Anniversary Days Observance Act 1859
{{Short description|Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
|short_title = Anniversary Days Observance Act 1859
|type = Act
|parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom
|long_title = An Act to repeal certain Acts and Parts of Acts which relate to the Observance of the Thirtieth of January and other Days.
|year = 1859
|citation = 22 Vict. c. 2
|territorial_extent = United Kingdom
|royal_assent = 25 March 1859
|commencement = 25 March 1859{{efn|The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793.}}
|repeal_date = 11 August 1875
|replaces = {{ubl|Observance of 5th November Act 1605|Observance of 29th May Act 1660}}
|amends =
|amendments =
|related_legislation = Bank Holidays Act 1871
|repealing_legislation= Statute Law Revision Act 1875
|status = Repealed
|original_text = {{GBurl|ElcMAQAAMAAJ|page=2}}
}}
The Anniversary Days Observance Act 1859 (22 Vict. c. 2; formal long title An Act to repeal certain Acts and Parts of Acts which relate to the Observance of the Thirtieth of January and other Days) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed several laws mandating "political services" or "state services": observance by the Church of England and Church of Ireland of certain anniversaries from 17th-century political history.
Provisions
The laws and observances abolished were specified by various acts of the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, or Parliament of Ireland. These acts were repealed in full where they had no other purpose than establishing the relevant observance, and otherwise repealed only in relation to the observance.
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Legislative history
The political and religious aspects of Anglican identity began to separate after Catholic emancipation culminated in the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.Lacey 2003, p.243 In the 1850s, moves to increased religious toleration included the Liberty of Religious Worship Act 1855 and the Jews Relief Act 1858. These changes were reflected in June and July 1858,{{cite journal|last=Prior|first=David|date=July 2005|title=Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November|journal=History Today|quote=In 1859, in an atmosphere of growing religious toleration, the 1606 Act was abolished.|volume=55|issue=7|pages=4–5|url=http://www.historytoday.com/david-prior/remember-remember-fifth-november|access-date=5 November 2016}} when the House of Lords and House of Commons respectively passed resolutions making loyal addresses to Queen Victoria to remove certain "occasional forms of prayer" from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.{{cite web|date=28 June 1858|title=Political services of the Church of England. Motion for address.|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1858/jun/28/motion-for-address|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216091745/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1858/jun/28/motion-for-address|archive-date=2017-12-16|access-date=5 November 2016|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|page=HL Deb vol 151 cc475-9|no-pp=y}}{{cite web|date=28 June 1858|title=Political services of the Church of England. [resumed]|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1858/jun/28/political-services-of-the-church-of-1|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216154636/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1858/jun/28/political-services-of-the-church-of-1|archive-date=2017-12-16|access-date=5 November 2016|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|page=HL Deb vol 151 cc481-503|no-pp=y}}{{cite web|date=13 July 1858|title=The church services. Address moved.|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1858/jul/13/address-moved|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216091639/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1858/jul/13/address-moved|archive-date=2017-12-16|access-date=5 November 2016|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|page=HC Deb vol 151 cc1392-4|no-pp=y}} These prayers were re-specified by royal warrant after each new monarch's accession.Staley 1907, p.73 The Crown agreed to consider the matter.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1858/jul/01/the-queens-answer-to-address|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|title=Political services of the Church of England. The Queen's answer to address.|page=HL Deb vol 151 c691|no-pp=y|date=1 July 1858|access-date=5 November 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1858/jul/16/answer-to-address|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|title=Occasional forms of prayer. Answer to address.|page=HC Deb vol 151 cc1604-5|no-pp=y|date=16 July 1858|access-date=5 November 2016}}
After some delay for legal advice, on 17 January 1859 the queen issued a new warrant removing the prayers.{{cite journal|date=18 January 1859|title=Whitehall, January 17, 1859.|journal=The London Gazette|issue=22220|page=161|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22220/page/161|access-date=5 November 2016}} However, the observances which the prayers fulfilled were mandated by various acts of Parliament; so a bill, initially called the Occasional Forms of Prayer Bill, was introduced in February 1859 to repeal the provisions which were no longer being enforced.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1859/feb/04/acts-considered-in-committee-bill|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|title=Occasional forms of prayer. Acts considered in committee. Bill presented. Read 1°.|page=HC Deb vol 152 cc117-8|no-pp=y|date=4 February 1859|access-date=5 November 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1859/feb/07/second-reading|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|title=Occasional forms of prayer bill. Second reading.|page=HC Deb vol 152 cc148-50|no-pp=y|date=7 February 1859|access-date=5 November 2016}} Whereas the 1858 petitions had related only to observances in the English Book of Common Prayer, the 1859 bill additionally deleted the 23 October prayer from the Irish Book of Common Prayer. In the House of Lords the bill was renamed the Anniversary Days Observance Bill.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1859/feb/25/second-reading|title=Occasional forms of prayer bill. Second reading.|date=25 February 1859|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|pages=HL Deb vol 152 cc850–3|no-pp=y|access-date=5 November 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1859/mar/11/minutes|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|title=Minutes.|page=HL Deb vol 153 c1|no-pp=y|quote=Public bills.— [...] 3a Anniversary Days Observance, formerly Occasional Forms of Prayer|date=11 March 1859|access-date=5 November 2016}} It received royal assent on 25 March.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1859/mar/25/minutes|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|title=Minutes|quote=Public bills.— [...] Royal Assent.— [...] Anniversary Days Observance|page=HL Deb vol 153 c792|no-pp=y|date=25 March 1859|access-date=5 November 2016}}
The 1859 act was itself repealed as spent by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1875.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1875/act/66/schedule/1/enacted/en/html|title=Statute Law Revision Act 1875 [38 & 39 Vict c 66]|date=11 August 1875|work=Irish Statute Book|pages=Schedule|no-pp=y|access-date=5 November 2016}}
Criticism
In the House of Lords, the 1858 resolution was supported by most bishops;Lacey 2003, pp.244–245 John Bird Sumner Archbishop of Canterbury and Archibald Campbell Tait, Samuel Wilberforce and Robert Daly (bishops of London, of Oxford, and of Cashel respectively) spoke in favour, while Christopher Bethell Bishop of Bangor opposed it. The Anglo-Catholic liturgist Vernon Staley in 1907 described the deletions as ultra viresStaley 1907, p.77 because they were done without first obtaining the consent of the Convocations of Canterbury and York; he called them "a distinct violation of the compact between Church and Realm, as set forth in the Act of Uniformity which imposed the Book of Common Prayer in 1662".Staley 1907, p.76
See also
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
;Primary:
- {{cite book|title=A collection of the public general statutes passed in the 22nd year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElcMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA2|access-date=5 November 2016|year=1859|publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode|pages=2–3|chapter=[22 Vict. c.2] An Act to repeal certain Acts and Parts of Acts which relate to the Observance of the Thirtieth of January and other Days}}
- {{cite book|title=The Book of Common Prayer|chapter=29. A Form of Prayer for the Fifth Day of November; 30. A Form of Prayer for the Thirtieth Day of January; 31. A Form of Prayer for the Twenty-ninth Day of May|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dFOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA828|access-date=5 November 2016|year=1825|publisher=W. Baxter|pages=828–848}}
- {{cite web|url=http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Ireland/Oct23.htm|access-date=5 November 2016|year=1666|work=The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland|title=A Form of Divine Service to be used, October the Twenty Third|publisher=Society of Archbishop Justus}}
;Secondary:
- {{cite book|last1=Hefling|first1=Charles|editor-last1=Hefling|editor-first1=Charles|editor-last2=Shattuck|editor-first2=Cynthia|title=The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezVH2h6PKUcC&pg=PA73|access-date=5 November 2016|date=2006-07-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199723898|pages=73–75|chapter=The State Services}}
- {{cite book|last=Lacey|first=Andrew|title=The Cult of King Charles the Martyr|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXXUXzIVbHAC&pg=PA236|access-date=7 November 2016|year=2003|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9780851159225|pages=236–251|chapter=Our Own Our Royal Saint}}
- {{cite book|last=Staley|first=Vernon|title=Liturgical studies|date=1907|publisher=Longmans, Green|location=London|pages=66–83|chapter=The Commemoration of King Charles the Martyr|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/liturgicalstudie00staluoft#page/n87/mode/2up|access-date=6 November 2016}}
Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1859
Category:Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament
Category:Public holidays in the United Kingdom
Category:Separation of church and state
Category:Church of England festivals
Category:Law about religion in the United Kingdom