BISHOPRIC. [ 3 Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The new diocese of Ripon did not conse quently add to the number of bishoprics. This bishopric is formed out of the dio ceses of York and Chester. The same act also provided for the union of the dioceses of Bangor and St. Asaph, and on a vacancy occurring in either of them a bishop of Manchester was to be appointed. But the clause for the severance of the two Welsh sees was repealed by 10 & 11 Viet. c. 108. and the new bishopric of Manchester founded and endowed out of the surplus episcopal revenues at the disposal of the Ecclesiastical Commis sioners. The new diocese embraces the entire county of Lancaster, and the Act creates the new archdeaconry of Liver pool. This change was the result of a motion in 1844, in which the government had been defeated by 49 to 37, in the Lords, on a motion by Earl Powis, for repealing the clause in the act which provided for the union of the two sees. But the assent of the crown being re f d, the measure was withdrawn, but afterwards carried.
From the Report the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales, published in 1835, we ab stract the following return of the reve nues of the English sees. The bishoprics are arranged under the archbishoprics to which they respectively belong. For the number of benefices, population, &c. of each see, see BENEFICE.
The important act already quoted not only remodelled the diocesan divisions of England, but provided for a fresh distri bution of the revenues of the different bishops according to the following scale : The other bishoprics are augmented by fixed contributions out of the revenues of the richer sees, so as to increase their average annual incomes to not less than 40001. nor more than 50001. The bishop of Sodor and Man has 2000/. a-year. The surplus revenues are paid into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and con stitute what is called the Episcopal Fund; and every seven years, from Jan. 1, 1837, a new return is to be made by them of the revenues of all the bishoprics, and thereupon the scale of episcopal payments is to be revised, so as to preserve the scale fixed upon by the act. The first
revision upon new return/3 of income for 1844 is now making or has just been completed. Provision was also made in this act for a more equal distribution of patronage among the several bishops, proportioned to the relative magnitude and importance of their respective dio ceses.
The bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester, rank next to the archbishops ; the others rank according to priority of consecration.
While the church of Scotland was epis copal in its constitution it had two arch bishoprics, St. Andrew's and Glasgow, and eleven bishoprics, to which, as late as 1633, a twelfth was added, the bishopric of Edinburgh. In the other thirteen sees there is a long and pretty complete catalogue of bishops, running up to the ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth centu ries. The eleven antient bishoprics were those of Aberdeen, Dumblaine, Orkney, Argyle, Dunkeld, Ross, Brechin, Galloway, Caithness, Moray, and the Isles, or Sodor, a see which was formerly within the superintendency of the bishop of Man.
At the Revolution the Presbyterian church of Scotland was acknowledged as the national church : but there is still an Episcopal church in Scotland, the mem bers of which are there in the character of dissenters. The present sees are Aber deen, Edinburgh, Dunkeld, Ross and Argyle, Glasgow and Brechin. In a letter addressed to the Bishop of Glasgow, dated Fulham, November 21, 1844, the Bishop of London strongly disclaimed jurisdiction over English clergymen offi ciating in Scotland, and recommended them to pay canonical obedience to the Scottish bishops within whose diocese they were officiating.
Before the passing of 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 37, and 4 & 5 Win. IV. e. 90, there were four archbishoprics and eighteen bi shoprics in the Protestant Church of Ire land. The four archiepiscopal provinces were subdivided into thirty-two dioceses, which had been consolidated into eighteen bishoprics at different epochs. At the time of passing the act, by which many were to be extinguished on the death of the existing bishop, there were in the province of and Clonmacnoise, Clogher, Down and Connor, Kilmore, Dromore, Raphoe, and Derry.