FREE CHURCH OF ENGLAND: A small Protestant organization which broke off from the Church of England (see ENGLAND, CHURCH OF) in 1844 because of antagonism to the Oxford Movement (see TRACTARIANISM). Being free from State control, it claims the right to enter any parish where advanced ritualism prevails, and to establish a liturgical service on the basis of the Evangelical party of the Anglican Church. Its churches are widely scattered throughout England, although their number is small. It is governed by its own convocation and by its few bishops, consecrated by Bishop Cummins (q.v.) of the American Reformed Episcopal Church. The convocation meets annually in June. Its clergy number twenty-four, and its churches twenty-seven, with accommodations for 8,140. It has 1,352 communicants, 361 Sunday-school teachers, and 4,196 Sunday-school scholars. Though practically identical with the Reformed Episcopal Church of England (see REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH), the two refuse to unite on account of differences respecting government and the rights of the laity.