Two Religious Censuses
1851 - a national survey
My Lord, When the Census of Great Britain was taken, in 1851, I received instructions from Her Majesty's Government to endeavour to procure information as to the existing accommodation for Public Religious Worship. Every exertion has been made to obtain accurate Returns upon which reliance may be placed; and the duty of arranging these Returns in a tabular form, accompanied by explanatory remarks, has been confided by me chiefly to Mr. Horace Mann. He has devoted much time and labour to the subject, and I trust that your Lordship will be of opinion that the task delegated to him has been well executed. |
TOWER HAMLETS PARLIAMENTARY BOROUGH (population 539,111)
Religious Denomination | No. of places of worship |
Number of sittings |
Number of Atendants at Public Worship on Sunday March 30, 1851 (including Sunday Scholars) |
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free | appropriated | total | morning | afternoon | evening | ||
TOTAL | 214 | 56,249 | 22,805 | 133,457 (?) | 82,522 | 13,561 | 63,870 |
Protestant Churches | |||||||
Church of England | 65 | 31,476 | 22,805 | 67,126 (?) | 34,724 | 7632 | 26,551 |
Church of Scotland | 1 | 150 | 602 | 752 | 505 | - | 305 |
Presbyterian Church in England | 1 | 50 | 480 | 530 | 370 | - | 220 |
Independents | 46 | 8900 | 17,379 | 26,779 | 18,921 | 2073 | 15,994 |
General Baptists | 2 | 350 | 460 | 810 | 634 | - | 450 |
Particular Baptists | 22 | 4412 | 5975 | 10,387 | 6373 | 1794 | 6423 |
Seventh Day Baptists | 1 | 300 | - | 300 | 15 | 40 | 16 |
Baptists [not otherwise defined] |
5 | 440 | 384 | 974 | 390 | - | 193 |
Society of Friends | 1 | 560 | - | 560 | 66 | 24 | |
Unitarians | 2 | 270 | 500 | 770 | 228 | - | 263 |
Wesleyan Methodists | 20 | 4348 | 7381 | 11,729 | 5851 | 709 | 724 |
Methodist New Connexion | 3 | 290 | 52 | 342 | 111 | - | 75 |
Primitive Methodists | 4 | 280 | 505 | 785 | 572 | 366 | 724 |
Bible Christians | 1 | 100 | 300 | 400 | 220 | - | 200 |
Wesleyan Association | 2 | 200 | 200 | 400 | 310 | - | 160 |
Wesleyan Reformers | 4 | 180 | 550 | 730 | 886 | - | 870 |
Lady Huntingdon's Connexion | 3 | 520 | 2752 | 3272 | 1698 | - | 1787 |
Brethren | 2 | 150 | - | 180 | 60 | - | 45 |
Isolated Congregations | 13 | 817 | 788 | 2285 (?) | 1001 | 470 | 1360 |
Lutherans | 2 | 431 | 321 | 752 | 570 | 160 | - |
German Protestant Reformers | 1 | 140 | 60 | 200 | 120 | - | 60 |
Other Christian Churches | |||||||
Roman Catholics | 6 | 585 | 761 | 2006 | 8340 | - | 2300 |
Catholic Apostolic Church | 1 | 700 | - | 700 | 400 | - | - |
Latter Day Saints | 5 | 550 | 18 | 618 | 117 | 253 | 281 |
Jews | 1 | 50 | - | 50 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
Mann's report notes: The returns omit to state the number of sittings in one place of worship belonging to the ESTABLISHED CHURCH, attended by a maximum number of 900 persons at a service; in four places belonging to the INDEPENDENTS, attended by a maximum number of 2288 persons at a service; in one place belonging to the PARTICULAR BAPTISTS, attended by a maximum number of 120 persons at a service; and in one place belonging to the WESLEYAN METHODIST REFORMERS, attended by a maximum number of 160 persons at a service.—The number of attendants is not given for six places of worship belonging to the ESTABLISHED CHURCH.
Further comments:
On 24 October 1886 the British Weekly made a survey of church attendance, morning and evening, across London, followed by a further survey of mission halls the following year (published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1888). The full results are here: below are the figures for churches and chapels in and around our parish:
am |
pm |
am |
pm |
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CIVIL DISTRICT OF ST GEORGE-IN-THE-EAST |
OTHER DISTRICTS (WHITECHAPEL, STEPNEY & MILE END OLD TOWN) |
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Church of England |
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St Peter, Old Gravel-lane | 226 | 220 | St Mark Whitechapel |
246 |
180 |
|
St Matthew, Princes-square | 131 | 207 | St Paul Dock-street |
187 |
219 |
|
St Mary, Johnston-street | 48 | 82 | St John Wapping |
186 |
218 |
|
St John the Evangelist | 98 | 128 | ||||
St George-in-the-East | 292 | 425 | ||||
Christ Church, Watney-street | 234 | 254 | ||||
Congregational |
||||||
Ebenezer Chapel, Watney-street | 137 | 335 | Sion, Whitechapel-road |
101 |
147 |
|
Coverdale, Commercial-street |
172 |
344 |
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Brunswick, Limehouse |
163 |
210 |
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Wycliffe Chapel |
642 |
917 |
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Baptist |
||||||
Commercial-road | 320 | 376 | Little Alie-street |
141 |
113 |
|
Zoar Chapel, Great Alie-street | 243 |
237 |
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Rehoboth, Mile End Old Town, Stepney | 117 |
134 |
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Wesleyan |
||||||
Dee-street [why listed here? It was in Bromley-by-Bow] |
144 | 64 | |
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St George's Centenary Chapel | 281 | 399 | ||||
United Methodist Free Church |
||||||
Cannon Street-road | 114 | 87 | Jubilee-street |
77 |
72 |
|
Piggot-street, Limehouse |
208 |
137 |
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Primitive Methodist |
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Sutton-street | 59 | 103 | ||||
German Wesleyan |
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Commercial-road |
84 |
97 |
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Lutheran | ||||||
Swedish Church, Princes-square | 61 | - | St George, Little Alie-street | 102 |
83 |
|
Roman Catholic |
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SS. Mary and Michael, Commercial-road | 325 | 475 | English Martyrs |
510 |
500 |
|
St Patrick Wapping |
424 |
15 |
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Other |
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London Hospital |
146 |
127 |
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