As it has pleased Her Majesty to appoint a Royal Commission to consider the subject of Clerical Subscription, the time has clearly come when those who regard the principle of Subscription to be one of essential importance to the well-being of our Church should consider carefully by what arrangements that principle may be best maintained and carried out. It is the opinion of many that the wisest course is to endeavour to secure the present system without alteration, and earnestly to oppose any change of any kind whatever. Under many circumstances, I could believe in the wisdom of so doing; but if it can be shown that there are great objections against the present practice, then I think that, for the sake of the principle, we ought to be prepared to receive with gratitude such a change as may remove well-grounded and reasonable objections. The principle and the practice are so intimately connected in people’s minds that they are almost sure to stand and fall together; so that if there is any great defect in the practice, there is danger of the principle being made to bear the blame of it; and if the practice is such as to give reasonable dissatisfaction to reasonable men, it is almost sure to weaken the hold which the principle has on the public mind. On these grounds I am anxious to call the attention of those Churchmen who believe in the importance of the principle of Subscription to the practice as at present imposed by the Act of Uniformity on the beneficed clergymen of the Church of England; and I do so under the very strong conviction that, in order to maintain the principle and, I might almost add, on every other ground, there should be an united endeavour amongst English Churchmen without delay to effect a change.

The social conscience of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845) developed as he operated a brewery in Spitalfields, nineteenth-century London’s poorest parish. His interest and research on penal discipline brought him national prominence and led to a parliamentary career that lasted nearly two decades. Buxton’s association with noted activist William Wilberforce led to his own involvement in the anti-slavery movement, a cause he fiercely championed, resulting in Britain’s abolition of slavery in 1834. Buxton’s involvement in the disastrous 1841 Niger expedition effectively ended his public career and paved the way to British imperialism in Africa. A man of many interests, Buxton also supported Catholic emancipation and ending the Hindu suttee. Few nineteenth-century social reformers have had as much of an impact or have cast as long a shadow as Buxton. At the time of his death, many saw him as the epitome of Christian activism, yet today Buxton remains largely ignored and forgotten. David Bruce examines the life of one of Great Britain’s most prominent social activists. Using his personal papers, and the papers and books of his friends, associates, and contemporaries, The Life of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton paints a portrait of a unique individual driven to improve his world.

Norfolk Annals - A chronological record of remarkable events in the nineteenth century. Antiquarian reprint. Digipublushing are independent publishers producing paperback and digital reprints of antiquarian, out of print and rare books.