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The Anti-Catholic Activity of the S.P.C.K., C. 1698–1740

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

C. M. Haydon
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Extract

THE SOCIETY for Promoting Christian Knowledge was established in 1698. From its inception, one of its aims was to combat the spread of Catholicism in Britain and elsewhere. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Counter-Reformation seemed to be enjoying great successes: as one of the Society's memorials noted, ‘the progress of Popery … by little and little ruins the Reformed Religion all over Europe’. This occurred, the memorial went on, because the Protestants had little regard for their own defence. The remedy was to form a ‘union of Protestants’, with a council to organize its correspondence among those of the reformed faith in all parts of the continent; and to put a stop the activity of Popish priests, though ‘without Persecution and violence’. A bulwark, it was argued, was unquestionably needed against so formidable and zealous a body as the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. The Crown was to be informed of these designs and the Society was soon given a watching brief on ‘the practices of priests to pervert His Majesty's subjects’.

Type
Articles
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 418 - 421
Copyright
© 1986 Trustees of the Catholic Record Society and individual contributors

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References

Notes

1 I should like to thank Dr. G. Huelin, the Archivist and Librarian of the S.P.C.K., for allowing me to cite the documents in the Society's Archives on which this article is based, and his predecessor, Mr. A.E. Baker, for permitting me to consult them. All dates are given in the Old Style—except that the year is taken to have started on 1 January. Unless otherwise indicated, the place of publication is London. Unless otherwise stated, all manuscripts cited are in the Archive of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Throughout I have used ‘Catholicism’ and ‘Popery’, ‘Papist’ and ‘Catholic’ as interchangeable; the contemporary terms are not used by the author in an offensive or derogatory sense.

2 Wanley MSS., CS 3/1, Letter Book, p. 137: ‘A Memorial concerning the Preservation of Religion’, April 1698.

3 Ibid., pp. 137–8; cf. E. Duffy, ‘Correspondence Fraternelle: the S.P.C.K., the S.P.G., and the Churches of Switzerland in the War of the Spanish Succession’ in D. Baker (ed.), Reform and Reformation: England and the Continent, c. 1500 -C.1750 (Studies in Church History, Subsidia 2 Oxford, 1979) pp. 251–80.

4 Wanley MSS., CS 3/1, p. 139.

5 Cowie, L. Henry Newman: An American in London, 1708–43 (1956), pp. 27–30.Google Scholar

6 CP I, Papers and Memorials, 1715–29, ff. 1–3: ‘A Memorial of the Intreagues etc. of the Popish Priests …’, May, 1712; ibid., ff. 76–7: ‘An Account of Popish chapels in London’, 3 Dec, 1712; Private Letters, 1734–6, f. 11: H. Newman to Anon. [1735].

7 CP I, ff. 47–53: ‘Account of English seminaries in Popish Countries abroad and how maintained by English Estates’ [1712].

8 E.g., ibid., ff. 42–3: Report concerning Sir H. Fletcher, 16 July, 1712.

9 Ibid., ff. 59–65, 68–70, 87–9, 142–4: Papers relating to the Persecution of Protestants in Continental Europe, 1712–14. On diplomatic intercessions in favour of Protestants abroad, see Black, J. ‘The Catholic Threat and the British Press in the 1720s and 1730s’, Journal of Religious History, 12 (1983) pp. 367,CrossRefGoogle Scholar 371–2 and idem., British Foreign Policy in the Age of Walpole (Edinburgh, 1985), pp. 129–32.Google Scholar See also Lowther, W. K. Clark, A History of the S.P.C.K. (1959), p. 135 Google Scholar on the Society's alarm at the persecution of the Salzburgers in the 1730s.

10 CP I, ff. 20–2: Papers [dated 1712] relating to William III's Act against Popery, 1699.

11 Ibid, ff. 3–8, 9–10, 12–19: Papers relating to a draft of a Bill for Preventing the Growth of Popery [1711–15]; Private Letters, 1718–20, ff. 45–6: H. Newman to C. Talbot, 31 Dec, 1718.

12 CP I, ff. 185–6: S.P.C.K. to Archbishop of Canterbury, [1715?].

13 Aveling, J. C. H. The Handle and the Axe (1976), p. 309.Google Scholar

14 Jones, M. G. The Charity School Movement (Cambridge, 1938),Google Scholar passim

15 Society's Letters, 31 (1734–5), f. 53: S.P.C.K. to Rev. M. Bolzius, 19 Feb., 1735; ibid., f. 56: Same to Rev. Quincy, 22 Feb., 1735. The Society's anti-Catholic publications were also sent to garrisons in British possessions: Cowie, op. cit., p. 60.

16 Society's Letters, 30 (1734–5), f. 76: S.P.C.K. to H. Lowther. 13 Feb., 1735; Miscellaneous Letters, 1 (1734–6), f. 45: Same to N. Coxe, 23 Sept., 1734; ibid, 3 (1737), ff. 67–8: Same to Same, 13 Sept., 1737; see also Cowie, op. cit., pp. 70–1, 111.

17 In consequence, the leading members of the Society feared for their personal safety, anticipating reprisals from the Papists (Cowie, op. cit., pp. 27–8).

18 E.g., CR I 5, Abstract Letter Book, 1713–15, Letter 3817: T. Blennerhaysett to S.P.C.K., 10 Dec, 1713; ibid., Letter 3857: F. Wyndham to Same, 30 Jan., 1714; CP I, ff. 137–9: T. Blennerhaysett to Same, 7 Apr., 1714.

19 Ibid, ff. 139–42: S. Peploe to H. Newman, 29 Jan., 1714; cf. Lancashire R[ecord] O [ffice] RC Fe 2: [Tootell, C.], ‘A Continuation of the Historical Account of the New Chappel House in Fernyhalgh, 1714–23’, f. 2.Google Scholar

20 Allen, W.O.B. and McClure, E. Two Hundred Years: The History of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1698–1898 (1898), pp. 188–9.Google Scholar

21 CR I 18, Abstract Letter Book, 1734–6, Letter 12,832: S. Peploe to S.P.C.K., 15 Sept., 1734.

22 Miscellaneous Letters 1, f. 49: S.P.C.K. to Lady E. Hastings, 4 Oct., 1735.

23 I hope to publish a full account of this alarm in the near future.

24 British Library, Add. MS. 32.690 (Newcastle Papers, 5), f. 257: E. Gibson to Newcastle, 2 Mar., 1737.

25 CR I 18, Letter 13,225: S. Disney to S.P.C.K., 23 June, 1735.

26 Ibid, Letter 13,010: T. Wilson to Same, 3 Jan., 1735; ibid, Letter 13,096: R. North to Same, 1 Apr., 1735; ibid., Letter 13,134: E. Belke to Same, 25 Apr., 1735; ibid., Letter 13,211: J. Arnold to Same, 9 June, 1735: ibid., Letter 13,228: Dr. Wade to Same, 23 June, 1735.

27 Ibid, Letter 13, 225; ibid., Letter 13,246: Archdeacon Welshman to Same, 9 July, 1735; CR I 19, Abstract Letter Book, 1736–8, Letter 14,546: H. Hastings to Same, 20 May, 1735; ibid., 18, Letter 12,832; ibid, Letter 13, 525: S. Freeman to Same, 9 Feb., 1736; ibid., 19, Letter 13,989: J. Haddon to Same, 21 Feb., 1737.

28 Ibid., 18, Letter 13,203: Bishop of Lincoln to Same, 4 June, 1735: ibid., Letter 13,195: Bishop of Bangor to Same, 5 June, 1735; ibid., 13,196: Bishop of St. Asaph to Same, 5 June, 1735.

29 CR I 20, Abstract Letter Book, 1738–40, Letter 14,930: H. Stackhouse to Same, 26 Mar.. 1739; ibid., Letter 15,005: Dr. Wilson to Same, 5 June, 1739; ibid., Letter 15.132: J. Swinton to Same, 10 Sept., 1739.

30 C.R.S., 32, pp. 366–7.

31 Haydon, C.M. ‘Anti-Catholicism in Eighteenth-Century England, c. 1714–1780’ (University of Oxford D.Phil, thesis. 1985), pp. 232–4.Google Scholar

32 House of Lords R.O., Returns of Papists, 1767; Main Papers 358–430: Returns of Papists, 1780–1.

33 On the 1767 survey and the extent of its reliability, see Bossy, J. The English Catholic Community,1570–1850 (1975), pp. 184–5;Google Scholar Lesourd, J. A. Les Catholiques dans la Société Anglaise, 1765–1865 (Lille, 1978) 1, pp. 88–9.Google Scholar

34 Wright, S. A Sermon Preach'd, the 28th of May, 1718…; (1718);Google Scholar W. Prior, Popery notChristianity (1750). London's religious debating societies are discussed in Joanna Innes’ forthcoming paper, ‘William Payne of Bell Yard, Carpenter, c. 1718–1782: The Life and Times of a London Informing Constable’.

35 Woodward, R. A Sermon Preached before the Society corresponding with the Incorporated Societyin Dublin, for promoting English Protestant Working-Schools in Ireland (1767);Google Scholar Hunt, I.. Some Account of the Laudable Society of Anti-Gallicans (1781).Google Scholar I owe the latter reference to Dr. L. Colley.

36 An Account of the Establishment for Relieving Poor Proselytes (5th edn., 1722).

37 Cowie, Newman, pp. 135–53; Lowther Clark, op. cit., pp. 132–3.

38 These developments are discussed in Haydon, op. cit., pp. 209–11, 213–25.

39 E. Gibson, The Bishop of London's Pastoral Letter to the People of his Diocese; … with a Postscript; Setting forth the Danger and Mischiefs of Popery (1745, 1779); cf. Black, E. C.. The Association: British Extra-Parliamentary Political Organization, 1763–1793 (Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1963). p. 135.Google Scholar