7 August 1874, p. 11.

8 The Times, ‘The Exeter Reredos Case’, p. 11.

9 T. Sladen, ‘Embellishment and Decoration, 1696–1900’, in D. Keene, A. Burns and A. Saint (eds.), St Paul’s: The Cathedral Church of London, 604-2004 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 233-57 (249-50, 252).

10 Sladen, ‘Embellishment and Decoration’, p. 252.

11 Sladen, ‘Embellishment and Decoration’, p. 252; (G. Murphy) ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Church, Richard William (1815–1890), dean of St Paul’s’, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5389 (accessed 15 August 2020).

12 The Times, ‘Church Association – Special Appeal for Funds’, London, 12 July 1888, p. 8.

13 Sandford, Memoirs of Archbishop Temple, II, pp. 112-13.

14 W. Brooke, The Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874: With Introduction, Notes, and Index (London: Henry S. King & Co, 1874); J. Bentley, Ritualism and Politics in Victorian Britain: The Attempt to Legislate for Belief (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978); G. Graber, Ritual Legislation in the Victorian Church of England: Antecedents and the Passage of the Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874 (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1993); N. Yates, Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), ch. 5.

15 Brooke, Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874, p. 36.

16 Section 9, Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874.

17 Sandford, Memoirs of Archbishop Temple, II, pp. 112-13.

18 The Times, ‘Law Report, June 1. Queen’s Bench Division’, London, 3 June 1889, pp. 11-12; The Times, ‘Law Report, Dec. 17. Supreme Court of Judicature. Court of Appeal’, London, 18 December 1889), p. 3.

19 The Times, ‘Law Report, July 20. House of Lords’, London, 21 July 1891, pp. 3-4 (4).

20 Church Times, ‘The Bishop of Exeter on the Reredos at St. John’s, Torquay’, London, 17 December 1864, p. 406.

21 Church Times, ‘The Bishop of Exeter on the Reredos at St. John’s’, p. 406.

22 (A. Burns), ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Phillpotts, Henry (1778–1869), bishop of Exeter’, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-22180 (accessed 15 August 2020).

23 Church Times, ‘The Bishop of Exeter on the Reredos at St. John’s’, p. 406.

24 Church Times, ‘St John’s Church, Torquay’, London, 8 April 1865, p. 105.

25 Church Association, ‘Romanising and Ritualistic Practices in the Diocese of Oxford’, Monthly Intelligencer VI, August 1867, pp. 53-56 (54).

26 Church Association, ‘Romanising and Ritualistic Practices’, VI, p. 54.

27 Church Association, ‘Romanising and Ritualistic Practices in the Diocese of Oxford’, Church Association Monthly Intelligencer VII, September 1867, pp. 80-84 (80-81).

28 Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post or Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser, ‘District News: Lynton’, 3 May 1871, p. 7.

29 Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post or Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser, ‘District News: Lynton’, 14 June 1871, p. 7.

30 Spectator, ‘News of the Week’, London, 14 June 1873, p. 751.

31 Western Mail, ‘A Reredos Difficulty in North Wales’, Cardiff, 17 February 1874, p. 5.

32 Church Times, ‘Summary’, London, 19 November 1875, p. 575.

33 Wrexham Guardian, ‘The Denbigh Reredos Suit: Central Compartment to be Restored’, 23 June 1877, p. 3; Lambeth Palace Library, MSS Arches Ff 68, Arches H 985/1-26.

34 Liverpool Mercury, ‘Chester Consistory Court: Daresbury Reredos Case’, 16 October 1875, p. 7.

35 Cheshire Observer, ‘Chester Consistory Court: Daresbury Reredos Case’, 6 November 1875, p. 8.

36 Sheffield Daily Telegraph, ‘Reredos dispute at Darrington’, 29 April 1882, p. 3.

37 Manchester Weekly Times, ‘The Reredos Question at Eccles’, 24 March 1883, p. 7.

38 Manchester Weekly Times, ‘The Reredos Question at Eccles’, p. 7.

39 Manchester Weekly Times, ‘The Reredos Question at Eccles’, p. 7.

40 Manchester Weekly Times, ‘The Reredos Question at Eccles’, p. 7.

41 Manchester Evening News, ‘The Eccles Reredos Dispute’, 19 March 1883, p. 2.

42 Manchester Evening News, ‘The Eccles Reredos’, 28 March 1883, p. 2.

43 Manchester Evening News, ‘The Reredos Question at Eccles’, 6 April 1883, p. 3.

44 Western Daily Press, ‘The Reredos at Christ Church’, Bristol, 7 April 1883, p. 3.

45 Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, ‘Ecclesiastical Intelligence: Manchester Consistory Court’, 2 February 1895, p. 11.

46 Manchester Guardian, ‘The Easter Vestries. Manchester Cathedral. A Stormy Meeting’, 6 April 1899, p. 10; J.E.C. Welldon, Recollections and Reflections (London: Cassell and Company, 1915), p. 371.

47 Manchester Guardian, ‘The Easter Vestries. Manchester Cathedral. Stormy Proceedings’, 19 April 1900, p. 9; Manchester Guardian, ‘The Easter Vestries. Manchester Cathedral. An Exciting Meeting. Churchwardens Elected’, 11 April 1901, p. 7; Manchester Guardian, ‘Easter Vestry Meetings. Manchester Cathedral. Election of Churchwardens. Protest against “illegalities”’, 3 April 1902, p. 7; Manchester Guardian, ‘Easter Vestries. Manchester Cathedral. More Protests against Ritualism’, 7 April 1904, p. 6. On Manchester Cathedral and ritualism, see: H. Pattenden, ‘The Manchester Cathedral Ritualism Controversy, c.1873-c.1906’, Northern History, 58.1 (2021), pp. 86–108.

48 The Times, ‘Consistory Court of London’, London, 8 December 1897, p. 5; Church Times, ‘Consistory Court of London’, London, 10 December 1897, p. 683.

49 For prosecutions see Bentley, Ritualism and Politics in Victorian Britain, ch. 5; B. Palmer, Reverend Rebels: Five Victorian Clerics and their Fight against Authority (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1993); J. Whisenant, A Fragile Unity: Anti-Ritualism and the Division of Anglican Evangelicalism in the Nineteenth Century (Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2003).

50 J. Bentley, Ritualism and Politics in Victorian Britain: The Attempt to Legislate for Belief (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).

51 G.I.T. Machin, ‘The Last Victorian Anti-Ritualist Campaign, 1895–1906’, Victorian Studies 25.3 (1982), pp. 277-302.

52 O. Chadwick, The Victorian Church (2 vols.; London: SCM Press, 1992), II, pp. 352-53.

53 Whisenant, A Fragile Unity, p. 409.

54 P. Hinchliff, Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury: A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 154, ch. 9.

55 D. Janes, Victorian Reformation: The Fight against Idolatry in the Church of England, 1840–60 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), esp. chs. 6-9.

56 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, London, 16 January 1874, pp. 32-34 (33).

57 Manchester Guardian, ‘Judgment in the St. Barnabas Baldacchino Case’, 16 December 1873, p. 6.

58 Church Times, ‘The Bishop of Exeter on the Reredos at St. John’s’, p. 406.

59 Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, ‘Ecclesiastical Intelligence: Manchester Consistory Court’, 2 February 1895, p. 11.

60 M. Wellings, Evangelicals Embattled: Responses of Evangelicals in the Church of England to Ritualism, Darwinism and Theological Liberalism 1890–1930 (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2003), pp. 30-36; See also P.T. Marsh, The Victorian Church in Decline: Archbishop Tait and the Church of England 1868–1882 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969), ch. 5.

61 W.F. Taylor, The Real Presence (London: Church Association, n.d.).

62 J.C. Ryle, Reasons for Opposing Ritualism (London: Church Association, n.d.), p. 2.

63 G. Apooee, ‘Ritualism’, letter to the editor, Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser, 26 February 1876, p. 7.

64 Cheshire Observer, ‘Chester Consistory Court’, 6 November 1875, p. 8.

65 Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, ‘District News: Lynton’, 3 May 1871, p. 7.

66 Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, ‘The Denbigh Reredos Case’, 22 June 1877, p. 3; Church Times, ‘The St Paul’s Reredos Case’, London, 23 November 1888, pp. 1035-37 (1036); Church Association, ‘Romanising and Ritualistic Practices’, VI, p. 54; Western Daily Press, ‘The Reredos at Christ Church’.

67 Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, ‘District News: Lynton’, 3 May 1871, p. 7.

68 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

69 The Times, ‘The Reredos at Exeter Cathedral’, London, 16 April 1874, p. 12.

70 Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, ‘District News: Lynton’, 3 May 1871, p. 7.

71 Cheshire Observer, ‘Chester Consistory Court’, 6 November 1875, p. 8.

72 Church Times, ‘The St Paul’s Reredos Case’, p. 1036.

73 Western Daily Press, ‘The Reredos at Christ Church’, p. 3.

74 Wrexham Guardian, ‘Denbigh Reredos Suit’, p. 3.

75 Cambrian News, ‘The Denbigh Reredos Case’, p. 3.

76 Cambrian News, ‘The Denbigh Reredos Case’, p. 3.

77 The Times, ‘The Reredos at Exeter Cathedral’, p. 12; The Times, ‘Arches Court, July 24’, London, 25 July 1874, p. 11.

78 The Times, ‘The Reredos at Exeter Cathedral’, p. 12.

79 Church Times, ‘The Bishop of Exeter on the Reredos at St. John’s’, p. 406.

80 Liverpool Mercury, ‘The Daresbury Reredos Case’, 24 September 1875, p. 7.

81 Western Daily Press, ‘The Reredos at Christ Church’, p. 3.

82 The Times, ‘Consistory Court of London’, p. 5.

83 The Times, ‘The Exeter Reredos Case’, London, 26 February 1875, p. 11; The Times, ‘Law Report, Dec. 12’, London, 13 December 1889, p. 3.

84 Church Times, ‘The St Paul’s Reredos Case’, p. 1036.

85 Wrexham Guardian, ‘The Reredos in Denbigh Church Declared to Be Illegal’, 13 November 1875, p. 5.

86 Cheshire Observer, ‘Chester Consistory Court’, 6 November 1875, p. 8.

87 Herring, The Oxford Movement in Practice, pp. 203-209; Shelton Reed, Glorious Battle, pp. 41-43.

88 Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, ‘Consistorial Court’, 5 May 1871, p. 6.

89 Western Daily Press, ‘The Reredos at Christ Church’, p. 3.

90 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

91 The Times, ‘The Reredos at Exeter Cathedral’, p. 12.

92 The Times, Law Report: Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Jan. 20’, London, 21 January 1875, p. 10.

93 Wrexham Guardian, ‘The Reredos in Denbigh Church Declared to Be Illegal’, p. 5.

94 Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Daily Telegram, ‘Archdeacon Phillpotts on the Reredos Case’, 4 June 1874, p. 3.

95 The Times, ‘The Exeter Cathedral Reredos’, London, 9 January 1874, p. 7.

96 The Times, ‘The Exeter Cathedral Reredos’, p. 7.

97 Frederick Temple to the Church Association, April 1888, reproduced in Sandford, Memoirs of Frederick Temple, II, pp. 113-14.

98 Morning Post, ‘The Exeter Reredos Case Went…’, London, 27 February 1875, p. 4.

99 The Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical, (Made in the year 1603, and amended in the year 1865) to which are added the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (London: SPCK, 1865[?]), pp. 45-46.

100 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33; For Westerton v. Liddell, see Janes, Victorian Reformation, ch. 3.

101 C.Y. Sturge, Points of Church Law and Other Writings Illustrative of the Law of the Church (London: Macmillan & Co., 1907), p. 114; The Times, ‘Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Feb. 9’, London, 10 February 1857, p. 9.

102 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

103 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

104 Cheshire Observer, Chester Consistory Court’, 16 October 1875, p. 8.

105 Church Association, ‘Romanising and Ritualistic Practices’, VII, p. 81.

106 Crewe Guardian, Chester Consistory Court’, 16 October 1875, p. 5.

107 Liverpool Daily Post, ‘The Daresbury Reredos Case’, 15 October 1875, p. 5.

108 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33; The Times, ‘Law Report: Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Jan. 21’, London, 22 January 1875, p. 10.

109 Wrexham Guardian, ‘Denbigh Reredos Suit’, 23 June 1877, p. 3. This was presumably a reference to that church’s East window, which dates from the reign of Henry VIII.

110 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

111 The Times, ‘The Reredos at Exeter Cathedral’, p. 12.

112 Western Daily Press, ‘The Reredos at Christ Church’, p. 3.

113 The Times, ‘It Is Seldom that a Judgment Is More Completely…’, London, 8 August 1874, p. 9.

114 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

115 Morning Post, ‘The Exeter Reredos Case Went…’, p. 4.

116 Manchester Weekly Times, ‘The Reredos Question at Eccles’, p. 7.

117 The Times, ‘The Reredos at Exeter Cathedral’, p. 12.

118 Church Times, ‘The Reredos in Exeter Cathedral’, p. 33.

119 ‘A reredos difficulty in North Wales’, Western Mail (Cardiff, February 17, 1874), p. 5.

120 Liverpool Mercury, ‘Chester Consistory Court: Daresbury Reredos Case’, p. 7; The Times, ‘Law Report, July 20’, p. 3; The Times, ‘Consistory Court of London’, p. 5; Church Times, ‘Consistory Court of London’, p. 683.

121 Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, ‘Application for a Reredos at Llanelly’, 13 December 1878, p. 3; Church Times, ‘Application for a Reredos’, London, 7 February 1879, p. 91.

122 Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, ‘Ecclesiastical Intelligence: Manchester Consistory Court’, 2 February 1895, p. 11.

123 Spectator, ‘The Church Association’s Last Move’, London, 21 July 1888, p. 8; Sandford, Memoirs of Archbishop Temple, II, pp. 112-15.

124 The Times, ‘Parliament: House of Lords’, London, 10 February1899, p. 6; The Times, ‘Queen’s Bench Division’, London, 3 June 1889, p. 11.

125 J.T. Thomlinson, The Crucifix at St Paul’s (London: Church Association, n.d.).

126 Burns, ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Phillpotts’; Shelton-Reed, Glorious Battle, pp. 36-37.

127 Burns, ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Phillpotts’; J.A. Thurmer, ‘Henry of Exeter and the Later Tractarians’, Southern History 5 (1983), pp. 210-20 (214).

128 Western Times, ‘Visitation of Archdeacon Phillpotts’, Exeter, 5 June 1874, p. 6.

129 Western Times, ‘Visitation of Archdeacon Phillpotts’, p. 6.

130 Western Times, ‘Visitation of Archdeacon Phillpotts’, p. 6.

131 Western Times, ‘Visitation of Archdeacon Phillpotts’, p. 6.

132 Western Times, ‘Visitation of Archdeacon Phillpotts’, p. 6.

133 Royal Cornwall Gazette, ‘The Ven. Archdeacon Phillpotts’, 30 September 1876, p. 6.

134 Royal Cornwall Gazette, ‘The Ven. Archdeacon Phillpotts’, p. 6.

135 Royal Cornwall Gazette, ‘Religious Intelligence’, 31 October 1874, p. 7.

136 Thurmer, ‘Henry of Exeter’, p. 219, n. 20.

137 North Devon Journal, ‘Lynton: What our Protestant Church Is Coming to!’, 15 August 1867, p. 5; John Bull, ‘Miscellaneous Church Intelligence’, London, 18 February 1871, p. 107.

138 (A. Buckland and H. Matthew), ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Gregory, Robert (1819–1911), dean of St Paul’s’, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33557 (accessed 15 August 2020); Hinchcliff, Frederick Temple, pp. 220-21.

139 W.A. Shaw, Manchester: Old and New (London: Cassell and Company, 1894), I, pp. 51-52.

140 Cheshire Observer, ‘Chester Consistory Court: The Daresbury Reredos Case’, 10 April 1875, p. 5.

141 The Times, ‘Law Report, July 20’, p. 3.

142 Church Times, ‘Schism’, London, 22 May 1874, p. 253.

143 Sandford, Memoirs of Archbishop Temple, I, p. 528.

144 Sandford, Memoirs of Archbishop Temple, I, pp. 528-59.

145 Spectator, ‘News of the Week’, London, 14 June 1873, p. 751; Church Times, ‘Gloucester Cathedral’, London, 13 June 1873, p. 272.