Welsh Journals

THE RECORDS OF THE WELSH CHURCH COMMISSION HELD IN THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES: A BRIEF GUIDE Michael J. Pearson The records of the Welsh Church Commission make up one of the most substantial collections held in the Department of Manuscripts and Records in the National Library of Wales. This paper seeks to give the researcher some indication of the type of material to be found in the archive, after first presenting a brief background to the history of disestablishment and disendowment and to the archive. The background to disestablishment and disendowment The disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England in Wales and Monmouthshire came about as the result of a lengthy campaign in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a campaign fuelled by religious, social, economic, political, and even nationalistic grievances. The question was prominent in Liberal election campaigns, forming the core of the Liberal programme in Wales, along with proposals for the reform of land tenure and the extension of education. However, when the Conservatives were in power, any opposition motions for disestablishment were either rejected or amended beyond recognition. Even when the Liberals held office, the Conservative majority in the House of Lords was regularly used to ensure the advantage of the party in opposition. However, after the powers of the Upper House were restricted with passing of the Parliament Act in 1912, the Welsh Disestablishment Bill of 1912, the fourth such Bill since 1894, received Royal Assent two years later as the Welsh Church Act, 1914. This Act and the subsequent Amending Act, the Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act, 1919, dealt with disestablishment and disendowment.