LAUSR

Under the Church Building Acts beginning in 1818, new English Anglican churches received governmental approval to formally rent sittings to congregants. Initial profits seem to have been high enough to make the practice financially viable. But over the Victorian era a flurry of popular protests and governmental acts, combined with lower rates of church-going, reduced the profitability of pew-renting. Churches built under the auspices of the Church Building Commissioners were generally offered grants in exchange for ending pew-rents. S.J.D. Green concluded that pew-renting was generally extinguished by the 1920s or earlier, which is correct regarding Anglican churches which received such “in lieu” grants. But Green’s assessment must be modified for other churches receiving no grants and needing even small profits. Primary sources reflect that many of these continued to set sittings for decades after the 1920s—in a few cases, into the 1960s and 1970s.