Religious routes to Gladstonian liberalism
Subtitle: the church rate conflict in England and Wales, 1832-1868
By: J.P. Ellens.
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: University Park, Pa
Language: eng
Number of pages: 301
Subjects: Gladstone, W. E. 1809-1898.; Church tax -- England -- History -- 19th century.; Church and state -- England -- History -- 19th century.; Liberalism -- England -- History -- 19th century.; England -- Church history -- 19th century.; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901.
Description: This book, covering the period 1832 to 1868, describes how the so-called "church rates" controversy contributed to the rise of a secular liberal state in England and Wales. The church rate was an ancient tax required of all ratepayers, regardless of denomination, for the upkeep of parish churches of the Church of England. This meant that Dissenters and other non-Anglicans paid for the support of the established Church. In the 1830s, however, the Dissenters determined to tolerate the situation no longer.

The resulting thirty-six-year struggle became the central church-state issue of the Victorian period.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-293) and index.