High Church Rituals and Rituals of Protest: the 'Riots' at St George-in-the-East, 1859-1860

Abstract

For a period of nearly 18 months, services at St George-in-the-East were disrupted by protest at the ritualistic practices adopted by the Rector and his Anglo-Catholic curates. This East End parish was the locus for a bitter conflict between the High and Low Church wings of the Church of England over the meaning of the English Reformation. Church historians, usually sympathetic to the clergy, have generally approached this episode from a very narrow perspective. This article offers an alternative appraisal grounded in 'history from below'. Based on Home Office files and extensive newspaper reports, it examines the various rituals of protest used by the Vestry and its supporters against the clergy and their allies. It shows how evangelical Protestantism underpinned popular notions of Englishness in an era of sectarian tension and locates the behaviour of the protesters in the context of mid-century popular politics.