The churches in Bermondsey, 1880-1939

Bartlett, Alan Bennett (1987). The churches in Bermondsey, 1880-1939. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the work of the Churches in the working-class London Borough of Bermondsey. Opening chapters trace their development to 1880 and explore the social background, stressing the stratification within the working class.

The Anglican Church in the late nineteenth century was a paradox. Extensively used by the working class for its social services, non-churchgoing religious activities and for rites of passage, this was the 'Golden Age of the Parish'. But despite attractiveness to sections of the working class, it was still middle-class dominated and was retreating into a closely-defined community. Traditional Nonconformity could not compete, but the new central halls and missions succeeded, through social work and modernised religious activity, in attracting larger numbers. Undermined by the effects of W.W.I, the loss of outside support, new alternatives and by their inability to overcome the restraints of respectability, all the Protestant Churches fell into decline by the 1930s. Conversely, the Roman Catholic Church reached its peak by the 1920s and retained its Irish working-class membership, based around the powerful relationship between priests and people.

Analysis is also made of the different approaches to organised religion according to gender and of the relationship between the Churches and Socialism.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):