In the minds of Catholic leaders, the state overreached itself with the Education Act of 1870. It was that fateful year, as Manning later told a crowd of Catholics in 1885, that the ‘children in English schools [became] children of the State’. Prior to 1870, all education was provided by voluntary schools of various denominations supported by internal subscriptions and state education grants. The Act, however, established nondenominational board schools, supported by rates paid by all property owners, in direct competition with the denominational schools. This event forced Manning and the rest of the hierarchy to re-evaluate their political stance; they realized that an aloof position outside the political arena rendered them ineffective. With the 1870 Act we see Catholic political action for education, both inside and outside of Parliament, expand far beyond what it had been previously. In Manning's eyes, when the state discarded the system that provided all elementary education and forcibly thrust itself wholly on education instead, then ‘the clergy had a right to enter into practical politics’. A culmination of increasing Catholic political activity in 1870 combined with a debate over a significantly altered education system that, in Catholic minds, led to an injustice against which they would aggressively fight for years to come.

Education Enters the Catholic Political Landscape

The issue of elementary education permanently entered the political agenda of Catholics in 1870 and shared prominence with Irish aff airs until the end of the century.