GLADSTONE, THE COLONIAL

CHURCH, AND IMPERIAL STATE

Hilary M. Carey

This chapter tracks the changes which precipitated a fundamental breach be-
tween the colonial Church of England and the imperial state through the lens
of the career of William Ewart Gladstone (–). In the s, Gladstone
sponsored a series of colonial church bills which aimed to liberate the Church of
England in the colonies from the threat of Erastian interference by the state, and
facilitate the emergence of independent synods. In Britain, the passage of the
legislation was thwarted because of evangelical fears that it would give too much
power to colonial bishops. While unsuccessful, the controversy over Gladstone’s
colonial church bills anticipated some of the tensions which would erupt in the
wake of the Colenso Affair () over the disestablishment of the Church in
Ireland. By the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund in
, Gladstone had witnessed an ecclesiastical revolution on an imperial stage.

Bondage

I am the LORD thy God, which have

brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
from the house of bondage.
(Exodus :)

In the s, there was a series of attempts to create imperial legis-

lation which would release the Church of England and Ireland in the
colonies from what William Ewart Gladstone (–) would later
call “Egyptian bondage.”1 A number were sponsored by Gladstone him-
self, a reflection of the abiding interest he retained in the colonial church
and issues of church and state throughout his life. What Gladstone and
other high churchmen aspired to create were colonial provinces of the
Church which were self-governing and autonomous, but which contin-
ued to maintain spiritual links with the Church of England at home. To

1 Speech to the th Anniversary of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund by W.E. Gladstone,

‘The Colonial Episcopate.’ The Times,  June . Subsequent references to “the Church”
and “the Church of England” refer to the United Church of England and Ireland estab-
lished by the Act of Union ().
 hilary m. carey

achieve this, their chosen instruments were the provincial and diocesan
synods. Why did imperial attempts to create these useful organisations
fail? This chapter seeks to answer this question in the light of three major
issues for the colonial Church of England, namely the secularisation
of the Canadian Clergy Reserves, the failure of colonial church bills—
including Gladstone’s—in the s, and the Colenso affair of .

The Church of England in the colonies

A formal structure for the colonial Church is a surprisingly late develop-

ment in the history of the British Empire and the established Church of
England. From the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) selected chaplains and school teach-
ers who were licensed by the bishop of London for work overseas;2 the
Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK), and the Reli-
gious Tract Society supplied them with religious literature which com-
prised their tools of trade. As the resident population of the colonies rose,
it was reasonable to expect that clergy would be trained locally and that
congregations would support them without reliance on funding from
home. But, unlike the independent Scottish Episcopal Church, the colo-
nial Church of England did not have its own resident bishops.
Several factors were involved in changing British government policy
towards a fuller provision of religious services to colonial settlements,
including their own resident bishops.3 In the first place, there was the
rupture created by the loss of the American colonies, which led, in due
course, to the creation of the first Anglican colonial dioceses, beginning
with Nova Scotia in  and expanding very slowly to include new dio-
ceses in India, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and Jerusalem.4
Secondly, there was the religious revival, which inspired new enthusi-

2 Three Centuries of Mission: The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel –
, ed. D. O’Connor (London: Continuum, ); C.F. Pascoe, Two Hundred Years of
the S.P.G.: An Historical Account of the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, –
 (London: SPG ); H.P. Thompson, Into All Lands: The History of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, – (London: SPCK, ). See
Appendix below for a list of colonial church legislation passed by the imperial parliament.
3 R. Strong, ‘A Vision of an Anglican Imperialism: The Annual Sermons of the Society

for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts –,’ Journal of Religious History
 (), pp. –; R. Strong, Anglicanism and Empire (Oxford: Oxford University
Press ).
4 The first colonial bishoprics were: Nova Scotia (), Quebec (), Calcutta

(), Jamaica (), Barbados (), Madras (), Australia (), Bombay