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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Free Church of Scotland
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The largest group to have seceded from the *Church of Scotland, and the most dramatic in its departure. On 18 May 1843 a group of 203 ministers (out of some 1200) marched out of the General Assembly in Edinburgh in protest against ministers being appointed by the patrons of livings rather than chosen by their congregation. The number of dissidents grew over the next days and weeks to 474. They disclaimed any rights to church income, property or buildings (an act of courage which had an unexpected effect on the history of photography, through David Octavius *Hill). Instead they set about building a new church organization from scratch.
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They succeeded so well that later in the century other groups, which had seceded earlier from the Church of Scotland, wished to join them. The creation of the resulting United Free Church of Scotland in 1900 caused in its turn some of their own members to walk out, continuing to call themselves the Free Church and becoming known as the Wee Frees ('wee' in the sense of little). The larger secession came to an end when the United Free Church reunited in 1929 with the Church of Scotland.
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