The 1851 Religious and Educational Censuses

(a corrected and slightly expanded version of the paper presented to Manx Methodist Historical Society - 7 Nov 1998)

F. Coakley 24 Nov 1998

General Background

Introduction

The unveiling of the newly restored Albert Memorial in October 1998, serves as a useful reminder of the mid 19th century enthusiasm for the sciences and technology coming after the political turmoil of the 1830's and the hungry 40's. The 1851 Great Exhibition is possibly the best remembered, with Albert's memorial standing at the head of the South Kensington complex built from the profits of the exhibition which he inspired. One aspect of this enthusiasm was the collection of data¹ on which to base future legislation. A decennial census² had been taken in the UK from 1801 (1821 in Man) though those until 1841 had not gathered much information other than the total population and some data on the number of dwellings. The 1851 population census, taken on the night of Mothering Sunday, the 30th/31st March, was the first census to ask detailed questions re structure of the household, ages etc. Along with this census two other censuses were taken:- an educational census of all schools (including Sunday Schools) asking about the number of students, teachers and running costs, and a census of Accommodation and Attendance at Worship generally referred to as the Religious Census taken on the 30th March.

Neither this census nor the population census asked people directly for their religious affiliation - a religious census had been carried out in 1834 in Ireland which in part led to the reorganisation of parishes and dioceses. It was proposed to include similar questions in the 1851 population census but vigorous opposition by the Bishops in the House of Lords (led by Bishops of Oxford and Salisbury) successfully prevented this, though many churchmen felt that this would have shown the Established Church in a better light than the scheme adopted, as it would have included many nominal members who did not attend a church service. Questions on personal religious affiliation were difficult at a time when many Anglicans, including the brother of the Bishop of Oxford, had converted to Catholicism and others were considering their position (the future Cardinal Manning moved to Rome the following Sunday). It should also be remembered that 1850 saw considerable anti-Catholic agitation over the decision by the Pope to restore the hierarchy and give bishops territorial designations - the evangelical wing of the Established Church were vocal in their protests, a bill was passed by Westminster to forbid this 'papal aggression' (the last anti-Catholic legislation) and disturbances were fomented in several parts of the British Isles - including, according to High Bailiff Laughton³ Douglas where the windows of St Francis Xaviers Chapel and of Roneys (a Catholic grocer) in Duke Street were broken.

To avoid this storm of protest about asking about personal religious affiliation, the stated purpose was to discover 'how far the means of Religious Instruction provided in Great Britain during the last fifty years have kept pace with the population during the same period'. As Horace Mann put it in his introduction:

At the recent census, it was thought advisable to take the latter course; partly because it had a less inquisitorial aspect, - but especially because it was considered that the outward conduct of persons furnishes a better guide to their religious state than can be gained by merely vague professions. In proportion, it was thought, as people truly are connected with particular sects or churches, will be their activity in raising buildings in which to worship and their diligence in afterwards frequenting them; but where there is an absence of such practical regard for a religious creed, but little weight can be attached to any purely formal acquiescence. This inquiry, therefore, was confined to obvious facts relating to two subjects. - 1. The amount of ACCOMMODATION which the people have provided for religious worship; and 2. The number of persons, as ATTENDANTS, by whom this provision is made use of'.

The provision of a national census inquiring into the provision of religious and educational facilities was welcomed by many - a Times leader⁴ of 25 March 1851:

'the relation of existing means to existing wants in both these departments; the extent to which existing means are valued and improved; the connexion between the average instruction and the average religiousness of districts; between the quality of that instruction and the modes of that worship; the connexion of both with the general aspects of society in various localities-these are topics in which the light of universal statistics has not hitherto been shed, and which yet cannot be fairly treated without such illumination.

To use an old theatrical term the means adopted was to measure 'bums on seats' as well as asking details about each church, chapel or meeting place. Turning these attendance statistics back into denominational membership figures has exercised all students ever since !

Although it was intended to repeat the Religious Census in 1861 the various denominations could not agree to the form it should take and thus the plan was dropped - hence the 1851 census is the first and only such carried out in the UK (and Man) and as many have described it, somewhat of a failed experiment.

Mechanism

The delivery of the forms, and the discovery of the various meeting places, was the responsibility of the local census enumerators who had to deliver the census forms in the week prior to the census and then to collect them along with the population census forms on the following Monday. These forms were then passed onto the registrars who would elicit further information to fill in missing sections.

Three distinct forms were produced:
(A) black print on a blue paper for Anglican Churches
(B) red print on a blue for Non-Anglican places of Worship
(C) black on white for The Religious Society of Friends or 'Quakers'.

Each form asked slightly different questions -All forms asked about attendance at services on that specific Sunday, forms A and B (but not C) asked about average attendance. Form A, for Anglican churches, asked about endowments, the income of the church and its incumbent - this question in particular had been vigorously opposed by Lord Stanley as too prying; the government capitulated and removed the legal penalties on non-completion of the Education and Religious census forms thus in the eyes of many completely removing the point of the census as returns would be only partial. Others criticised some questions as ambiguous and not capable of easy answer. The Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, led a last minute attempt to prevent the census but failed and thus effectively a 'voluntary' but officially encouraged Religious census went ahead. In practice it seems that most Anglican incumbents were happy to fill in the 'prying' sections of the form - many local studies comment on the sometimes caustic remarks on the same subject given by some poorly paid clergymen.

Those who had commented on the ambiguity of some of the questions were however proved correct and some information, such as the number of children present, was capable of much misinterpretation.

Questions asked:

(based on the section in D. Robinson 1997)

Form A:

I: Name and Description of Church or Chapel
II: Where Situated
with boxes for Parish, Ecclesiastical Division etc; Superintendent Registrar's District and County and Diocese
III: When consecrated or licensed
IV: In case of a Church or Chapel Consecrated or licensed since the 1st January, 1800; state hereafter by Whom Erected, Cost, how defrayed
V: How Endowed
VI: Space available for public worship
required details re free sittings, other sittings and total sittings - however no definition was given and some returns were misleading
VII: Estimated Number of Persons attending Divine Service on Sunday, March 20, 1851
This question was supposed to distinguish between general congregation and Sunday scholars - a distinction that was often confused. It also asked for separate attendance figures for Morning, Afternoon and Evening services (multiple morning services etc. were to be aggregated). The question also asked about average attendance for the same services
VIII: Remarks
IX: Signature

Form B/C:

I Name or Title of Place of Worship
II: Where Situate (as for form A but no question re Diocese)
III: Religious Denomination
IV: When erected
those before 1800 to be indicated as pre-1800 (this question seems to have caused some confusion in the case of rebuilt chapels)
V: Whether a separate and entire building
this and question VI were to distinguish between cottage meetings and those in chapels
VI: Whether used exclusively as a Place of Worship
VII: Space available for Public Worship
similar to that on Form A but clearer instructions (form C asked for total floor space - possibly based on assumption that the Friends stood for their servivces)
VIII: Number of attendants
same question as question VII on Form A but tabular layout of the question differed encouraging mistakes or misinterpretations.
Roman Catholic churches which may have several morning Masses were instructed to aggregate attendances
IX: Remarks
X: Signature

Registrar

The task of tabulating the returns was given to a young (28 year old) solicitor, Horace Mann, who published his report in 1854 as one volume of the overall census reports⁵. It turned out to be an unexpected best seller! Over 21,000 copies were sold shortly after publication - one Congregational minister described it as 'at once the best and cheapest book on the religious denominations in England that has ever appeared'⁶. Part of this was due to Mann's own thorough review of the various denominations and his thoughtful comments on the actual tabulated results which include some quite forceful comments on social inequality. Perhaps the key result for many was summed up in Mann's comment 'it must be apparent that a sadly formidable portion of the English people are habitual neglecters of the public ordinances of religion' and his comments that most of these neglecters are to be found in the labouring classes.

Results and Mann's Analysis

Mann's report covered only England and Wales, results were tabulated for counties and major towns - a similar report was done for Scotland. His first difficulty was to turn attendance figures into membership figures - simple aggregation of attendance figures would overestimate numbers as it was common practice to attend more than one service. His formula to estimate the number of individual worshippers, Ñ_d, for a given denomination was:
Ñ_d = M_d + A_d/2 + E_d/3 where M_d = morning attendance, A_d afternoon and E_d evening.

The number of worshippers was then normalised to the possible church going population of the area, P, to give Ñ_d /P or as he termed it - the Index of Attendance (IA).

He also added together his estimated number of worshippers across all denominations to give Ñ_total and normalised Ñ_d to his estimated number of worshippers to give Ñ_d/ Ñ_total expressed as a percentage - his PS or proportional share.

Mann determined P by estimating that some 30% of the total population had a 'legitimate' excuse for non-attendance (small children, elderly , infirm...) - the total number of attendants was 7.26M out of a total population of England and Wales of 18M

The aggregated figures⁸ published for England and Wales were

The first row gives the 'uncorrected figures' as published. The final row gives the corrected figures after further enquiries were made about non-returns (most of which would appear to have been Anglican)

These national statistics had great variation across regions - e.g. in Cornwall the Anglicans had a PS of just 27.2% compared with the Methodist 64.5% whilst Essex had Anglican 57.5%, Methodist 8.5% and Independents 23%. Large towns showed even more variation e.g. in Liverpool the Roman Catholic PS was 32.5% reflecting the large Irish population. Larger towns and industrial areas also showed a much lower IA than rural areas.

Mann's formula of determining Ñ_d was much criticised as giving undue weight to Anglican practice which would have its main service in the morning whilst many non-conformists, Methodist included, would have their main service in the afternoon or evening. J. Vickers⁹ gives the following breakdown for attendance figures by time of day:

(note in all above tables, row totals will not sum to 100% as minor sects (e.g. Mormons) have been ignored).

To late 20th century eyes the fact that over 50% of 'eligible attendees' had actually gone to church that day would be worthy of note - however in the mid 19th century these figures were seen as an indictment of the ungodly nature of the country.

Subsequent Use

Once the original returns were released in 1951, under the 100-year rule, historians and other researchers could look at detail at the figures. It took a surprisingly long time for the academic community to excavate in this mass of documents, many seemed happy to rely on Mann's published tables. Local Historians have however over the last decade or so found them a fruitful source of data¹⁰.

One option was to apply different weightings to the reported attendance figures to arrive at the number of individual worshippers - a refinement was to keep Mann's estimate of multiple attendance but to calculate Ñ_d as Largest + half of second largest + one third of smallest attendance figures. Another scheme which allowed relative determination of denominational strength was Pickering's Largest Congregation approach (i.e. a Minimum bound on numbers)

Using the largest congregation figures a minimum of some 17% of the total population attended an Anglican church and a very slightly larger number, 17.2%, attended a dissenting service - thus some 34.2% of the population attended church that Sunday which in many parts of the country was a wet and windy day.

Although the IA figures may be defective the Proportional Share (PS) figures are generally accepted as giving a good indication of the very different regional strengths of the various denominations. Gay in 'The Geography of Religion in England' included many maps of the various denominational strength of the country or region, which clearly indicated the strength of Anglicans in the south of England and the strength of Methodists in areas where Anglican church provision had been weak .

Provision of Places

Mann's published figures also included the overall number of places for England and Wales, some 34,467 buildings providing some 10.2M sittings of which the Anglicans provided some 51.9% These sittings were enough to seat some 58% of the population but Mann noted the disparity of provision especially in the industrial towns of the North of England.

Accuracy

Much argument has ensued as to the completeness and accuracy of the gathered data.

It would appear that small Non-conformist cottage meetings were missed (some estimate some 4% of total membership), some Anglican incumbents refused to fill in the returns though in many cases subsequent enquiries filled in the blanks. Many forms gave what appeared to be estimated returns (a suspicious number of figures ending in '0' or '5') and in some cases duplicate returns were made for the same chapel. The registrars seemed to discount most duplicated returns (generally from Methodist Chapels) but some got through - e.g. the Manx returns would appear to include two for Bride WM. The registrars had some difficulty in assigning some returns to specific denominations. These were also errors on the actual returns which were not caught and sometimes it appears that the clerks were not immune from showing their own religious affiliations (especially anti-Catholic).

One problem with interpretation was the aggregation into counties etc which was not a useful one from a sociological viewpoint as parts of a county could be very different in nature from its neighbouring areas (e.g. heavily industrialised vs. rural) Gay's continued use of the county boundary hides some significant differences when the figures are viewed on a finer scale.

Educational Census

This has generally been neglected by historians - much of the information is readily available elsewhere as Education and its provision was a well studied problem at this time. It also appears that unlike the Religious Census the actual returns have not survived.

The census questions asked for considerable details re status of scholars - in vast majority of cases just the number on the roll and the number of teachers were given.

Like the Religious census the first questions were concerned with the name and location of the school, the starting date of the Sunday School- specific questions re scholars and teachers were:

(5): Number of scholars on Roll (male & female to be shown separately)
(6): Number of scholars on Roll receiving tuition on 30 Mar 1851
(7): Number of scholars on Roll receiving books who pay for them
(8): Number of scholars on Roll who provide own books
(9): Number of scholars on Roll who also attend some other day school
(10): Number of scholars on Roll who also formerly attended some other day school
(11):Number of teachers paid and unpaid - again split m & f

Other questions related to fees paid by scholars estimated annual cost of running the S/S and how income, other than fees, obtained

Manx Background

Introduction

The previous section gave an overview of the English and Welsh census - this section covers the insular census returns. The Island comprises some 220 sq. miles and when compared with the old English counties the Island is larger than Rutland but smaller than all other English counties. The total population in 1851 was 52,387.

The 1851 religious census was not quite the first for John Wesley writes in his Journal for 1781

A more loving, simple-hearted people than this I never saw - and no wonder; for they have but six papists and no dissenters on the Island.
....
The isle is supposed to have thirty thousand inhabitants. Allowing half of them to be adults, and our societies to contain one or two and twenty hundred members, what a fair proportion is this! What has been seen like this, in any part of Great Britain or Ireland ?

He may have correct in the absence of non-conformists though in 1779 a Benedictine monk, Father Johnston, who served the mission at St Begh's Whitehaven, started to make regular pastoral calls and noted some 29 Catholics living on the Island.¹¹

The Religious and Educational censuses were taken in Man as part of the 1851 decennial census but apparently were not published - for the population census the Island was included under the heading Offshore Islands but no such corresponding section of the Religious Census was given.

As part of the transfer of documents from the UK Public Records Office to the Island, what appears to be the registrar's tabulated figures (not the actual returns) were included within the 1851 census returns which were transferred to the Manx Museum Library. These returned documents were not closely examined at the time as the Museum already had a copy of the 1851 population returns taken locally prior to their transmission to London. Thus they came to light only in 1997.

The documents consist of census forms for Anglican churches and manuscript summary tables for Chapels. They are all in the same hand thus the Anglican forms must be copies rather than originals. Many of the Anglican returns included some comment, e.g. excusing poor attendance by the poor weather on that day, or that it was a Manx language service; although a field marked 'notes' was on the summary sheets no remarks were entered against chapels. The non-conformist returns (except for the Wesleyan Reformers) include only services held in specially built chapels - by 1851 both denominations had moved away from cottage or house meetings but some cottage meetings appeared to be planned in the Yn Phlan Beg but do not appear in the returns.

Before tabulating the returns the following sections offer a brief history of the various denominations.

Roman Catholics

Though the Island displayed considerable religious toleration¹² and had none of the penal laws re Catholics that so disfigured the English Statute book, they were of course required to obey the ecclesiastical laws re attendance at church, places of marriage and burial etc.¹³

Roman Catholics were few in number in the late 18C - links with Ireland and Europe during the period of the 'running trade' (1690-1765) allowed a small nucleus at Douglas and there appeared to remain a small community at the south of the Island. After revestment¹⁴ numbers dropped however the influx of Irish from 1798 brought over considerable numbers. In 1789 an émigré priest, Father Louis, sought asylum from the French Revolution on the Island; for a time he acted as tutor to the Governor's and Bishop's children whilst living at Castle Rushen. He would offer Mass in a barn at Scarlett or at the cottage of some Catholic family. but appears to have left the Island before 1794. Around the early 1800's an influx of Irish, fleeing the Irish rebellion of 1798, brought the number of Catholics up to around 200 One of these families, the Fagans, brought over their chaplain, Father Collins, who until his death in 1811 seems to have ministered to the Irish fishing community of Castletown. He is buried near St Michael's, on Fort Island, which appears to have been regularly used as a chapel.

The first priest to reside in Douglas was Father Miles McPharlan - as Rev Demsey says his story is not without interest and is also linked to the Dublin rising. Lieutenant Major Taubman (of the Nunnery family) and a contingent from the Manx Fencibles were sent to Dublin where Major Taubman made Fr McPharlan's acquaintance (the story is that the Major was billeted in Father McPharlan's rooms though P. Kelly strongly doubts this aspect of the story). When Fr McPharlan fled to the Island around 1804, to escape debts incurred in setting up a brick factory for his Irish parish, he made contact with Major Taubman who gave a site for a chapel within a disused quarry on the Douglas-Castletown road. Eventually in 1814 the small chapel of St. Bridget was built though Fr McPharlan left around this time for France to better escape his creditors. In 1823 the Irish Jesuit College agreed to provide a resident priest, Father Gahan, who also opened St.Mary's in Castletown. Along with Fr Gahan came John Kelly who taught at a school, St. Mary's, established in Douglas in 1824 which attracted both Protestants as well as Catholics and became known for many years for the breadth of its curriculum. Fr. Gahan's generous Irish friends allowed the purchase of an old theatre at the corner of Athol Street and Prospect Hill which was adapted for use as Chapel and school in 1836. An additional footnote added to the second, 1841, edition of Quiggin's Guide noting this move stated that we are not aware of a single conversion of a native to Popery, having occurred on the Island..However Fr Gahan died in 1836 before the Church was fully ready, his memorial can be seen in the grounds of St Mary's - he was accorded a full and generous tribute in the radical Methodist Mona's Herald. The Irish famines of the 1840's further increased the Catholic population who towards the end of the century were swelled in the summer months by the every increasing tourists mainly from the North of England.

Post reformation the parishes became linked with Ireland, however since the 1850's, with the restoration of the English Hierarchy, the Island parishes were attached to the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

Established Church

The Island is divided between 17 old parishes which division appears to have held since the formation of the Parish system in the 12th century (though Santon and Marown may be the result of a split in an earlier larger parish). Most parish divisions follow some feature of the land - e.g. Lonan is the basin of the Laxey River, Onchan that of the basin of the Groudle and Malew that of the Silverburn. The role of the sheading,¹⁵ parish and farm boundary in forming the basis of the Derby Lords' rent collection preserved the system from the 1420's; thus the parish boundaries changed little until the 19th century since when, sometimes after acrimonious disputes especially in Douglas, new parishes have been formed in the towns, and some older rural chapelries upgraded. Non-Manx readers should note the considerable differences between English villages centred around their parish church and the parishes on the Island. In only five of the parishes is there any sign of a village around the church and none of these, excepting Kirk Michael, follows the English pattern. The parish churches would appear to be on the sites of earlier keeills (or chapels) of which the Island has over 200 many of which are on the sites of pre-Norse chapels. Most of these keeills served a local farming community and are located on farm land. However some sites were more obviously chosen for their spectacular setting - the western Celtic tradition of veneration for wells and springs is also apparent. Parish churches are thus often some distance from population centres and although a program of church rebuilding was undertaken by Bishop Ward in the 1830's only in two cases were the churches moved to new sites somewhat closer to population centres. The towns, except Peel, were served by Chapels of Ease. Douglas fuelled initially by the running trade, quickly became the major port for the Island; church accommodation had difficulty keeping up with the growth of the early 19th century.

The island being somewhat distant from London saw only slow changes during the Reformation (the Stanleys were strongly Catholic until late in Elizabeth's reign), and its Church remained 'high' church until the beginning of the 19th century though some, notably Mackenzie¹⁶ and W.T. Radcliffe¹⁷ reflecting the stong 'anti-popish' views of the mid 19th century attempt to portray the first Stanleys as protoreformers when they delimited the power of the Ecclesiastical Barons.. The bishop had considerable say in the government of the Island and often acted in an autocratic, though usually benign manner. Bishop Wilson, 1698-1755, and his successor Bishop Hildesley, 1755-1772, were men of high calibre - Bishop Wilson managed to keep church discipline going in the Island for many years after it had effectively died in England though he had some determined opposition from the civil authorities. The requirement for incumbents to preach in Manx also virtually restricted the choice of clergy to local Manx born and Wilson organised suitable training. Although the Athols who inherited the Lordship of Man in 1736 had got off to a good start in the appointment of Bishop Hildesley who oversaw the translation of the Bible into Manx, subsequent Bishops were of much lower calibre and the church sank in esteem. Hildesley's successor Richmond, 1773-80, was much disliked by his clergy and under him church discipline rapidly failed; he was also strong in opposition to the rapidly growing Methodists. Bishop Mason who followed him was also strongly opposed but died suddenly after a short three years in office. The next 29 years were under Bishop Crigan, supposedly appointed as a stopgap whilst the Duchess of Athol waited for her son, Lord George Murray, to reach the canonical age for appointment as Bishop (the Murrays were notorious for nepotism) - after a brief period as Archdeacon of man, Murray was given St Davids but died in 1803. Crigan's health suddenly improved on the Island and although a pleasant and well liked person he made no impact and the church drifted - his task was certainly not eased by the constant strive between his patron the Duke of Athol, appointed Governor in chief in 1798 and the House of Keys. The following appointment of the young (24 year old!) Bishop George Murray - the nephew of the 4th Duke of Athol was a disaster, as Bishop Murray attempted to take tithes on all green crops including the all important potato crop. This provoked riots in 1825 and he left for Rochester in 1827. The English Crown had by then acquired the rights of appointment and appointed Bishop Ward who realising that accommodation in the churches was inadequate¹⁸ commenced on a round of church building. A copy of a letter of Bishop Ward [nd but c.1830]sums up the situation as he found it:

When B. Wilson died four score years ago there was scarcely chapel room for the people, at least not enough; they were then 20,000. There has been scarcely a church built or enlarged since and now the population is 50,000 souls.
The consequence of this neglect is dilapidated churches and not enough room for a sixth part of the people.
You may easily conceive the consequences of this. Schism has crept in, John Wesleys Methodism has sprung up. But such is the attraction and veneration of the people for the church and her ordinances, retaining still a tincture of the Wilson school, that as soon as the church bell rings on the Sabbath they shut up their meeting houses and repair to the church.
As many of them are in sympathy and they never receive the sacrament but in church. So that I know as soon as I can provide churches for them they will return to the true faith.

Most of these churches were designed by John Welch who described his employer:

An ordinary man, with the common tact and generalship of the world, would have acquired immortality by half this amount of beneficial labour properly applied; but strange to say, this ecclesiastical Hercules, who sows churches and ministers over the country as Deucalion would sow teeth, is scarcely thanked for what he has done.¹⁹

The 1835 Commission on the Church of England recommended that the ancient diocese of Sodor and Man be merged with Carlisle on the death of Bishop Ward and this was passed into law by Westminster. A determined action by Bishop Ward and friends saw this part of the bill repealed Subsequent Bishops stayed but short periods, often using the relatively poor diocese as a stepping stone to richer livings elsewhere. At the time of the census Bishop Auckland was in the middle of his term (1847-1854).

Old Dissent

The small group of Maughold Quakers had been effectively suppressed by Earl Charles²⁰ prior to the arrival of Bishop Wilson in 1698, who soon seems to brought any remaining members back into the established church. Subsequent attempts to convert the Manx met with polite indifference..

Though well established on the neighbouring coast, especially in Lancashire, dissenting sects were a late introduction on the Island with two main sects, the Congregationalists and the Presbyterian, establishing themselves in Man from the early 19th Century - the Unitarians briefly established themselves towards the end of the 19th Century but were not present in 1851, Baptists too only established their first church in the 1880's well after the census though Johnson in his guide of 1850 refers to a Baptist congregation meeting in Douglas in 1850 and there is reference in Mona's Herald ²¹ of 1849 to a rented room in the Oddfellows' Hall Athol Street (later the Courthouse) being used for services - the 1851 census also included a Thomas Burneys, who describes himself as Lodging-house Keeper and Baptist Minister.

Congregationalists, who have their roots in 16th Century England, took their name from the substitution of 'Congregation' for 'Church' by these English reformers. Each Congregation was independent in the management of its own affairs hence the common epithet 'Independents' with some chapels known as 'Independent Chapels'. Congregationalism really began on the Island with the appointment of Samuel Haining as Minister in 1808. They opened their first chapel in 1813 in Athol Street Douglas from whence the congregation, after what appears to be some form of split, moved to Finch Road (now demolished) in 1866 and also to another chapel, also now demolished, in Circular Road; a small chapel was also built in Union Mills. The early history of the Congregationalists is given in the following quote from Nightingale

In the year 1804, the Rev. Samuel Haining, then a student at Edinburgh, visited the Island to ascertain the state of religion, and to try what could be done to establish a Christian society regulated by New Testament principles. He preached throughout the Island for a few weeks, and then returned to finish his studies. Application was made to him by some who had heard him preach to come amongst them, and, being advised by Christian friends to do so, he complied, and laboured in the different parts of the Island. A church was formed in Douglas on Congregational principles, consisting of eight members, and he was ordained to the pastoral care of the church on the 15th August, 1808,... Four places of worship were occupied before a chapel was built, which was begun in 1811, and opened for worship in the month of January, 1813.

Samuel Haining died in 1846 leaving something of a vacuum which was filled by the Rev. Mr. Harrison, who had been educated at Rotherham College. Again quoting Nightingale:

Trouble arising, he resigned after two or three years, and the chapel was closed for several months. It was about this time that the Rev. W. C. Stallybrass came to be tutor to the family of Mr. Jackson, of Falcon Cliff. Mr. Jackson had ceased to attend Athol Street, and with him came into existence Cliff Chapel, of which Mr. Stallybrass was minister for a short time. In 1850, however, the Athol Street friends invited him to the pastorale of the church there. The invitation was accepted, and Mr. Stallybrass began his labours on July 11th of that year. At Cliff Chapel, the Rev. Robert Chamberlain became his successor.

Mr John Jackson was the manager of the Bank of Mona , who had left Atholl Street chapel following the death of Mr Haining and opened his own chapel in 1846. Following closure of the chapel in 1852 it was "transformed into an entrance to Falcon Cliff Hotel grounds."

Presbyterians have a Scottish background and rejected the Episcopal arrangement of the Established church. They were governed by Presbyters in which no higher order than 'Elder' was recognised. However each congregation was governed by its Session (Minister plus Elders) which was subordinate to the Presbytery which was subject to Synod which in turn could be over-ruled by the General Assembly.

Scottish Presbyterians would appear to have commenced meetings in Douglas in 1763 [Roscow] but seem to have had few members as the minister left in 1765; they tried again in 1788 but again the congregation soon faltered. The Presbyterian church in Douglas can fairly be put down to one man - James McCrone - who came over in 1817 as Crown Agent and commissioner for the Governor the fourth Duke of Athol and his Nephew the young and inexperienced Bishop Murray. Mr McCrone for all his probity has gained a reputation as a hard man, Thomas Kelly one of the early emigrants to Ohio writing in 1827 invokes him with distaste²². McCrone and his wife, the daughter of a London minister; would appear to be have been members of Samuel Haining's congregation from 1817 until 1825. However in that year, he and other, presumably, Scots founded a small congregation and in 1829 they underwrote the costs of inviting Rev B. Mellis for a year. He also appealed to the Presbytery in Edinburgh for assistance. The early history was given by Train:

Previous to the year 1830, there was no presbyters church in Douglas in connection with the Kirk of Scotland although a large room had been for some time previously used as a place of worship. In that year, a subscription was commenced for the erection of a church and manse, by the late Mr. James M'Crone, crown agent in the Island, by whose indefatigable exertions, as well among the Scotch families resident in the Island as with the government, a sum was obtained sufficient to warrant the commencement of these buildings. In the course of the following season, both kirk and manse were erected-the former capable of accommodating three hundred persons and the latter equalling in its accommodations the generality of the manses in Scotland. They stand at the south end of Finch-road, commanding an extensive and interesting view of the bay and of the distant ocean. The congregation is inconnection with the presbytery of Lancashire.²³

Much of the money came from Scotland though McCrone managed to obtain £100 from the British Government.

There was also a Presbyterian church in Ramsey which seems to date from around 1829 when a number of ex-patriot Scots fishermen petitioned the Wigtown Presbytery for help in founding a church. This led to the foundation of a church to accommodate 230 persons, opened in 1837, though there were significant breaks in the provision of a full time pastor. This church was replaced in 1886 by the present building and became Quine's hall.

Methodism

The first Methodist preacher arrived in 1758 but decided there was little probability of doing any considerable good while the whole island was a nest of smugglers. It was left to John Crook, sent by Liverpool Methodists in 1775, to have any real effect. His second visit in 1776 provoked some decided opposition, especially from Bishop Richmond who issued, in Moore's words an intolerant and violent pastoral letter to the clergy demanding that they expel any Methodists from their parish. However several of the clergy, and the Governor were more friendly towards him. In 1778 the Island was entered as a separate circuit with John Crook and Robert Dall appointed as preachers for a three year period. Wesley himself visited in 1777 and again in 1781 by which time there were some 1600 members on the Island. It was Wesley, who being in good political standing thanks to his support of the English position in the American War of Independence, managed to defuse some of the persecution of Crook.

A history of the Manx Wesleyan Methodists up to 1848 is provided by J Rosser.

Following the death of Wesley the Methodist connexion saw several factions develop; the first was the Methodist New Connexion, under Alexander Kilham, in 1797, the Primitive Methodists under Hugh Bourne and William Clowes broke away in 1812 and in 1815 the Bible Christians (very much a Cornish group) did likewise. The MNC, though strong in Yorkshire and parts of Lancashire did not arrive on the Island until the very late 19th century when they formed a short lived IoM Mission.

Primitive Methodism arrived on the Island in 1822 and quickly established many meeting places and chapels. A brief history of the early days is given by Petty in 1859 and a fuller history by Curry in 1906/7. By the time of the census the Wesleyans appealed more towards the better-off working and lower middle class whilst the 'Prims' tended to be a working class, and in Man stronger in the south than the north of the Island, though for both Douglas was numerically their main strength (e.g. the Prims drew 30% of their total congregations in Douglas whereas this was only 18% of the Wesleyan) .

H.R. Oswald (a Presbyterian) writing in the 1830's says:

The Manx Methodists of his [Bishop Murray's] time could not be termed non-conformists, for, till very lately, none of them went as far to separate themselves entirely, but were regular attendants at the Divine service of the Establishment, and respected all her ordinances.

Multiple attendance, especially in rural areas, at both Chapel and Parish Church would appear to have been quite common and continued until much later in the century - many chapels choosing times of service so as not to clash with those of the Parish Church (see for example the times of service in the rural Wesleyan chapels).

The 1830's saw yet more agitation within the Wesleyans as the travelling preachers became more clerical and the centralising power of conference dominated over local circuits²⁵ and made ever increasing demands for more money (summed up in the jibe 'The chapels are ours but the debts are yours').. A dispute over the installation of an organ in a Leeds chapel was the spark that provoked the Protestant Methodists who joined with the followers of Samuel Warren, another critic of the centralising power, to form the Wesley Methodist Association in 1832. Further disputes with the all powerful Jabez Bunting led to the expulsion of James Everett in 1849 who formed the short lived Wesley Methodist Reformers (merged with WMA in 1857). Some of these dispute spilt over to the Island with the expulsion of John Cain in 1835 and again in 1850's to give a short lived reform sect under Francis Ward, ironmonger, and one time Wesleyan travelling preacher. Robert Faragher writing in his Mona's Herald devoted considerable editorial space to this dissent and, as would have been expected of him, was in favour of the reformers.

Other Sects

The only sect that could have been expected to appear was the Mormons - the Island was missioned by John Taylor, an ex-Methodist preacher, in 1840 and some converts made (actual numbers are difficult to determine but likely to be around 20 families). John Taylor had married a Manx woman, which gave him an entree into the Island and several converts emigrated to Navoo in the early 1840's. The press response after an initial neutral period became decided hostile. In Jan 1845 the Manx Liberal carried a letter describing a Mormon New Year's party in the 'Old Club Room' Society Lane in some 150 persons, excluding Sunday school children, were present. However I could find no later press reference to any further meetings.

Tabulated Returns by Town/Parish

Estimated number in congregations (largest + 0.5 second + 0.33 third)

Detailed returns from parishes and towns are given in an appendix.

 Are all meeting places and chapels included ?

Those of the Established Church seem to be complete except for St Thomas Douglas which had been opened (licensed but not consecrated) in 1849, however the first curate Rev. W. Carter left early in 1851 and his successor, Rev S. Simpson was in charge from May 1851 so possibly there was no service that Sunday. However a search through the Mona's Herald of the period failed to find any mention of a closure The dispute which was to close St Thomas for many years did not come about until 1867.

Those of the Roman Catholic community would appear to be included (I have included the estimated congregation at Peel as it would appear that services were not held every Sunday and it is unlikely they would have journeyed to Douglas).

The Athol Street Congregational or Independent Chapel is missing from the returns; according to Nightingale the Rev Stallybrass had been installed as Minister the previous year. Stallybrass is included in the population census of that night which shows him aged 31 and described as Independent Minister (born in Siberia to a missionary father) living next door to Rev John Hill in Stanley Terrace.

The main question mark must hang over the numerous Methodist Chapels and especially house meetings. A Circuit Plan for the Wesleyan Methodist Douglas and Castletown circuit covering the census date still survives [MM ] as does a copy of Y Phlan Beg ²⁶ for the same circuit. Unfortunately no plan for the Ramsey/Peel circuit or for the Primitive Methodist circuits are extant.

Rosser [1848] gives a

List of chapels and other preaching places in the Douglas and Castletown, and Ramsey andPeel, circuits, respectively, as published on the preachers' double plan for May, June, andJuly, 1848.
The letter before the name serves to describe the preaching place: c denoting chapel; s school house; r room; and h private house.

I have marked on the list those missing from the 1851 plan and whether they appear or not on the census returns ('+' or X). The times of services are taken from the Plan of the Douglas/Castletown circuit including March 30; those for Peel/Ramsey are from an 1848 plan in the John Rylands Library²⁷. Not Planned indicates that no service was planned for census Sunday - the 'shall be supplied' on the plan may indicate that a service was doubtful.

.

Not identified on 1848 list Close Ballaskella Apparently not on the 1848 list Glen Mooar (le)

Definitely missing is any return are from Glasgow (Glascoe) and Union Mills (held in School room ) there is a return from the Independent (Congregational) Sunday School run by Dalrymple. Six (6) Planned house meetings in the Douglas circuit also do not have any return.

On 'Y Phlan Beg' (mainly mid week house meetings) as compared with the circuit Plan for that period there are apparently the following Sunday services

Ballafesson 6pm (same time as Plan but different preacher)
Howe (returns show the 2 Planned services),
Ballakilpheric, (returns show the 2 Planned services)
Strandhall (6pm - not on Plan)
Ballabeg (already noted as missing),
Ery Stein (not on Plan)
Ronague and Ronague school house,
Kerrowkeil (2 services appear as per Plan),
Ballamoda (the 6.30pm is presumably the Phlan Beg),
Ballagary (the 2.30pm is Planned possibly the 6pm is the Plan Beg),
Grenaby
John Cottiers (a house meeting).

So it is possible that several other House Meetings were missed either by the enumerators or possibly ignored by the person who put together the manuscript lists which have survived.

Returns

The lowest PC for any established Church is the 9% of Bride - as both the WM and the PM chapels are within 50m of the church the weather and distance cannot be the reason. Gelling notes that Rector Nelson's father who died in 1847 after 17 years in the Parish, was noted as a Tractarian - it is possible that he was so out of touch with the evangelical parishioners that they deserted the Established Church. In 1872 there was considerable parish disquiet at the cost of building the new church and some three years later on the death of Rector Nelson the parish petitioned for a ex-Methodist to be appointed. The Primitives slightly outnumber the Wesleyans.

The next lowest is Maughold with 11% - here the average congregation is not noted as much more than the actual congregation so again weather cannot be to blame. Maughold church is certainly isolated and a considerable distance from most parishioners. St Paul's in Ramsey will have taken many from that part of the parish; the later Dhoon chapel would ease distances in the south of the parish. Wesleyans slightly outnumber Primitive Methodists.

The established church is strongest in the towns, except for Peel, Ramsey (52%) Douglas (43%) and the south - Castletown, Arbory, Malew and Rushen are all over 40% . Only in Jurby is there a stronger Wesleyan share than that of the established church.

There are five parishes Andreas (0%), Jurby (0%), Onchan (7%), German (9%), Patrick (10%) and Ramsey (7%) where the Primitive Methodists is 10% or below.

Daniel Mylrea had been rector of Andreas from 1814-1837, much loved and had never raised the tithes. Problems with the tithe had been a major component of disquiet with the Established church in the 1820's when the Prims were establishing themselves, this possibly removed a cause to desert the parish church. In Jurby I suspect a strongly established Wesleyan tradition (some 79% considerably more than any other parish) deterred the Prims.

The Primitive Methodist strength lay in Lonan and especially the mining area of Laxey - it is possible that many of the immigrant miners brought with them a radical Methodism.

Seating Provision

The following figure shows the growth of seating provision by the two Methodist communities

Membership figures for the Weslyans can be found in Rosser (up to 1848) and are plotted below:

Membership figures for the Primitive Methodists can be determined from their annual returns to Conference:

References and further reading

Manx Church History

 W. Curry The Story of Primitive Methodism in the Isle of Man
published in The Primitive Methodist World 20 Dec 1906 through to 4 April 1907
a shortened version published in 1909 as A Kingdom Won. The Story of Primitive Methodism in the Isle of Man

[J. Davidson. & A Hunter Wray] The First Century of Presbyterianism in Douglas Isle of Man, 1825 1925
L.G.Meyer Douglas 1925

William S Demsey History of the Catholic Church in the Isle of Man Birchly Hall Press Wigan 1958

J. Gelling A History of the Manx Church 1698-1911
Manx Heritage Douglas (ISBN 0-9524319-4-0) 1998
(very readable but somewhat flawed by lack of any references)

P. Kelly The History of St Mary of the Isle 1984
(gives an excellent history of the re-establishment of a significant Catholic Community on the Island)

A. W. Moore Diocesan Histories: Sodor and Man
SPCK 1894

B Nightingale Lancashire Nonconformity vol 6 The Churches of Southport, Liverpool and the Isle of Man 1906

J. Roscow Eighteenth Century Nonconformists in the Records of the Manx Museum
Proc IoM Nat History and Antiquarian Soc IX #4 pp 473-490 1990

James Rosser The History of Wesleyan Methodism in the Isle of Man: with some account of the Island, and of the life and labours of Bishop Wilson; in a series of letters
M.A.Quiggin Douglas 1849

1851 Religious Census

B. I. Coleman The Church of England in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
General Series #98 Historical Association (ISBN 0-85278-233-0) 1980
(A 48 page, survey which makes extensive use of the Religious Census - includes aggregated returns for all English Counties, N. & S. Wales, and the largest 45 towns in England, has an extensive bibliography)

C. D. Field Methodism in the 1851 Religious Census of England and Wales: A Methodological Reappraisal pp169/190 of Methodism in its Cultural Milieu - Proc of the Centenary of Wesley Historical Soc July 1993 Cambridge England

C. D. Field The 1851 Religious Census: a Select Bibliography
Wesley Historical Society 1978
(now somewhat dated but still useful)

J. D. Gay The Geography of Religion in England 1971
(Has a extensive collection of maps showing the spread of the various denominations - includes much material pre and post the 1851 census though census results are the cornerstone of his data)

H. Mann On the Religious Census 1854
(An edited extract from Mann's introduction to the 1854 report is given in section 6.1.1. of Religion in Victorian Britain vol III Sources ed J. Moore- Manchester University Press (ISBN 0-7190-2944-9)1988)

J. A. Vickers The 1851 Religious Census
Short Guides to Records #45 Historical Association 1995
(A short 5 page overview of the census with a select Bibliography)

Individual county analysis of 1851 census returns -

An updated list from that in D. Robinson The 1851 Religious Census: Surrey - many of these volumes contain brief histories of the various chapels/churches included, that for Surrey is an excellent example of what can be done.

Bedfordshire

 Bedfordshire Ecclesiastical Census 1851'
ed. D.W. Busby, in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, 54 (1975)

Buckinghamshire

 Buckinghamshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851
ed. E. Legg, Buckinghamshire Record Society, 27 (1991)

Derbyshire

The Derbyshire Returns to the 1851 Religious Census
ed. M. Tranter with D. A. Barton and P. S. Ell, Derbyshire Record Society, 23 (1995)

Devon

 Devon in the Religious Census of 1851
ed. M. J. L. Wickes (privately published, 1990).
[This edition omits information on Church of England endowments]

Hampshire

 The Religious Census of Hampshire 1851
ed. J. A. Vickers, Hampshire Record Series (1993)

Hertfordshire

 Religion in Hertfordshire 1847 to 1851
ed. J. Burg, Hertfordshire Record Society (1995).
[Includes also a survey by William Upton, 1847]

Lincolnshire

 Lincolnshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851
ed. R. W. Ambler, Lincoln Record Society 72 (1979)

Norfolk

 Religious Worship in Norfolk: The 1851 Census of Accommodation and Attendance at Worship
ed J. Ede and N. Virgoe, Norfolk Record Society vol LXII, 1998

Nottinghamshire

 Religion in Victorian Nottinghamshire The Religious Census of 1851
ed. M. Watts, University of Nottingham Centre for Local History Record Series No. 7, 2 vols. (1988)

Oxfordshire

 Church and Chapel in Oxfordshire 1851
ed. K. Tiller, Oxfordshire Record Society 55 (1987)

Surrey

 The 1851 Religious Census: Surrey
transcribed by C. Webb and ed D. Robinson, Surrey Record Society vol XXXV, 1997

Sussex

 The Religious Census of Sussex 1851
ed. J. A. Vickers, Sussex Record Society 75 (1989)

Wales and Monmouthshire

 The Religious Census of 1851. A Calendar of the Returns relating to Wales
Vol 1. South Wales, ed. I. G. Jones (1976);
Vol 2. North Wales, ed. I. G. Jones and D. Williams (1981).
University of Wales Press, Cardiff

The returns for non-metropolitan Surrey and Kent and for Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are tabulated and studied in B. P. Coleman, 'Southern England in the religious census of 1851', Southern History, 5 (1983).

Notes

1. Although censuses had been taken much earlier (e.g. the well known one c. 1AD!) and Political Arithmetic (e.g. for calculation of Life tables) studied from 17th century it was the 19th century that saw the real development see T. M Porter 'The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900' Princeton (ISBN 0-691-02409-x) 1986
2. An excellent survey of various topics connected with the Victorian censuses is given in: Local Communities in the Victorian Census Enumerators' Books ed D. Mills and K. Schurer 1996 (ISBN 0-904920-33-X) Local Population Studies Supplement (available via Dept of History University of Essex, Colchester UK)
3. A.N. Laughton High Bailiff Laughton's Reminiscences Douglas 1916 see chapter VII
4. Quoted by David Robinson in 'The 1851 Religious Census: Surrey'
5. Census of Great Britain, 1851. Religious Worship in England and Wales. Report and Tables (PP1852-3), LXXXIX [1690]
6. Thomas Davies minister of York Road Independent Chapel, Lambeth quoted by D. Robinson p liii.
7. See extracts published in Religion in Victorian Britain III Sources pp313-321
8. Table and other figures extracted from Coleman The Church of England in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
9. J.A. Vickers The 1851 Religious Census
10. see list of County Religious Census books - most appear to have been published within the last decade.
11. See Demsey
12. Waldron writing in 1720 notes, with some disquiet, that Catholic children were admitted to school and their religion apparently tolerated
13. See Roscow - several Catholic priests were briefly imprisoned in 18th C for illegally celebrating marriage.
14. The sale of the regalities by the Athol Lords to the English Crown in 1765 -a sale demanded by the British Government so they could more easily bring the running trade to an end.
15. The Island was (and still is for some purposes) divided into six sheadings, this certainly had happened by 1422 Kinvig suggests that this derives from the Middle English scheding 'a division' and was introduced to the island at the beginning of the 15th century when Sir John Stanley became King of Man though Kneen considers that there is some evidence of earlier use.
16. The Rev Mackenzie was associated with the Presbyterian church on the Island - See his notes to Vol III 'Legislation of Three Stanley Lords' of the Manx Society who inserted a special disclaimer stating that the views were not those of the society
17. W.T. Radcliffe Ellan Vannin 1895 - Radcliffe, Manxborn was a distinguished Methodist minister.
18. Church room only for about 9,000 with a population of 35,000 . In the town of Douglas, 7,000 population, church room for about 1,300, and no free seats, so the 4,000 poor were virtually excluded.
19. Letter of Bishop Ward to Bishop Chase, Oberlin College Ohio; nd but by internal context c.1830. [Manx Musem MM ]
20. A Six day Tour by a Stranger 1836
21. T Hodgkin Ruillick-ny-Quakeryn. Notes on the History of friends in the Isle of Man. Friends' Quarterly Examiner, October 1908 pp457-495
22. Mona's Herald of 27 June 1849 has:
    The Baptist Society - This useful and influential section of the Christian Church have recently opened a place of worship in the large rooms connected with the Oddfellows' Hall in the town where divine service is celebrated on a Sunday.
23. see letter The Manx Sun 18 March 1828
24. Train History of the IoM vol 2 1845
25. for a somewhat earlier example see Mercer's letter of 1820 quoted in Coakley Wesleyan Methodist Membership 1800-1820 Manx Methodist Historical Soc. Newsletter Autumn 1998 Jan 11 1845
26. 'The Small Plan' - mostly house meetings by newly entered Local Preachers - the Manx Museum have a good collection of circuit plans, see their handlist.
27. John Rylands Library, Manchester - printed on silk.