Welsh Journals

THE CENSUS OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP OF 1851 IN CARDIGANSHIRE ONCE only has there been held in Great Britain a census of religious worship. The mid-nineteenth century witnessed in this country a growing concern with the social welfare of the people, with their living and working conditions, and with their education, and this led to a number of official enquiries. It seemed desirable to the government of Lord John Russell to ascertain also the amount of accommodation available to them for religious worship, and the extent to which it was used. The government therefore decided to undertake a religious census in connection with the ordinary census to be held in 1851. The registrars for the districts into which the country was divided for the purposes of the census, and the enumerators in charge of sub-districts, were asked to prepare a list of places of religious worship in their areas. In respect of these, forms were distributed. They differed according to whether the edifice belonged to an Anglican or to a Nonconformist body, but both types enquired into the number of persons attending public worship on a particular Sunday, namely 30 March 1851. Both types also asked those responsible to indicate the number of sittings in their churches or chapels, as well as the average attendance in the preceding months. No question was asked concerning membership or religious profession. Even so, strong objection was raised to the holding of the enquiry at all, and this came more particularly from partisans of the Anglican church. As a result, it was decided that the compulsory provisions in the Census Act should not apply to this enquiry-that there should be no compulsion to supply the information at all. Nevertheless, it was forthcoming in the overwhelming majority of cases. Where a reply had not been received, the registrars made a second request, which generally proved effective. If not, yet a third type of form was sent to an informant' (who might, or might not, be the enumerator) who was asked to estimate the space available and the usual number of attendants. The Report appeared in 1853.1 Its compilation had been entrusted to a young barrister, Horace Mann, who was only twenty-seven years of age when the census was held.2 He prefaced it with a remarkable hundred-paged chapter, entitled Progress of religious opinions in England This brought him some ridicule-it does, in fact, begin with the phrase When Caesar landed on the coast of Britain -and Gladstone, the chancellor of the exchequer in the Aberdeen admin- istration, wrote to the home secretary, Lord Palmerston, strongly protesting against its having been published at government expense. It is, however, a most informative and lucid discussion of the origin,