26

THE BRITISH EMPIRE : — UNITED KINGDOM

having been cut up in many cases into districcs, each of which is virtually an independent parish ecclesiastically. Of such parishes there were (1911) 14,387, inchisive of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Each parish has its church, presided over by an incumbent or minister, who must be in priest's orders, and who is known as rector, vicar, or perpetual curate, according to his relation to the temporalities of his parish. Private persons possess the right of presentation to about 8,500 benefices ; the patronage of the others belongs mainly to the King, the bishops and cathedrals, the Lord Chancellor, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, In 1912 there were about 13,900 incumbents. The vohmtary contributions of the Church in ] 911-12 were 7,764,777Z.

Of 31,598 churches and chapels registered for the solemnisation of marriage in 1910, 15,811 belonged to the Established Church and 15,787 to other religious denominations. Of the marriages celebrated in 1910, 61*6 per cent, were in the Established Church, 4 '2 percent, in the Roman Catholic Church, 13*0 ])er cent, w^ere Nonconformist marriages, 0*04 per cent, were Quaker marriages, 0"68 per cent. Jewish, and 20 "5 per cent, civil marriages in Registrar's Office.

The following summary of statistics of Noncomformist churches (England and Wales) in 1911 is taken from the 'Free Church Year-Book' for 1912. It only claims to present an approximation to the actual condition. Figures relating to the Anglican Church are appended : —

Sitting accommoda- tion.

Commu- nicants

Surul ay- School Teachers.

Sunday School Scholars

Mini- sters

Local Prea- chers

Baptists

Coiigregationalists Presbyterians Wesleyan Methodists . Primitive Methodists . United Methodist Ch. . Oalvanistic Methodists . Society of Friends Wesleyan Reform Union Independent Methodists Churches of Christ Moravians

Countess of Hunting- don's Connexion Disciples of Christ Reformed Episcopal Ch. Free Church of England

Total F.C. Total Anglican

1,. 394, 285

l,716,6f.9

179,523

2,323,498

1,051,259

750,075

559,977

47,468 46,310 25,000 10,000

15,300 6,000 6,000 8,140

8,139,494 7,275,497

394,6471

454,429

86,828

602,432

2'02,479

159,255

183,862

18,513

8,317

8,770

14,703

3,297

2,200 1,629 1,278 1,352

2,143,991 2,342,153

57,552 68,058 8,259 130,678 59,224 41,825 28,366

2,770

3,082

1,859

607

500 239 256 361

403,636 217,000

553,329

1,981

655,548

2,152

95,277

355

976,752

1,848

466,848

1,134

305,335

639

215,390

979

27,929

—

22,883

22

27,204

—

18,313

25

5,107

46

4,300

29

2,065

13

2,600

28

4,196

24

3,.S83,076

9,275

2,500,667

13,964

5,260 5,500

19,715

16,139

5,461

331

431 409

580

12

26

53,864

1 Incomplete.

The Unitarians had (1911) 374 places of worship, the Catholic Apostolic Cliurch about 80, the New Jerusalem Church about 75. The Salvation Army, a religious body with a semi-military organisation, carries on both spiritual and social work at home and abroad, and has (1912) about 20,840 officers and employe.'^, 9,130 corps and outposts, and 54,000 local officers ; their places of worship in the United Kingdom have about 550,000 sittings. There are about 245,000 Jews in the United Kingdom with nearly 200 synagogues.

In AVales alone, in 1912, there were about 127,000 members of the Baptist churches; 184,000 of the Calvinistic Methodist; 170,000 of the

Congregational ; and 40,000 of the Wesleyan Methodist Churches.