The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
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— <strong>The</strong> <strong>Death</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Christian</strong> <strong>Britain</strong> —<br />
It was only in the 1960s that real sociological techniques <strong>of</strong> socialcomposition<br />
analysis started to be applied. This has produced a raft <strong>of</strong><br />
different studies, <strong>of</strong>ten with varying social-classification systems which<br />
makes comparisons a little difficult. Fortunately, the results are sufficiently<br />
clear-cut to override technical problems. Gilbert analysed the occupational<br />
structure <strong>of</strong> 10,997 English Nonconformists between 1800 and 1837, and<br />
found that 59 per cent were artisans and 17 per cent other manual workers<br />
– a total <strong>of</strong> almost 77 per cent working class. 31 Hillis showed that 61 per<br />
cent <strong>of</strong> 3,666 presbyterian church members in Glasgow between 1845 and<br />
1865 were working class, with nearly 50 per cent being accounted by artisans<br />
and other skilled workers. 32 Field and Snell have shown in separate<br />
studies the dominance <strong>of</strong> the working classes in Methodism – nationally<br />
80 per cent <strong>of</strong> Wesleyans and 76 per cent <strong>of</strong> Primitives, and in the north<br />
Midlands between 1800 and 1894 figures <strong>of</strong> 72 per cent for Wesleyans and<br />
91 per cent for Primitives. 33 In Bradford in the late Victorian period, the<br />
working classes made up the majority <strong>of</strong> church members in nearly every<br />
congregation, with skilled manual workers the largest single social group<br />
making up from 30 to 45 per cent <strong>of</strong> the total. 34 In seven Stirling congregations<br />
between 1849 and 1908, an average <strong>of</strong> 52 per cent <strong>of</strong> male<br />
communicants and 47 per cent females were skilled working class. 35 In<br />
virtually all <strong>of</strong> these studies, the skilled working classes dominated, but in<br />
certain churches (such as the Primitive Methodists) and in certain places<br />
the unskilled could make up the majority <strong>of</strong> churchgoers. Hopkins calculated<br />
that in two Black Country villages in 1851, 42 per cent <strong>of</strong> the working<br />
classes attended church (or 50.5 per cent if an allowance were made for it<br />
being Mothering Sunday). Moreover, he argued convincingly that those in<br />
dissent were not mainly skilled or even semi-skilled workers but were<br />
nailers, ‘the lowest strata <strong>of</strong> the working classes, many <strong>of</strong> them notorious<br />
for their rough and uncivilised mode <strong>of</strong> life’. 36 Certainly, Jeffrey’s work on<br />
Stirling suggests that we should not underestimate the significance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
unskilled working class in congregational life: they made up on average 20<br />
per cent <strong>of</strong> male communicants and 24 per cent <strong>of</strong> females, and participated<br />
in congregational activities and duties. 37 Dennis’ study <strong>of</strong> one<br />
Congregational Church in Huddersfield showed that 68.6 per cent <strong>of</strong><br />
members were drawn from the working classes (families <strong>of</strong> tradesmen,<br />
craftsmen, textile workers, servants, laundresses, dressmakers and one<br />
pauper). 38 <strong>The</strong> evidence from the twentieth century tends to indicate the<br />
same. Seebohm Rowntree considered that the proletarian–bourgeois balance<br />
in York churches was roughly representative <strong>of</strong> the population <strong>of</strong> the town<br />
as a whole: a 66:34 split between working and middle classes in 1901, and<br />
a 83:17 split between ‘non-servant-keepers’ and ‘servant-keepers’ in the<br />
1930s. 39 Field showed that the proportion <strong>of</strong> Methodists who were working<br />
class fell slightly during the twentieth century, but in some congregations<br />
it was the middle classes who declined. 40 In most studies <strong>of</strong> the 1960s,<br />
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