Disestablishmentarianism
Disestablishmentarianism is a movement to end the Church of England's status as an official church of the United Kingdom. Anglican disestablishment Irish church The campaign to disestablish the Anglican Church of Ireland began in the 18th century. A rich church, with 22 bishops drawing £150,000 a year, and a further £600,000 going annually to the rest of the clergy, it was wholly disproportionate to the needs of its worshippers, and consisted largely of absentee sinecurists. Given that in Ireland not even nominal adherence by the predominantly Roman Catholic majority population could be expected for the (Protestant) established Church, defence of the latter became increasingly difficult, especially after Catholic emancipation. In 1833 a Church Reform Act was passed, reducing the number of sees from 22 to 12, but attempts to redistribute the church's wealth failed amidst political controversy. Eventually, as G. M. Trevelyan put it, "the disestablishment and partial disendowment of the Irish Protestant Church was carried out in a masterly and sympathetic manner by William Ewart Gladstone, whose known position as an enthusiastic Churchman stood him in good stead during the negotiations"; and in 1869 an Act of the British Parliament enabling the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland was