Church Commissioners

History

The Church Building Act 1818 granted money and established the Church Building Commission to build churches in the cities of the Industrial Revolution. These churches became known variously as Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches or Million Act churches. The Church Building Commission became the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1836.

An earlier Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Commission had been set up under the first brief administration of Sir Robert Peel in 1835 with a wide remit, "to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues"; this body redistributed wealth between the dioceses and changed diocesan boundaries, and the permanent Ecclesiastical Commission was formed the following year.

The Church Commissioners were established in 1948 as a merger of Queen Anne's Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, following the passage, by the National Assembly of the Church of England, of the Church Commissioners Measure 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. No. 2).

In 1992 it was revealed that the Church Commissioners had lost £500m through over-commitment of the fund leading to poor investment decisions. This figure was later revised up to £800m, a third of their assets.

The value of the commissioners' assets was around £5.5 billion as at the end of 2012. By September 2016, it was valued at £7 billion. The income is used for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board) and a range of other commitments including supporting the ministries of bishops and cathedrals and funding various diocesan and parish missions initiatives.

In June 2022, the Commissioners acknowledged early links of Queen Anne's Bounty to the Atlantic slave trade. They and Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, apologised. In January 2023 the Commissioners announced that they were setting up a fund of £100 million to be spent over the next nine years on addressing historic links with slavery.

The Commissioners also oversee pastoral reorganisation, the consent of the commissioners being required for establishing or dissolving team and group ministries, uniting, creating, or dissolving benefices and parishes, and the closing of consecrated church buildings and graveyards.

The Church Commissioners are now based at Church House, Westminster, London, having long occupied No. 1 Millbank. The Millbank building was sold in 2005 to the House of Lords for accommodation of members and staff; the commissioners completed the move to Church House in 2007. They used to be an exempt charity under English law, and is now a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is John Worth.

Responsibilities

The Church Commissioners have the following responsibilities:

• Funding mission in churches, dioceses and cathedrals.
• Pastoral reorganisation (including mergers of parishes and benefices); supported by the Pastoral Team.
• Clergy payroll ensuring clergy are paid their stipend.
• Managing the production of Crockford's Clerical Directory.
• Managing the Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre.

Portfolio

The CC portfolio in 2020 is extensive, worth around £9.2 billion and includes the Hyde Park Estate and a 10% stake in the MetroCentre shopping centre. The CC are the 13th largest landowner in the UK. The CC own a significant amount of rural land and sometimes promote this through Local Plan processes.

List of commissioners

There are 33 Church Commissioners, of whom 27 make up the board of governors as the main policy-making body, with a further 6 who are officers of state or Government ministers. Board members are either elected by the General Synod of the Church of England, or appointed by either the archbishops or the Crown. The board of governors is composed of all of the commissioners apart from the First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the Lord Speaker.

The 33 commissioners are as follows:

Church Estates Commissioners

The Church Estates Commissioners are three lay people who represent the Church Commissioners in the General Synod of the Church of England. The first and second commissioners are appointed by the British monarch, and the third commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. They are based at Church House, Westminster, having previously had offices at No. 1 Millbank, London.

First Church Estates Commissioners

The First Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the British Monarch.

• 1850–1878: Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester
• 1878–1905: Arthur Stanhope, 6th Earl Stanhope
• 1905–1931: Sir Lewis Dibdin
• 1931–1938: Sir George Middleton
• 1939–1954: Sir Philip Baker Wilbraham
• 1954–1969: Malcolm Trustram Eve, 1st Baron Silsoe
• 1969–1982: Sir Ronald Harris
• 1983–1993: Sir Douglas Lovelock
• 1993–1999: Sir Michael Colman, 3rd Baronet
• 1999–2001: John Sclater
• 2002–2017: Sir Andreas Whittam Smith
• 2017–2021: Loretta Minghella
• 2021–present: Alan Smith

Second Church Estates Commissioners

The Second Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Crown. They are now always a Member of Parliament from the party in government, and have additional duties as a link between the British Parliament and the Church.

• 1850–1858: Sir John Shaw Lefevre
• 1858–1859: Charles Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley
• 1859–1865: Edward Pleydell Bouverie
• 1865–1866: Henry Austin Bruce
• 1866–1868: John Robert Mowbray
• 1869–1874: Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet
• 1874–1879: George Cubitt
• 1879–1880: Thomas Salt
• 1880–1885: Evelyn Ashley
• 1885–1886: Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson
• 1886–1886: Thomas Dyke Acland
• 1886–1892: Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson
• 1892–1892: Charles Algernon Whitmore
• 1892–1895: George Leveson Gower
• 1895–1906: Sir Lees Knowles
• 1906–1906: Francis Stevenson
• 1906–1907: Charles Hobhouse
• 1907–1910: James Tomkinson
• 1910–1918: Sir Charles Nicholson
• 1919–1922: Sir William Mount, 1st Baronet
• 1923–1924: John Birchall
• 1924–1924: George Middleton
• 1924–1929: John Birchall
• 1929–1931: George Middleton
• 1931–1943: Richard Denman
• 1943–1945: Sir John Mills
• 1945–1950: Thomas Burden
• 1950–1951: Sir Richard Acland
• 1951–1957: Sir John Crowder
• 1957–1962: Sir Hubert Ashton
• 1962–1964: Sir John Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet
• 1964–1970: Lancelot Mallalieu
• 1970–1974: Sir Marcus Worsley, 5th Baronet
• 1974–1974: Edward Bishop
• 1974–1979: Terence Walker
• 1979–1987 Sir William van Straubenzee
• 1987–1997: Michael Alison
• 1997–2010: Sir Stuart Bell
• 2010–2015: Sir Tony Baldry
• 2015–2020: Dame Caroline Spelman
• 2020–2024: Andrew Selous
• 2024–: Marsha de Cordova

Third Church Estates Commissioners

The Third Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

• 1850–1856: Henry Goulburn
• 1856–1858: Spencer Horatio Walpole
• 1858–1862: William Deedes
• 1862–1866: Spencer Horatio Walpole
• 1866–1871: Edward Howes
• 1871–1892: Sir John Mowbray, 1st Baronet
• 1892–1895: Sir Michael Hicks Beach, 9th Baronet
• 1895–1926: Charles Stuart-Wortley, 1st Baron Stuart of Wortley
• 1926–1948: Herbert Pease, 1st Baron Daryngton
• 1948–1952: John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey
• 1952–1954: Sir Malcolm Eve, 1st Baronet
• 1954–1962: Sir James Brown
• 1962–1972: Sir Hubert Ashton
• 1972–1981: Dame Betty Ridley
• 1981–1989: Betsy Howarth
• 1989–1999: Margaret Heather Laird
• 1999–2005: Gillian Joynson-Hicks, Viscountess Brentford
• 2006–2012: Timothy Walker
• 2013–2018: Andrew Mackie
• 2018–2022: Eve Poole
• 2022–2024: Canon Flora Winfield
• 2025–: Sir Robert Buckland

References

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