26 July 1869
Irish Church Disestablishment Act

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The people of Ireland have long resented the special status of the Church of Ireland. Because it's the Irish face of the established Anglican Church, everyone in Ireland must pay a tithe (tax) to support it, although 90% of the population is Catholic or Nonconformist. The people get no control in return – the monarch appoints the Church's bishops, some of whom have seats in the House of Lords where they tend to vote to uphold the Anglican ascendancy.

Gladstone personally drafts the Disestablishment Act, which he hopes will help reconcile Irish people to the union with Britain. It ends the legal link between Church and state in Ireland, abolishes the tithe and ecclesiastical courts and makes bishops elected by synods. It confiscates the Church's property, worth about £16 million, and awards the Church £5 million in compensation, while giving £9 million to the Poor Law Board for relief of the impoverished.

The act is welcomed by Catholics and Nonconformists, and is furiously opposed by Conservatives and Irish Anglicans. The latter two groups see it as undermining Anglican supremacy in Britain as a whole, and as a dangerous attack on property. As a quid pro quo, Gladstone also abolishes the Maynooth Grant (see 1845 Maynooth Grant) and a grant to Nonconformists, but his opponents are not soothed. Queen Victoria intervenes to ensure that the act is passed.

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