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Ministers' money

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Ministers' money was a tax payable by householders in certain towns in Ireland to fund the local Church of Ireland minister.[1][2] It was introduced in 1665,[3] modified in 1827,[4] and abolished in 1857.[1][5] The towns affected were Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Clonmel, and Kinsale.[1][2] It was levied as a rate of up to one shilling in the pound (i.e. 5%) on the property's rateable value. The valuation, to a maximum of £60, was done by commissioners appointed by the Lord Lieutenant.[2] Churchwardens appointed by the local minister collected ministers' money on the quarter days: Christmas, Lady Day, St John's Day, and Michaelmas.[2][6] A 1723 act[7] provided that, in Dublin, the same valuation could be used both for ministers' money and for calculating cess, a separate local rate used for public works and poor relief.[6][8] Thereafter, cess rates were often expressed in terms of pence per shilling of minister's money.

Ministers' money was resented because it was a regressive tax and applied only in towns with a Catholic majority.[9] In rural areas, tithes were a similar grievance, and the 1830s Tithe War ended when the Tithe Commutation Act 1838 replaced tithes with "tithe-rentcharges"; but this did not apply to ministers' money. Another grievance was that the valuations for ministers' money were done infrequently and might not reflect recent improvements or decline in the property or its neighbourhood.[6] An 1838 proposal by Daniel O'Connell to bring ministers' money into the terms of the Irish Poor Law was withdrawn.[10] An 1848 committee of the Commons recommended its abolition,[9] and motions to that effect were proposed by MPs Francis Murphy (1842[11] and 1844[12]) and William Trant Fagan (six times 1847–54).[13] A petition of Cork residents was laid on the table of the Lords in 1846.[14] In 1854, Sir John Young, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, introduced an Act[15] which reduced the rated charge by one quarter and charged the municipal authority (borough corporation or town commissioners) rather than the minister with collecting it.[16] The Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Ireland forwarded the money from the municipality to the minister, making up the reduction from its own funds.[16] In 1857, Fagan and Francis Bernard Beamish introduced a private member's bill, which was successfully enacted, to replace ministers' money with a direct subvention of ministers by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Some members of the Church of Ireland objected to the act as confiscation of church property, and saw it as a prelude to disestablishment, which eventually came under the Irish Church Act 1869.[16]

Sources

  • Select Committee on Ministers' Money (Ireland) (28 July 1848). Report together with the minutes of evidence, appendix, and index. Command papers. Vol. 17 (1). House of Commons.

References

  1. ^ a b c Power, T. P. (1987). "A Minister's Money Account for Clonmel, 1703". Analecta Hibernica (34). The Irish Manuscripts Commission: 185. JSTOR 25512011.
  2. ^ a b c d Thom's Statistics of Ireland. Alexander Thom. 1853. p. 271. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ^ Ireland (1794). "17th and 18th Charles II., c. 7: An Act for Provision of Ministers in Cities, Corporate Towns and making the Church of St. Andrews, in the Suburbs the City of Dublin, presentative for ever.". Statutes Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland. Vol. Vol.II: 1665-1712. George Grierson, printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. pp. 150–153. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |volume= has extra text (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "7 & 8 George IV c.34". The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. His Majesty's Statute and Law Printers. 1827. pp. 214–215. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "20 & 21 Vict c.8 "An Act to amend the Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 11., with a view to the Abolition of Ministers Money in Ireland."". Statutes at Large. London: George Edward Eyre & William Spottiswoode. 1857. pp. 11–12. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b c Select Committee of the House of Commons on the local taxation of the city of Dublin (5 June 1822). "First Report". Sessional papers. 7 (394): 1–3.
  7. ^ "10 George I c.3 §19: An act For continuing and amending an act, entitled, an act for the better regulating of the parish-watches, and amending the highways in this kingdom, and for preventing misapplication of public money, and also for establishing a regular watch in the city of Dublin, and to prevent mischief which may happen by graving ships in river Liffey.". 2 George I, 1715 – 7 George II, 1733. Statutes Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland. Vol. III. G. Grierson, printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1794. p. 234. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Dudley, Rowena (1999). "The Dublin Parishes and the Poor: 1660-1740". Archivium Hibernicum. 53. Catholic Historical Society of Ireland: 83. JSTOR 25484175.
  9. ^ a b Stowell, William Hendry (1854). "The Coalition Government and the Dissenters". The Eclectic Review. C. Taylor. pp. 615–616. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  10. ^ Barrow, John Henry (1838). "Friday 9 March 1838: Poor Relief (Ireland)". The Mirror of Parliament. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans. pp. 2582–83. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  11. ^ "MINISTERS' MONEY (IRELAND). (Hansard, 7 July 1842)". Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  12. ^ "MINISTERS' MONEY (IRELAND). (Hansard, 3 July 1844)". Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  13. ^ "MINISTERS' MONEY. (IRELAND)". HC Deb. Hansard. 9 March 1854. pp. vol 131 cc552–83. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  14. ^ "MINISTERS' MONEY (IRELAND). (Hansard, 20 February 1846)". Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  15. ^ "c.11: An Act to amend the Laws relating to Ministers Money, and the Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act". The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 17 & 18 Victoria. His Majesty's Statute and Law Printers. 1854. pp. 41–46. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ a b c Scarlett, Duncan (1999). "Violating the Rubrick Introducing Politics into Divine Worship". Clogher Record. 16 (3). Clogher Historical Society: 31–32. JSTOR 27699434.
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