PhDThis thesis has two principal objectives. Firstly
it seeks to examine the response of the traditionally
Liberal Free Churches to the inter-war decline of that
party, the rise of Labour and the changing economic,
social and political developments and issues which
accompanied this process. This response is considered
both in terms of the Free Church leadership and, with
the aid of local case studies in Bolton, Bradford,
Liverpool and Norfolk, of chapel society. It is
therefore examined not only in terms of the changing
theological and political attitudes of the Free Church
leadership, that leadership's contribution to Christian
Socialism in the period and its enthusiasm for
particular issues like temperance. The financial
problems, political witness and changing nature of the
chapel community, its communication of ideals and
distinctive way of looking at the world, has also been
fully considered.
Secondly the thesis seeks to establish the extent
to which Free Churchmen were representative of a working
class party in a country where the working class was not
usually noted for its religiosity, how substantial the
Free Church presence in the party was and why, and what
contribution they made to it. This involves not only an
examination of the relationship between the Free
Churches and the working classes but also of the composition of the party, both at national level and in
the local areas researched. Consideration has also been
given to the extent to which Nonconformist Socialists
have proved willing to take over from their Liberal
counterparts as the bearers of the "Nonconformist
Conscience" (involving close scrutiny of the development
of and the labour party's response to typical Free
Church concerns like temperance, gambling,
Sabbatarianism, peace, education and disestablishment)
and to the contribution their Christianity made to the
objectives and ideals of the Labour party