Overview

One of the shortest reigns of modern times, that of William IV was also one of the most eventful for the Church of England. The reforms which had begun in 1828 were soon in full swing, and the overhaul of parliament in 1832 marked the effective end of the semi-oligarchic rule which had dominated post-restoration England and generally secured the position of the church as long as it kept its head down.

Once reform started it was impossible to stop, and attention was soon focussed on the church. In 1836 an ecclesiastical commission was set up to overhaul its administration and finance. One of its first acts was to suppress the bishopric of Bristol and to create a new see at Ripon, in the northern province. It was finally recognized that nonconformity was spreading rapidly, particularly in the industrial towns where the established church had little foothold, and that in spite of their formal divisions, the nonconformists possessed a fervour and a flexibility which made the Church of England look anaemic and arthritic. Even the most conservative realized that something had to be done, and it was during these years that a group of young Oxford dons began to develop a new vision for the church, which they published in their ‘tracts for the times'. Reactions to these were mixed, but they attracted a good deal of favourable attention at the beginning, and gradually the vision of a self-governing, spiritually independent church began to take root among many of the clergy. It was not immediately apparent that convocation would become the focus of their endeavours to resuscitate the Church of England's vitality, but its very existence was a reminder of what had once been, and as Archbishop Seeker had foretold, might once again become.

The convocation of 1830-1

This convocation met on 27 October 1830 and composed an unusually long loyal address to the king, in which critical statements made against the church and its ministry were taken into account. They were not directly refuted, but the assembled clergy assured the king that only a small minority were guilty of neglecting or abusing their office. It was apparent that they were on the defensive as the tide of reform rose visibly, but nothing was done and the convocation was dissolved on 28 April 1831.