The Christian Social Union was an organisation within the Church of England devoted to the study of social conditions and the remedying of social injustice, which flourished in the latter part of the nineteenth century and continued into the early twentieth. Its origins lay in the writings of F.D. Maurice, onetime professor of Theology at London University, Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...

 and J. M. F. Ludlow. It became attached to the Oxford Movement

Oxford Movement

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

 through the work of slum priests. Its leaders included Henry Scott Holland

Henry Scott Holland

Henry Scott Holland was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. He was also a canon of Christ Church, Oxford.-Family and education:...

, dean of St. Pauls and, briefly William Temple

William Temple (archbishop)

William Temple was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Manchester , Archbishop of York , and Archbishop of Canterbury ....

, later Archbishop of Canterbury (1942–44).

The Christian Socialist Union merged in 1919 with the Navvy Mission to form Industrial Christian Fellowship. ICF continues to develop issues of social justice, business ethics etc.