Commissioners' church

Not to be confused with Commission for Building Fifty New Churches.

Church Building Act 1818
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn act for building and promoting the building of additional Churches in populous Parishes.
Citation58 Geo. 3. c. 45
Dates
Royal assent30 May 1818
Commencement30 May 1818
Repealed5 August 1873
Other legislation
Repealed byStatute Law Revision Act 1873
Status: Repealed
Church Building Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn act to amend and render more effectual an Act passed in the last Session of Parliament, for building and promoting the building of additional Churches in populous Parishes.
Citation59 Geo. 3. c. 134
Dates
Royal assent13 July 1819
Other legislation
AmendsChurch Building Act 1818
Church Building Act 1822
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend and render more effectual Two Acts, passed in the Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Years of His late Majesty, for building and promoting the building of additional Churches in populous Parishes.
Citation3 Geo. 4. c. 72
Dates
Royal assent22 July 1822
Commencement22 July 1822
Other legislation
Amends
  • Church Building Act 1818
  • Church Building Act 1819
Amended by
Text of statute as originally enacted
Church Building Act 1824
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to make further provision, and to amend and render more effectual Three Acts passed in the Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Years of His late Majesty, and in the Third Year of His present Majesty, for building and promoting the building of additional Churches in populous Parishes.
Citation5 Geo. 4. c. 103
Dates
Royal assent24 June 1824
Commencement24 June 1824
Other legislation
Amended byStatute Law Revision Act 1873
Status: Partially repealed
The entrance face of a church in Neoclassical style, with four columns supporting a pediment, over which is a cupola.
St George's Church, Brandon Hill, a Commissioners' church in a Neoclassical style by Robert Smirke
A large church seen from the northwest, showing a tower with clock faces over arches, an arched window, and crocketted pinnacles.
All Saints' Church, Stand, by Charles Barry in a Gothic Revival style with Early English elements
Church of St George, Chester Road, Hulme, by Francis Goodwin in a Gothic Revival style with Perpendicular elements

A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in England or Wales built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Act 1818 (58 Geo. 3. c. 45) and the Church Building Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 103). The 1818 act supplied a grant of money and established the Church Building Commission to direct its use, and in 1824 made a further grant of money. In addition to paying for the building of churches, the Commission had powers to divide and subdivide parishes, and to provide endowments. The Commission continued to function as a separate body until the end of 1856, when it was absorbed into the Ecclesiastical Commission. In some cases the Commissioners provided the full cost of the new church; in other cases they provided a partial grant and the balance was raised locally. In total 612 new churches were provided, mainly in expanding industrial towns and cities.