The Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners was established in 1833 to supersede the Board of First Fruits

Board of First Fruits

The Board of First Fruits was an institution of the Church of Ireland that was established in 1711 by Anne, Queen of Great Britain in order to build and improve churches and glebe houses in Ireland. This was funded from taxes collected on clerical incomes which were in turn funded by tithes...

. It was created to overcome criticisms against the established church by enforcing a reform of the church. Ten dioceses were dissolved by joining them with neighboring dioceses and their temporalities were administered by the board. Its role was to oversee the funding, building and repairs to churches and glebe houses. The board was superseded by the Church Temporalities Commission in summer 1869 in preparation of the disestablishment of the established church.

History

It was founded as a consequence of the Church Temporalities Act 1833.

The board consisted of 11 members, 6 episcopal members and 5 lay members, and they had to be members of the Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

.

The six episcopal members were appointed by his Majesty in council and four of them had to be Archbishops or Bishops of Ireland including the archbishops of Armagh

Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)

The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh is the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the Province of Armagh and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Armagh....

 and Dublin

Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)

The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland...

, where both could appoint a commissioner each. The five lay members included the Lord Chancellor of Ireland

Lord Chancellor of Ireland

The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...

 and the Lord Chief Justice to the Kings Bench

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland

The Court of King's Bench was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England...

, if they were members of the Church of Ireland, and three other laymen or clergymen.

In the beginning, the four provinces of the established church in Ireland were put under the responsibilities of the architects William Farrell

William Farrell (architect)

William Farrell, RIAI, was a prominent Dublin-based Irish architect active throughout early to mid-nineteenth-century Ireland, during the Georgian and early Victorian period, known particularly for his church and institutional designs.-Career:...

 (Armagh), Frederick Darley (Dublin), Joseph Welland

Joseph Welland (architect)

Joseph Welland was born in County Cork and became an Irish Architect for the Board of First Fruits and later the Ecclesiastical Commissioners...

 (Tuam), and James Pain

James Pain

James Pain was born into a family of English architects. His grandfather was William Pain, his father James Pain and his brother George Richard Pain. James Pain served as an apprentice to the architect John Nash of London. James and George Richard were commissioned by the Board of First Fruits...

 (Cashel

Diocese of Cashel and Ossory

The United Dioceses of Cashel and Ossory is a diocese of the Church of Ireland in southern Ireland...

). In 1843, the organization was centralized with Joseph Welland as the leading architect. After his death in 1860, the post was jointly assigned to his son William John Welland and William Gillespie.

The annual budget of the commission in the 1860s was about £180,000.