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The marriage-rate declined, subsequently to the year last quoted in this table, to 15.6 in 1903.

The Church of England.

The Church of England, both in constitution and doctrine, represents in general the mean between Roman Catholicism on the one hand and the more advanced forms of Protestantism on the other . Though its doctrine was reformed in the 16th century and the spiritual supremacy of the pope was repudiated, the continuity of its organic life was not interrupted, and historically as well as legally it is the same church as that established before the Reformation. The ecclesiastical system is episcopal, the whole of England being divided into two provinces, Canterbury and York, and 37 bishoprics . These again are subdivided into 14,080 parishes , the smallest ecclesiastical units, which are grouped for certain administrative purposes into 810 rural deaneries. The sovereign is by law the supreme governor of the church, both in things spiritual and temporal, and he has the right to nominate to vacant sees. In the case of sees of old foundation this is done by means of the cong? d'?lire , in that of others by letters patent. The bishops hold their temporalities as baronies, for which they do homage in the ancient form, and are spiritual peers of parliament. Only 26, however, have the right to seats in the House of Lords, of whom five--viz. the two archbishops and the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester--always sit, the others taking their seats in order of seniority of consecration. Under the bishops the affairs of the dioceses are managed by archdeacons and rural deans . The cathedral churches are governed by chapters consisting of a dean, canons and prebendaries . The deaneries are in the gift of the crown, canonries and prebends sometimes in that of the crown, sometimes in that of the bishops. The parish clergy, with a few rare exceptions , are appointed by patronage. The right of presentation to some 8500 benefices or "livings" is in the hands of private persons; the right is regarded in law as property and is, under certain restrictions for the avoidance of gross simony, saleable . The patronage of the remaining benefices belongs in the main to the crown, the bishops and cathedral chapters, the lord chancellor, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

In spite of the fact that the Church of England is collectively one of the wealthiest in Christendom, a large proportion of the "livings" are extremely poor. To understand this and other anomalies it is necessary to bear in mind that the church is not, like the established Protestant churches of Germany, an elaborately organized state department, nor is it a single corporation with power to regulate its internal polity. It is a conglomeration of corporations. Even the incumbent of a parish is in law a "corporation sole," his benefice a freehold; and until the establishment in 1836, by act of parliament, of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners nothing could be done to adjust the inequalities in the emoluments of the clergy resulting from the natural rise and fall of the value of property in various parts of the country. Even more extraordinary is the effect of the singular constitution of the church on its discipline. An incumbent, once inducted, can only be disturbed by complicated and extremely costly processes of law; in effect, except in cases of gross misconduct, he is only checked--so far as ecclesiastical order is concerned--by his oath of canonical obedience to the "godly" monitions of his bishop; and, since these monitions are difficult and costly to enforce, while their "godliness" may be a matter of opinion, an incumbent is practically himself the interpreter of the law as applied to the doctrine and ritual of his particular church. The result has been the development within the Established Church of a most startling diversity of doctrine and ritual practice, varying from what closely resembles that of the Church of Rome to the broadest Liberalism and the extremest evangelical Protestantism. This broad comprehensiveness, which to outsiders looks like ecclesiastical anarchy, is the characteristic note of the Church of England; it may be, and has been, defended as consonant with Christian charity and suited to the genius of a people not remarkable for logical consistency; but it makes it all the more difficult to say what the religion of Englishmen actually is, even within the English Church.

The following is a list of the archiepiscopal and episcopal sees of England and Wales--the latter arranged in alphabetical order,--with date of their establishment and amount of emoluments:--

The following are suffragan or assistant bishoprics : Dover, Croydon , Beverley, Hull, Sheffield , Stepney, Islington, Kensington , Jarrow , Guildford, Southampton, Dorking , Barrow-in-Furness , Crediton , Grantham , Burnley , Thetford, Ipswich , Reading , Leicester , Richmond, Knaresborough , Colchester, Barking , Swansea , Woolwich, Kingston-on-Thames , Derby , St Germans . See also ENGLAND, CHURCH OF; ANGLICAN COMMUNION; ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION; VESTMENTS; MASS.

Other Protestant communions.

Besides the bodies enumerated in the table there are other churches concerning which similar statistics are lacking, but which, in several cases, have large numbers of adherents. The Unitarians are an important body with 350 ministers and 345 places of worship. Most numerous, probably, are the adherents of the Salvation Army, which with a semi-military organization has in Great Britain alone over 60,000 officers, and "barracks," i.e. preaching stations, in almost every town. The Brethren, generally known, from their place of origin, as the Plymouth Brethren, have "rooms" and adherents throughout England; the Catholic Apostolic Church have some 80 churches; the New Jerusalem Church had 75 "societies"; the Christian Scientists, the Christadelphians, the British Israelites and similar societies, such as the New and Latter House of Israel, the Seventh Day Baptists, deserve mention. The Latter Day Saints had 82 churches in Great Britain.

Roman Catholics.

Roman Catholicism in England has shown a tendency to advance, especially among the upper and upper-middle classes. The published lists of "converts" are, however, no safe index to actual progress; for no equivalent statistics are available for "leakage" in the opposite direction. The membership of the Roman Catholic Church in England is estimated at about 2,200,000. But though the growth of the church relatively to the population has not been particularly startling, there can be no doubt that, since the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in 1851, its general political and religious influence has enormously increased. A notable feature in this has been the great development of monastic institutions, due in large measure to the settlement in England of the congregations expelled from France. The Roman Catholic Church in England is organized in 15 dioceses, which are united in a single province under the primacy of the archbishop of Westminster. In December 1907 there were 1736 Roman Catholic churches and stations, and the number of the clergy was returned at 3524 .

Jews.

The Jews in Great Britain, chiefly found in London and other great towns, number about 196,000 and have some 200 synagogues; at the head of their organization is a chief Rabbi resident in London.

Finally it may be mentioned that a small number of Englishmen, chiefly resident in Liverpool and London, have embraced Islam; they have a mosque at Liverpool. Various foreign churches which have numbers of adherents settled in England have also branch churches and organizations in the country, notably the Orthodox Eastern Church,--with a considerable number of adherents in London, Liverpool and Manchester,--the Lutheran, and the Armenian churches.

It was not until the close of the 18th century, when the period of road-building activity already indicated set in, that English roads were redeemed from an extraordinarily bad condition. The roads were until then, as a rule, merely tracks, deeply worn by ages of traffic into the semblance of ditches, and, under adverse weather conditions, impassable. Travellers also had the risk of assault by robbers and highwaymen. As early as 1285 a law provided for the cutting down of trees and bushes on either side of highways, so as to deprive lawless men of cover. Instances of legislation as regards the upkeep of roads are recorded from time to time after this date, but even in the middle of the 18th century the journey from the village, as it was then, of Paddington to London by stage occupied from 2 1/2 to 3 hours. But from 1784 to 1792 upwards of 300 acts were passed dealing with the construction of new roads and bridges.

NORTHERN.

EASTERN.

WESTERN.

SOUTHERN.

The two most important railway companies not possessing lines to London are the North-Eastern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire.

Among further provincial systems there should be mentioned:--

Through connexions with the continental services from Harwich, and with Yarmouth and other towns of the East coast, are provided from Yorkshire, Lancashire, &c., by way of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint line from Doncaster and Lincoln to March.

Through connexions between the systems of the South-Eastern & Chatham and the Great Western companies are provided via Reading.

Through connexions between the systems of the Great Central and the Great Western companies are provided by the line connecting Woodford and Banbury.

Through connexions between the Midland and the South-Western systems are provided by the Midland and South-Western Junction line connecting Cheltenham on the north-and-west line of the Midland with Andover Junction on the South-Western line; and by the Somerset & Dorset line, connecting the same lines between Bath, Templecombe and Bournemouth.

The line from Shrewsbury to Craven Arms and Hereford, giving connexion between the north and the south-west, and Wales, is worked by the North-Western and Great Western companies.

Canals and rivers.

The lower or estuarine courses of some of the English rivers as the Thames, Tyne, Humber, Mersey and Bristol Avon, are among the most important waterways in the world, as giving access for seaborne traffic to great ports. From the Mersey the Manchester Ship Canal runs to Manchester. The manufacturing districts of South Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire are traversed and connected by several canals following transverse valleys of the Pennine Chain. The main line of the Aire and Calder navigation runs from Goole by Castleford to Leeds, whence the Leeds and Liverpool canal, running by Burnley and Blackburn, completes the connexion between the Humber and the Mersey. Other canals are numerous, among which may be mentioned the Sheffield and South Yorkshire, connecting Sheffield with the Trent. The Trent itself affords an extensive navigation, from which, at Derwent mouth, the Trent and Mersey Canal runs near Burton and Stafford, and through the Potteries, to the Bridgewater Canal and so to the Mersey. This canal is owned by the North Staffordshire railway company. The river Weaver, a tributary of the Mersey, affords a waterway of importance to the salt-producing towns of Cheshire. The system of the Shropshire Union railways and canal company, which is connected by lease with the London & North-Western railway company, carries considerable traffic, especially in the neighbourhood of Ellesmere Port. In the Black Country and neighbourhood the numerous ramifications of the Birmingham Canal navigations bear a large mineral traffic. This system is connected with the rivers Severn and Trent and the canal system of the country at large, and is controlled by the London & North-Western company. The principal line of navigation from the Thames northward to the midlands is that of the Grand Junction, which runs from Brentford, is connected through London with the port of London by the Regent's Canal, and follows closely the main line of the North-Western railway. It connects with the Oxford Canal at Braunston in Northamptonshire, and through this with canals to Birmingham and the midlands, and continues to Leicester. Both the Severn up to Stourport and the Thames up to Oxford have a fair traffic, but the Thames and Severn Canal is not much used. There is some traffic on the navigable drainage cuts and rivers of the Fens, but beyond these, in a broad consideration of the waterways of England from the point of view of their commercial importance, it is unnecessary to go.

The chief ports for trans-Atlantic traffic are Liverpool and Southampton, and special trains are worked in connexion with the steamers to and from London. The great development of harbour accommodation at Dover early in the 20th century brought trans-Atlantic traffic to this port also. Southampton and Liverpool are the two greatest English ports for all oceanic passenger traffic; but London has also a large traffic, both to European and to foreign ports. The passenger traffic to the Norwegian ports, always very heavy in summer, is carried on chiefly from Hull and Newcastle.

The division is thus as follows:--

Northumberland. Yorkshire, East Riding. Cumberland. Lincolnshire. Durham. Nottingham. Yorkshire, North and West Ridings. Rutland. Westmorland. Huntingdonshire. Lancashire. Warwickshire. Cheshire. Leicestershire. Derbyshire. Northamptonshire. Staffordshire. Cambridgeshire. Shropshire. Norfolk. Worcestershire. Suffolk. Herefordshire. Bedfordshire. Monmouthshire. Buckinghamshire. Gloucestershire. Oxfordshire. Wiltshire. Berkshire. Dorsetshire. Hampshire. Somersetshire. Hertfordshire. Devonshire. Essex. Cornwall. Middlesex. Surrey. Kent. Sussex.

The average area under cultivation of all the counties is about .76 of the whole area. The counties having the greatest area under cultivation may be taken to be--Leicestershire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. Those with the smallest proportional cultivated area are Westmorland, Middlesex, Northumberland, Surrey, Cumberland, the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham and Cornwall. Geographical considerations govern these conditions to a very great extent; thus the counties first indicated lie almost entirely within the area of the low-lying and fertile Eastern Plain, while the smallest areas of cultivation are found in the counties covering the Pennine hill-system, with its high-lying uncultivated moors. In the case of Cornwall and Cumberland the physical conditions are similar to these; but in that of Middlesex and Surrey the existence of large urban areas belonging or adjacent to London must be taken into account. These also affect the proportion of cultivated areas in the other home counties. The presence of a widespread urban population must also be remembered in the case of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Distribution of crops.

The geographical distribution of the principal crops, &c., may now be followed. The grain crops grown in England consist almost exclusively of wheat, barley and oats. Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire are especially productive in all these; the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire produce a notable quantity of barley and oats; and the oat-crops in the following counties deserve mention--Devonshire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, Cornwall, Cheshire and Sussex. There is no county, however, in which the single crop of wheat or barley stands pre-eminently above others, and in the case of the upland counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and Derbyshire, the metropolitan county of Middlesex, and Monmouthshire, these crops are quite insignificant. In proportion to their area, the counties specially productive of wheat are Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex; and of barley, Norfolk, Suffolk and the East Riding of Yorkshire. In fruit-growing, Kent takes the first place, but a good quantity is grown in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Essex, in Worcestershire and other western counties, where, as in Herefordshire, Somerset and Devon, the apple is especially cultivated and cider is largely produced. Kent is again pre-eminent in the growth of hops; indeed this practice and that of fruit-growing give the scenery of the county a strongly individual character. Hop-growing extends from Kent into the neighbouring parts of Sussex and Surrey, where, however, it is much less important; it is also practised to a considerable degree in a group of counties of the midlands and west--Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire. Market-gardening is carried on most extensively on suitable lands in the neighbourhood of the great areas of urban population; thus the open land remaining in Middlesex is largely devoted to this industry. From the Channel and Scilly Islands, vegetables, especially seasonable vegetables, and also flowers which, owing to the peculiar climatic conditions of these islands, come early to perfection, are imported to the London market. Considering the crops not hitherto specified, it may be indicated that turnips and swedes form the chief green crops in most districts; potatoes, mangels, beans and peas are also commonly grown, Beyond the three chief grain crops, only a little rye is grown. The cultivation of flax is almost extinct, but it is practised in a few districts, such as the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire.

Livestock.

The counties in which the greatest proportion of the land is devoted to permanent pasture may be judged roughly from the list of "grass counties" already given. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, the midland counties generally, and Somersetshire, have the highest proportion, and the counties of the East Anglian seaboard the lowest. But with lands thus classified heath, moor and hill pastures are not included; and the greatest areas of these are naturally found in the counties of the Pennines and the Lake District, especially in Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire. There is also plenty of hill-pasture in the south-western counties , especially in Devonshire, Cornwall and Somersetshire, and also in Monmouthshire and along the Welsh marches, on the Cotteswold Hills, &c. In all these localities sheep are extensively reared, especially in Northumberland, but on the other hand in Lincolnshire the numbers of sheep are roughly equal to those in the northern county. Other counties in which the numbers are especially large are Devonshire, Kent, Cumberland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire. Cattle are reared in great numbers in Lincolnshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, Devonshire, Somersetshire and Cornwall; but the numbers of both cattle and sheep are in no English county to be regarded as insignificant. Pigs are bred most extensively in Suffolk, Norfolk and Lincolnshire and in Somersetshire.

Woodlands.

It is often asserted that the scenery of rural England is of its kind unrivalled. Except in open lands like the Fens, the peculiarly rich appearance of the country is due to the closely-divided fields with their high, luxuriant hedges, and especially to the profuse growth of trees. There is not, however, any large continuous forested tract. Certain areas still bear the name of forest where there is now none; the term here possesses an historical significance, in many cases indicating former royal game-preserves. Great areas of England were once under forest. The clearing of land for agricultural purposes, the use of wood for the prosecution of the industries of an increasing population, and other causes, have led to the gradual disforesting of large tracts. There are still, however, some small well-defined woodland areas. The New Forest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and Epping Forest, which is preserved as a public recreation-ground by the City of London, are the most notable instances. The counties comprising the greatest proportional amount of woodland fall into two distinct groups--Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent, with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire; Monmouth, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Cambridgeshire, lying almost wholly within the area of the Fens, has the smallest proportional area of woodland of any English county.

The number of persons engaged in agriculture in England and Wales was found by the census of 1901 to be 1,192,167; the total showing a steady decrease , which is especially marked in the case of females. But the decrease lies mainly in the number of agricultural labourers; the number of farmers is not notably affected, and the increasing substitution of machinery for manual labour must be taken into consideration. The average size of holdings in England may be taken approximately as 66 acres, the average in 1903 being 66.1, whereas in 1895 it was 65.3.

Sea fisheries.

Distinctions may be drawn, as will be seen, between the nature and methods of the fisheries on the various coasts, and the relative prosperity of the industry from year to year cannot be considered as a whole. Thus in the period considered the recorded maximum weight of fish landed at the east coast ports was 9,539,114 cwt. in 1903 ; whereas on the south coast it was 736,599 cwt. in 1899, and on the west 1,117,164 cwt. in 1898. Considered as a whole, the individual fish, by far the most important in the English fisheries, is the herring, for which Yarmouth and Lowestoft are the chief ports. The next in order are haddock, cod and plaice, and the east coast fisheries return the greatest bulk of these also. But whereas the south coast has the advantage over the west in the herring and plaice fisheries, the reverse is the case in the haddock and cod fisheries, haddock, in particular, being landed in very small quantities at the south coast ports. Mackerel, however, are landed principally at the southern ports, and the pilchard is taken almost solely off the south-western coast. A fish of special importance to the west coast fisheries is the hake. Among shell-fish, crabs and oysters are taken principally off the east coast; the oyster beds in the shallow water off the north Kent and Essex coasts, as at Whitstable and Colchester, being famous. Lobsters are landed in greatest number on the south coast.

The number of vessels of every sort employed in fishing was returned in 1903 as 9721, and the number of persons employed as 41,539, of whom 34,071 were regular fishermen. The development of the steam trawling-vessel is illustrated by the increase in numbers of these vessels from 480 in 1893 to 1135 in 1903. They belong chiefly to North Shields, Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth and Lowestoft. There are a considerable number on the west coast, but very few on the south. These vessels have a wide range of operations, pursuing their work as far as the Faeroe Islands and Iceland on the one hand, and the Bay of Biscay and the Portuguese coast on the other.

Freshwater fisheries.

The chief minerals raised in England, as stated in the annual home office report on mines and quarries, appear in order of value, thus: coal, iron ore, clay and shale, sandstone, limestone, igneous rocks, salt, tin ore. Coal surpasses all the other minerals to such an extent that, taking the year 1903 as a type, when the total value of the mineral output was very nearly ?70,000,000, that of coal is found to approach ?61,000,000.

Coal-fields.

The position of the various principal coal-fields has been indicated in dealing with the physical geography of England, but the grouping of the fields adopted in the official report may be given here, together with an indication of the counties covered by each, and the percentage of coal to the total bulk raised in each county. These figures are furnished as a general demonstration of the geographical distribution of the industry, but are based on the returns for 1903.

The coal-fields on the eastern flank of the Pennines, therefore, namely, the Northern and the Yorkshire, are seen to be by far the most important in England. The carrying trade in coal is naturally very extensive, and may be considered here. The principal ports for the shipping of coal for export, set down in order of the amount shipped, also fall very nearly into topographical groups, thus:--Newcastle, South Shields and Blyth in the Northern District; Newport in Monmouthshire; Sunderland in the Northern District, Hull, Grimsby and Goole on the Humber, which forms the eastern outlet of the Yorkshire coal-fields; Hartlepool, in the Northern District, and Liverpool. The tonnage annually shipped ranges from about 4 1/2 millions of tons in the case of Newcastle to some half a million in the case of Liverpool; but the export trade of Cardiff in South Wales far surpasses that of any English port, being more than three times that of Newcastle in 1903. The coastwise carrying trade is also important, the bulk being shared about equally by Sunderland, Newcastle, South Shields and Cardiff, while Liverpool has also a large share. Of the whole amount of coal received coastwise at English and Welsh ports , London received considerably over one-half . The railways having the heaviest coal traffic are the North-Eastern, which monopolizes the traffic of Northumberland and Durham; the Midland, commanding the Derbyshire, Yorkshire and East Midland traffic, and some of the Welsh; the London & North Western, whose principal sources are the Lancashire, Staffordshire and South Welsh districts; the Great Western and the Taff Vale , with the Great Central, Lancashire & Yorkshire and Great Northern systems.

In the face of railway competition, several of the canals maintain a fair traffic in coal, for which they are eminently suitable--the system of the Birmingham navigation, the Aire and Calder navigation of Yorkshire, and the Leeds and Liverpool navigation have the largest shares in this trade.

Iron.

The richest iron-mining district in England and in the United Kingdom is the Cleveland district of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It produces over two-fifths of the total amount of ore raised in the Kingdom, and not much less than one-half of that raised in England. The richness of the ore is by no means so great as the red haematite ore found in Cumberland and north Lancashire . Here the percentage is over 50, but the ore, though the richest found in the kingdom, is less plentiful, about 1 1/2 million tons being raised in 1903 as against more than 5 1/2 millions in Cleveland. There is also a considerable working of brown iron ore at various points in Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire; with further workings of less importance in Staffordshire and several other districts. The total amount of ore raised in England is about 12 1/2 million tons, but it is not so high, in some iron-fields, as formerly. Some of the lesser deposits have been worked out, and even in the rich Furness fields it has been found difficult to pursue the ore. The import of ore has consequently increased, and the ports where the principal import trade is carried on are those which form the principal outlets of the iron-working districts of Cleveland and Furness, namely Middlesbrough and Barrow-in-Furness.

The geographical distribution of the remaining more important English minerals may be passed in quicker review. Of the metals, the production of copper is a lapsing industry, confined to Cornwall. For the production of lead the principal counties are Derbyshire, Durham and Stanhope, but the industry is not extensive, and is confined to a few places in each county. Quarrying for limestone, clay and sandstone is general in most parts. For limestone the principal localities are in Durham, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, while for chalk-quarrying Kent is pre-eminent among a group of south-eastern counties, including Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey, with Essex. Fireclay is largely raised from coal-mines, while, among special clays, there is a considerable production of china and potter's clays in Cornwall, Devonshire and Dorsetshire. As regards igneous rocks, the Charnwood Forest quarries of Leicestershire, and those of Cornwall, are particularly noted for their granite. Slate is worked in Cornwall and Devon, and also in Lancashire and Cumberland, where, in the Lake District, there are several large quarries. Salt, obtained principally from brine but also as rock-salt, is an important object of industry in Cheshire, the output from that county and Staffordshire exceeding a million tons annually. In Worcestershire, Durham and Yorkshire salt is also produced from brine.

The total number of persons in any way occupied in connexion with mines and quarries in England and Wales in 1901 was 805,185; the number being found to increase rapidly, as from 528,474 in 1881. Coal-mines alone occupied 643,654, and to development in this direction the total increase is chiefly due. The number of ironstone and other mines decreased in the period noticed from 55,907 to 31,606.

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