Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Ireland facts for kids

The Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners was an important group in Ireland a long time ago. It was part of the Dublin Castle administration, which was how Ireland was governed by the British at the time. This Board was in charge of looking after the churches and special houses for priests (called glebe houses) that belonged to the Church of Ireland. They made sure there was money for building new churches and fixing old ones.

The Board was created in 1833 by a law called the Church Temporalities Act 1833. It took over from an older group called the Board of First Fruits. This was all part of a plan to make the Church of Ireland work better.

Later, in 1869, another law called the Irish Church Act 1869 changed things again. The Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners was replaced by a new group called the Church Temporalities Commission. This new group got ready for the Church of Ireland to no longer be the official state church in 1871. They also handled all the changes in who owned church property.

Some old church buildings and monuments were later given to the Board of Public Works in 1874. Finally, in 1881, the Church Temporalities Commission was closed down. Its remaining jobs were given to the Irish Land Commission.

How the Board Started and Worked

The Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners was set up because of the Church Temporalities Act in 1833. This law aimed to make the Church of Ireland more organized and efficient.

Who Were the Members?

The Board had 11 members. All of them had to be part of the Church of Ireland.

• Six members were church leaders, like bishops or archbishops. They were called "episcopal" members. The King or Queen's council chose them. Four of these had to be Archbishops or Bishops from Ireland, including the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin.
• Five members were not church leaders; they were regular people, called "lay" members. These included important government officials like the Lord Chancellor of Ireland (a top legal official) and the Lord Chief Justice (a top judge), if they were Church of Ireland members. Three other lay people or clergymen also joined.

Managing Church Buildings

When the Board first started, they divided the work of looking after church buildings across four main areas, called "provinces," in Ireland. Each province had its own architect:

• William Farrell for the Armagh area.
• Frederick Darley for the Dublin area.
• Joseph Welland for the Tuam area.
• James Pain for the Cashel area.

In 1843, the Board decided to make things simpler. They put all the architectural work under one main architect, Joseph Welland. After he passed away in 1860, his son, William John Welland, and William Gillespie shared the job.

Money Matters

The Board had a large budget to do its work. In the 1860s, they had about £180,000 each year. This money was used to build new churches, repair old ones, and maintain the glebe houses for priests.