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By July 1812 "the Chapel is totally incapable of containing the crowds which repair to it each Sunday," although the writer adds that the congregation was extremely select. The court continued to provide many celebrated preachers as well as the support which was needed for a venture to be truly successful at this time.
Meanwhile Dr. Carr,
who was destined to become Bishop of Chichester and of Worcester, and Mr. Portis
purchased the private rights from William Woodward. In 1810 an alteration
was made to the Chapel's arrangements. Until this time no servants had
been allowed in the gallery, except those of the Prince of Wales, this being
considered the best part of the Chapel. Some back seats were now set
aside, undoubtedly so that the servants might be nearer their masters and
mistresses. That this was not a wholly welcome move in such a fashionable place
is shown by the wry comment of a contemporary, "How the upstairs renters of pews
will approve of the alteration time must evince".
The Chapel was still the place of fashion which it had been, but several factors began to' intervene which over the next years were to lead to a gradual decline in its importance. With the opening of the Pavilion Chapel in 1822 the Prince's attendances and consequently those of the Court became fewer. A further factor was the rapid growth in church building in Brighton. Between 1810 and 1820 only two Anglican churches had been opened.
Slowly and quietly Brighton was
affected by changes in social life of the country. The first blow was the
removal of the Court back to London and the consequent loss of popularity when
Victoria took her violent dislike to the town. Second was the combined influence
of the town and the impact of the Industrial Revolution which drove the
respectable citizens out of central Brighton to Hove and Preston. The vacuum was
filled by shopkeepers and the poor who lived and worked 'among the shops and
factories which began to proliferate in this once fashionable area.
The influence of the Tractarian Movement can be seen in the
institution of a celebration of the Holy Communion on the second Sunday of the
month, and in the dozen printed sermons which have survived in the Brighton
Public Library.
Still the Chapel Royal retained part of its air of respectability. During the 1850's many of the clergy brought their children to be baptised there. In January, 1851 F.W. Robertson, the famous minister at the Trinity Chapel, baptised his daughter there and Charles Wesley, the Sub-Dean of the Chapels Royal did likewise in July, 1852.
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