IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 A/LIB
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: LIBERATION SOCIETY
Date(s): 1554-1956
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 12.8 linear metres
Name of creator(s): British Anti-State Church Association | 1844-1853
Society for the Liberation of Religion from State-Patronage and Control x Liberation Society
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Congregational minister Edward Miall was a campaigner for the disestablishment of the Church of England, that is, the withdrawl of special state patronage and control from the church. In 1844 he organised a national dissenting convention for like-minded individuals, as a result of which the British Anti-State Church Association was founded. The Association urged the withdrawal of all state support for religion, believing that it was wrong for the church to be controlled by outside influences and for politics to influence spiritual worship. They also protested against church rates, discrimination against non-church members and the legal disabilities faced by non-conformists.
In 1853 the Association changed its name to the Society for the Liberation of Religion from State-Patronage and Control, which was usually shortened to the Liberation Society. The Society was politically active and tried to infuence the selection of Parliamentary candidates who shared their opinions. Miall himself was elected to Parliament and several times from 1871 onwards proposed English disestablishment, with no success. Although the Liberation Society did not achieve its goals, they contributed to the dismantling of some of the legal challenges facing non-conformists.
In 1888 the education sub-committee of the Liberation Society, which protested against church involvement in education, became the National Education Association.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of the British Anti-State Church Association, later known as the Society for the Liberation of Religion from State-Patronage and Control or the Liberation Society. Records include minutes of the Executive Committee and the Parliamentary Committee; reports and memoranda; annual reports; lists of members, officers and executive; correspondence relating to legacies; financial records; leases for offices; legal opinions; papers relating to burial grounds; copies of relevant Acts of Parliament; printed material such as publications, magazines, addresses, circulars and pamphlets; photographs; and press cuttings.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
A/LIB-1: Administration; A/LIB-2: Finance; A/LIB-3: Related Documentation; A/LIB-4: Parliamentary.
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited in the London County Record Office on 14 April 1959 and 13 October 1960.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
See A/NEA for the National Education Association, which formed the education sub-committee of the Liberation Society.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: June to August 2010.