CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION

The Roman Catholic Relief Act (Emancipation of 1829) and Emigration of Catholics from Ireland

After the Relief Act of 1778 a priest, Joseph Berrington, wrote “Shall I sit down satisfied because the good humour of a magistrate chose to indulge me whilst there are laws of which any miscreant has daily powers to enforce their execution." The Act of 1829 relieved Catholics from this fear, expressed by Father Berrington, of legal persecution under the penal laws remaining from the Act of 1778.

The terms of the 1829 Act allowed Catholics to vote and sit in both Houses of Parliament; they could also hold office in local and national government. The Act, however, contained certain clauses which made a distinction between Catholics and other citizens; they were for instance prohibited from becoming Lord Chancellor, and priests belonging to a religious order were obliged to register at the port of entry when coming from abroad.15Catholics soon learned to live with these restrictions.

In the mid 19th Century thousands of people came from Ireland to settle in the new industrial towns or to work in agriculture. A great many of these Catholic immigrants settled in the towns and villages of North Lincolnshire. The 1829 Act and Irish immigrants changed the constitution of Catholic communities all over Britain and particularly in N. Lincs. It became necessary to enlarge existing places of worship and to build new ones to accommodate larger congregations. Many mission stations, as they were called, were set up by local people all over N. Lincs. Catholics no longer relied on local gentry to do this for them, as they had in the past. This development can be read in various parish histories that have been produced.

Landed gentry in N. Lincs did however continue to play their part in the development of the Catholic Church in the area. Descendants of those Catholics who had been involved in the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536 helped throughout the 19th Century to restore the Catholic Church in this part of the county.