APPENDIX G.
Analysis of the Tithe Commutation Return in Appendix F, showing (1) the number of Old Parishes in England and Wales; (2) the number not appropriated, and the number appropriated, to which is added a full explanation of the analysis.
Column 1 indicates that nearly one-half of the parochial tithes in England and Wales were appropriated to archbishops, bishops, chapters, monasteries, colleges, etc. There are 8,856 old parishes in England and Wales. Columns 2, 3, and 4 give the number of appropriated rectories, total 3,985. So we have 3,985 old parishes deprived of their rectorial tithes. Who have these? Column 2 are archbishops, bishops, chapters, vicars-choral, and archdeacons. Column 3 are what are sometimes called “Lay Rectors,” i.e., impropriated rectors, namely, lay persons in receipt of rectorial tithes, resulting from the dissolution of monasteries and the dispersion of their tithes by the Crown to laymen. Columns 3 and 4 are lay persons receiving tithes from 2,417 parishes, amounting to gross £962,390, or nearly a million a year. Appendices A, B, and C, give the rectors in column 2. Appendix D gives the 321 in column 4. As regards column 3, the tithe-rent charges are dealt with as private property, and as such is constantly changing hands by sales or otherwise.
In columns 6 and 7, 3,985 appropriated and impropriated rectors of the old parishes employed 2,916 vicars. But column 6, or 347 parishes, have vicars, but no rectors.[306] Again, the 1,568 clerical rectors in column 2 employed only 1,176 vicars, and the remaining 392 parishes had no vicars. Again, the 2,096 impropriated rectors in column 3 employed only 1,525 vicars, and the remaining 564 parishes had none. Again, the 321 college, etc., rectors employed 207 vicars, and the remaining 102 parishes had none.
I refer the reader to the summary of tithe-rent charges at page 253. (1) The Clerical Appropriators having £681,695, number 1,568. They are classified in Appendices A, B, and C. (2) The Parochial Incumbents receiving £2,415,040, consist of rectors, 4,524 + 3,263 vicars = 7,787. (3) Lay Impropriators receive £766,334; they number 2,096. (4) Schools, colleges, etc., receive £196,055; they number 321, and are classified in Appendix D, page 247.
APPENDIX H.
Lands and Money Payments in Lieu of Tithes.
The number of parishes in which awards were made under the Inclosure Acts, in 29 counties, was 989.[307] These parishes do not appear in the Tithe Commutation Return of 1887.
| Parochial Rectors. | Appropriated Rectors. | Impropriated Rectors. | College, School, etc., Rectors. | Vicars. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parishes | 435 | 63 | 477 | 14 | 548 | 989 |
| Add the tithe number at [page 255] | 4,524 | 1,568 | 2,096 | 321 | 3,263 | 8,856 |
| Total | 4,959 | 1,631 | 2,573 | 335 | 3,811 | 9,845 |
To 9,845 are added 200 benefices in London, Canterbury, Isle of Man, etc., which receive tithe-taxes from houses, also fixed and variable incomes from commuted tithes. Therefore, 10,045 benefices derive incomes from tithes. The total number of benefices is 13,979. Of the remaining 3,934, 464 are not endowed with tithes or glebes, and 3,470 were formed between A.D. 1818 and A.D. 1890. As regards the 9,845 parishes, it is important to notice that the tithes of one-half or 4,886 in England and Wales, were impropriated, that is, alienated from the parishes, and 4,959 were not alienated.
The total number of beneficed clergy in England, Wales, Isle of Man and Channel Islands, may be taken as 13,979 (as very few benefices are now held in plurality), viz., England 13,048, Wales 856, Isle of Man 34, Channel Islands 41. In the census of 1881, the number of civil parishes was stated to be 14,926, hence 947 were consolidated. The benefice may consist of one or many parishes united. For example, at page 192, there are 43 parishes united into 11 benefices, so 13,979 benefices mean about 15,000 parishes. 11,667 benefices have parsonage houses, 2,312 have not.
APPENDIX I.
Aggregate Summary of Revenues of Church of England.[308]
| Gross income of property derived from | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Endowments. | Private Benefactions since 1703. | ||
| I. | Archiepiscopal and Episcopal Sees | 87,827 | 11,081 |
| II. | Cathedral and Collegiate Churches | 192,400 | |
| III. | Ecclesiastical Benefices | 3,941,057 | 272,605 |
| IV. | Ecclesiastical Commissioners | 1,247,827 | |
| V. | Queen Anne’s Bounty | 700 | |
| 5,469,171 | 284,386 | ||
| 5,753,557 | |||
Its capitalized value is about £140,000,000.
The return deals only with the permanent sources of revenues. Hence it omits fees, pew-rents and Easter offerings. The return was made from values in 1886. The Commissioners’ own gross income in 1890 was £1,320,000, and not £1,247,827. The gross income of the beneficed clergy is by this return £4,810,662 or gross £344 a year each, net £262. To find net income, I have allowed £1,140,000 to cover depreciation and expenses out of £2,592,000 tithe-rent charge, 1890.
The total rateable value of the episcopal, capitular and parsonage houses = £11,151 + £18,928 + £518,054 respectively = £548,133. The rack-rental value is about £800,000 a year.
Dealing with the fluctuating part of the beneficed clergy’s income, we may safely estimate fees, pew-rents and Easter offerings at £1,000,000 a year. In arriving at this amount I have been guided by certain well-known official data. (1) The average fluctuating incomes of the 115 rectors in the old parish of Manchester were, for 1890, £142 each. (2) The 987 benefices of Wales and Monmouth had, in 1890, £10 each. My conclusion, therefore, is that 4,600 benefices get, like Manchester, £653,000; 4,600 get £300,000; and 4,779 get the Welsh rate, viz., £48,000. Total, £1,000,000. It varies from one to one and a half millions a year.
In 1890 we may safely take the following as the correct gross aggregate revenues of the beneficed clergy:—£3,941,057 + £272,605 + £617,000 (C.F.) + £1,000,000 = £5,830,662 or £415 each; net £334 calculated like the net £262 above. But £6,000,000 a year for the 13,979 incumbents is nearer the truth. Add to 11,667 with parsonages, a rental of £52 a year for house = net average for each of the 11,667 £386. We have, at last, a correct idea of the immense wealth of the beneficed clergy alone.