ABSTRACT
Rarely has a modern state been as ostentatiously dutiful in its religious observances as was early- and mid-Victorian Britain. Church attendance was taken immensely seriously in bourgeois circles. The Church of England built nearly 1,750 new churches between 1840 and 1876, virtually all paid for by private donation. High-Churchmen, including Gladstone, argued that it weakened the bond between Church and State since law now diverged from Scripture. The religious census enabled reasonably reliable estimates to be made of the strength of the various sects, both nationally and regionally. The Church's efforts to respond were spasmodic and unco-ordinated. In Birmingham and Nottingham, dissenters forced the Church to abandon plans to levy a rate. The sharpest religious antagonisms were prompted by the revival of Roman Catholicism. Industrial employment opportunities had brought Irishmen to England in a steady stream since the late eighteenth century. Religion, especially after 1850, was one of the strongest determinants of voting behaviour.
