The organisation was founded as the
Church of England Protection Society on 12 May 1859 to challenge the authority of the
English civil courts to determine questions of doctrine. It changed its name to the
English Church Union in May 1860. In particular, it was active in defending
Anglo-Catholic priests such as
Arthur Tooth,
Sidney Faithorn Green and
Richard William Enraght against legal action brought under the
Public Worship Regulation Act 1874. The passage of this law was secured by
Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait to restrict the growing
Oxford Movement and had the support of then-
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. One of the most famous attempts at prosecution under the 1874 act began in 1888. It was aimed against the
Bishop of Lincoln Edward King, but the Archbishop of Canterbury
Edward Benson revived his own archiepiscopal court (inactive since 1699) to avoid the prosecution of the saintly King in a lay court. Such prosecutions ended in 1906 after a
Royal Commission recognized pluralism in worship, but the act was not repealed until the
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963. In 1933, the English Church Union merged with the Anglo-Catholic Congress to form the present organisation. The Church Union publishes a magazine called the
Church Observer. ==See also==