The Sectarian Spirit: Sectarianism, Society, and Politics in Victorian Cotton Towns 9781487579555

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P.T. PHILLIPS is Associate Professor of History at St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

This comparative study deals with the important social phenomenon of sectarianism in four medium-sized cotton towns of northwest England - Bolton, Preston, Stockport, and Blackburn - between 1832 and 1870. Professor Phillips examines the social role of sectarian animosity in a period of rapid economic expansion and population growth. Placing this conflict within the dense mosaic of religious, social, and economic factors he delineates sectarianism's crucial role in politics and class strife. He also assesses the activities of Churchmen (Anglicans), Nonconformists, Roman Catholics, and members of the new sects. The author relates his findings to the operations of sectarianism in other parts of the country and takes into account some of the most recent work in urban, religious, social, and political history. This volume has important implications for the understanding not only of cotton towns, but of Victorian society, religion, and politics as a whole.

PAUL T. PHILLIPS

The Sectarian Spirit: Sectarianism, Society, and Politics in Victorian Cotton Towns

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto

Buffalo

London

Press 1982 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada Reprinted in 2018

© University of Toronto

ISBN 0-8020-2406-8 ISBN 978-1-4875-8071-1 (paper)

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Phillips, Paul T., 1942The sectarian spirit Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-8020-2406-8

ISBN 978-1-4875-8071-1 (paper)

I. Social classes- England - History- 19th century. 2. England - Social conditions - 19th century. 3. Sects - England- History- 19th century. 4. England- Religion - 19th century. I. Title. HN385.P55

305.5'0942

C82-094677-X

To my parents

Contents

PREFACE MAP

ix

2

Introduction 3 2 Bolton: the Geneva of Lancashire 10 3 Proud Preston 37 4 Stockport and the 'Dark Satanic Mills' 72

5 Blackbum: an Archetypal Cotton Town 107 6 Wider Perspectives 140 APPENDIX NOTES

145

147

NOTE ON SOURCES

183

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

203

185

Preface

This book is an outgrowth of my 1971 Toronto doctoral dissertation, also entitled 'The Sectarian Spirit.' My thesis gave a prominent place to the cloth region of Wiltshire as well as to the north of England. Time, the appearance of new secondary literature, and subsequent research on the spot, however, have deepened my appreciation of the historical complexities of life in the textile region of northwestern England. The result has therefore been a geographical contraction of my concerns, accompanied, I hope, by an expanded and more profound analysis of developments within the cotton towns. In the preparation of this study I have incurred a great many debts on both sides of the Atlantic. The staffs of many libraries and record offices have been enormously helpful in pointing to valuable sources of information. Clergymen, chapel secretaries, and others have been most kind in granting access to records of various sorts often held outside the conventional repositories that attract historians. Stretching back to 1967 when my research in this area began, I must thank many academics who gave me good advice along the way, including E.J. Hobsbawm and R.B. Pugh of London University, G. Martin and the late H.J. Dyos of Leicester, A. Temple Patterson of Southampton, E. Royle of the University of York, Brian Harrison and B. Wilson of Oxford, W.H. Chaloner of Manchester, H.J. Perkin and J.D. Marshall of Lancaster, J.P.B. Kenyon of Toronto, and the late R. W. Greaves of Kansas. I must also give special thanks to W.R. Ward of Durham and T. 0. Lloyd of Toronto for reading an earlier version of this manuscript. At all stages of my work, whether as a thesis or as a book in progress, I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to my former supervisor, R.J. Helmstadter of the University of Toronto. Needless to say, any errors or weaknesses in the final product are of my own making.

x Preface As a final note, I must extend my thanks to Jean Houston and Rosemary Shipton, my editors, and the academic readers of the University of Toronto Press and the Social Science Federation of Canada. Their advice and encouragement were most helpful. I am also grateful to the Canada Council for allowing me to draw upon its financial resources in support of my research through the years. The book has been published with the help of a grant from the Social Science Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and from the Publications Fund of the University of Toronto Press. PAUL T. PHILLIPS

Antigonish, Nova Scotia

THE SECTARIAN SPIRIT

County boundary Railways, 1850

Early 19th century canals -

Lancashire coalfield

10 KILOMETRES

CHESHIRE

MAP

Lancashire and North Cheshire in the mid nineteenth century

1

Introduction

'There was more religious strife in Manchester or Bradford in the forties than in the Roman Empire under the rule of Augustus.' B.L. and J. Hammond, The Age of the Chartists, 1930

The Hammonds have not been alone amongst historians in recognizing the religious upheaval in northwestern England in the mid nineteenth century. Yet little detailed analysis of this important phenomenon has been undertaken for specific urban areas within Victorian England. The essence of this particular study is an examination of the social role of sectarianism in several Victorian industrial towns, with politics as its primary focus. More specifically it is a study of sectarianism, politics, and society in Bolton, Preston, Stockport, and Blackbum roughly between 1832 and 1870. Both of these dates were politically significant. The first was the year of the Great Reform Act, which symbolized a new era of great expectations and potential social power for Nonconformists in the great industrial towns. The second enacted Forster's Education Act which, in some areas of the country, saw the first glimmerings of sectarian compromise over a volatile social and political question. It was also the year in which James Fraser, a great opponent of sectarian strife, became bishop of Manchester and thereafter powerfully influenced social relations in northwestern England for the next fifteen years. 1 The definition of 'sectarianism' employed here is the classicaLone, which was in widest currency in the nineteenth century. It is defined as 'religiously' related segregation and attendant animosity within a society, rather than the newer technical definition used amongst sociologists to mean the formation and maintenance of 'sect-type' religious groups. 2 Elements of the second definition may be found within the first (though not as part of a passive withdrawal), but the intention of this study is not to introduce sociological concepts or methodology

4 The Sectarian Spirit per se. Such approaches might be useful in discovering, for example, the psychological impact of sectarian strife on individuals in these communities. There are fundamental differences in the outlook and concerns of social and religious historians as compared with those of sociologists who investigate historical developments. For that reason it might be well to indentify this work as falling especially within the boundaries of the discipline of history. This book is concerned with the most important social ramifications of the operations of sectarianism within four cotton towns. As such, it is not concerned with strife arising out of questions of church order or doctrine which, in any case, might more properly be categorized 'religious' conflict. Sectarian conflict, of course, can take many forms - overt and covert. The overt operations are visibly obvious in Northern Ireland at the present time. In Victorian England, and in the cotton towns in particular, however, these alarming proportions of overt, physical sectarian conflict were never reached. The religious riot, while not unknown, was hardly a common phenomenon. Indeed, organized sectarian conflict may well have inadvertently helped to support the social status quo. The lines of animosity were sharply drawn and ran deep into the fabric of Victorian town life. This was most obvious and important in the area of politics. The nature of politics, especially municipal politics, also mirrored the very nature of sectarianism in the quest of those involved for guidance of or control over the society about them. The two were intimately entwined in the cotton towns in the mid-Victorian decades. Indeed, 'politico-sectarianism' may have reached its high point in this period, though P.F. Clarke has observed that sectarianism remained an important influence in Lancashire politics even at the end of the century.3 Bishop Fraser feared this close association to the point of seeing it as a major threat to the religious and social life of his diocese. He could clearly make the distinction between sectarianism and religiosity. Sectarianism was always a more self-conscious operation after Fraser's appointment and therefore began to lose some of its effectiveness in the years following 1870. The intimate connection with politics may also have helped to produce the dominant type of sectarianism found in the cotton towns - the struggle between Nonconformist and Church forces for hegemony. As A.O. Gilbert has recently noted, emphasis upon particular denominational divisions often obscures the basic social importance of the 'Church• and 'chapel' cleavage in industrial England. 4 Apart from the Wesleyan Methodists (until 1850) and the occasional oscillations of Roman Catholics, most non-Anglican Christians gave their support to the Liberal-Nonconformist camp in their battle with Tory-Churchmen in the cotton towns. In both economic resources and members the forces were more evenly balanced than often supposed. Exceptions, of course, were always possible. One must especially include here the frequency of Churchmen as

5 Introduction Liberal candidates in parliamentary elections and some moderate Churchmen as rank-and-file supporters. Perhaps W.A. Abram gave the best detailed synopsis of the religious-political situation in Lancashire ( 1868): On the side ofToryism: I Churchmen by conviction, sentiment and tradition . 2 Minority of Methodists, and small minority of other Nonconformists. 3 So many of the lndifferents as may be moved thitherward by secular convictions or interests. On the side of Liberalism: I A small party of Liberal Churchmen. 2 Dissenters of all sects, with few exceptions. 3 Vast majority of Methodists. 4 Roman Catholics, almost without exception. 5 Free Thinkers. 6 Indifferents, not otherwise influenced. 5

The close relationship between sectarianism and politics in the cotton towns reminds one ofG. Kitson Clark's well-known statement about the impossibility of separating religion from politics in Victorian England after the second quarter of the century. 6 The picture is further complicated by introducing other factors such as the struggle for an expansion of the parliamentary franchise, economic and administrative questions, and the all-important area of class strife, all of which had a bearing on nineteenth-century politics. Such questions raise the even more profound question of what factors are prime movers of social developments in a given community. Sectarianism was both a moulding force and a reflector of social developments; as with religion, it was an active as well as a passive agent in the social setting. Though sectarianism was in some sense a greater phenomenon embracing more people under its shadow than the institutional churches in Victorian times, it was of course itself related to the social position of organized relgion. Religion formed the basis or at least ostensibly the origin of sectarian positions. For that reason the recent work of many historians examining the social roles and social position of the churches in Victorian society is relevant. Ecclesiastical historians have often divided themselves into optimistic and pessimistic schools of thought on the subject of the churches' social strength by the mid nineteenth century. G . Kitson Clark, Desmond Bowen, Owen Chadwick, 7 among others, have stressed the positive achievements of the churches in relation to the needs of mid and late Victorian society. K.S. Inglis and others within the pessimistic school have seen the shortcomings of institutional religion

6 The Sectarian Spirit especially in relation to the increasing alienation of the masses. Most recently A.O. Gilbert and W.R. Ward have enriched the latter position.8 There is no question of the poor showing in attendances for industrial Lancashire on Census Sunday, 1851. 9 However, the suitability of a head-count on that occasion as an accurate measurement of religiosity, much less the social strength of the churches, is debatable. The social strength of sectarianism is also one step further removed and is much more diffi