Does anyone know what sect of Christianity dominated London in the 18th century?

Answer 1

You might mean the "evangelicals", who functioned both inside and outside the Church of England.

It is formally true, as others have said, that the Church of England was THE Church in the 18th century. But that obscures the fact that there were, from the beginning of the English Reformation, always distinct factions WITHIN the Church the sought to push it in different directions. Broadly speaking, there were the "High Church", sometimes called "Anglo-Catholic" groups which sought to . On the other side were those who sought to continue to change the Church along the lines of the Reformed Churches of other European nations (most commonly linked to the theology and practices of Geneva at the time of Calvin).

The various "Puritan" groups were part of this, at first, trying to purify the church from the inside... though later some left the church as did the "Separatist" Puritan group we know as the "Pilgrims". (Another famous Separatist was John Bunyan -- thrown in jail for not being authorized by the Church to preach... he wrote the classic "Pilgrim's Progress".)

The Reformed groups gained ascendancy at several key points. Two key earlier instances: 16the century -under Henry VIII's son Edward, when the very Reformed Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty Articles were adopted; in the 17th century -- during Cromwell's Revolution, when the Presbyterians dominated and drafted the "Westminster Standards" (including catechisms and a Confession of faith).

Now in the 18th century there grew, from this "Reformed" of "Low Church" side, a series of "evangelical" revivals, including the "Great Awakening" both in various parts of Britain and across the ocean in the American colonies. The earliest revivals were among the Welsh, in part under the preaching of George Whitfield (who also preached in the colonies). Later Whitfield drafted his friends the Wesleys (John the preacher and theologian, Charles a great hymwriter) to join him in "field preaching".

Eventually, the Wesleyan part of this resulted in the formation of the Methodist Church (not exactly, what John Wesley had intended), formally structured much like the Anglican Church it came from. (Those influenced by Whitfield, on the other hand, mostly merged with the Presbyterians of Wales and Scotland.) A number of other evangelicals become prominent WITHIN the Church of England, such as John Newton (author of "Amazing Grace"). They were influenced not only by the revivals but by the earlier Puritan writers.

So it may be argued that the "evangelicals" were THE dominant Christian sect of England by the late 18th to early 19th century. It's influence was felt in many areas. For instance, it was an evangelical Anglican pastoral candidate Thomas Clarkson who, late in the 17th century became the central organizer of the movement to end slavery and the slave trade in England and its possessions (with the help of other evangelical Anglicans, including eventually John Newton, and a number of Quaker leaders). William Wilberforce led the fight in Parliament, eventually succeeding in the early 19th century. He was part of the evangelical "Clapham Sect".


http://www.allsaintsjakarta.org/18centhist.htm#3 lays out the three major branches (Whitfield, Wesley, evanglical Anglicans), then discusses their effects on social reform (esp. regarding the ending of slavery)

http://www.eppc.org/printVersion/print_pub.asp?pubID=1943

The fascinating story of the work spearheaded by Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce is laid out in Adam Hochshild's book *Bury the Chains* (Houghton Miflin, 2005)

Answer 2

Dominated by Anglicans, and how. There were only two universities in England, and you had to be a practising Anglican to be admitted to them, and without a university degree you would never get into the corridors of power.

It is almost incredible, but true, that while Oxford and Cambridge admitted non-Anglicans from around 1840, only the Anglicans could actually graduate, until I think around 1900.

Answer 3

Angelicans

Answer 4

Church of England...Anglicans...that was it, baby!

Answer 5

shouldn't it be the anglicans??