Augustus Frederick (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

POD

The POD for this timeline is the ordination of Prince Augustus Frederick (b. 1773), son of George III of Great Britain, as a priest of the Church of England in 1794, something which he considered, then abandoned *here*.

Onward

Augustus Frederick was a younger son of George III of England and Ireland (and later of the United Kingdom). As a young man, he decide to become a minister. At first his father opposed him, but later consented. Augustus Frederick rose quickly through the ecclesiastical ranks, thanks to royal tutelage and ended up as a bishop by 1810. Augustus Frederick became the 'conscience' of the House of Hanover, a role which its other members were all too ready to concede to him.

In 1820, the rise of the Plymouth Brethren and Methodists, which were Low Church evangelical movements, led to Augustus Frederick's initial support of the nascent Oxford Movement. Under royal patronage, the Oxford Movement grew more quickly and spread farther than in OTL. Augustus Frederick became a favorite uncle of his niece Victoria, and therefore influenced her thinking, pushing her further towards High Church thinking.

Historical assessments in the 20th and 21st centuries regarded Frederick was being progressive on many social issues but conservative on matters of faith and morals, which included reform of Parliament, abolition of the slave trade and the removal of existing civil restrictions on Jews and dissenters. In 1829, Augustus Frederick spoke against Catholic Emancipation, but was unsuccessful in preventing its passage. Frederick's ambiguous stance on the issue of Catholic emancipation and less vigorous effort on the preventing the Roman Catholic Relief Set were believed to be grounded on his secret sympathy to the Catholic populations despite his disagreement to the Roman Catholic Church.

Frederick wanted the existing pressure to the Catholics would eventually converted them into Anglicanism in a hope that they would flocking to and embracing the High Church thinking at the end. His view on this issue was similar with other supporters of Oxford Movement who had decided to not alienate the Catholics from the British society at large.

In 1831 and 1832, Augustus Frederick officially opposed the Reform Bill on the grounds that it would give more authority to the "rabble" in fear of throwing Britain into a French Revolution-like situation. He supported the abolition of rotten and pocket boroughs, but opposed to expansion of voting rights to any man owning a household worth £10. His view on the extension of male suffrage changed over time and eventually defended the Reform Set of 1832 years later. Reports from several Anglican priests worked in slum areas inspired Frederick to become more critical to the British social policy at that time and pushed the government to adopt more radical policies in relieving poverty, earning him the title "Folk's Priest" from the British lower class.

In 1833, Augustus Frederick began to sponsor the reproduction of the 'Oxford Tracts' (1833-1841), which illumined the principles of the Oxford Movement.

In 1837, William IV died, and Victoria became queen. Augustus Frederick became the Queen's official spiritual advisor.

In 1840, there was an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria. The upsurge in nationalism was accompanied by an upsurge in enthusiasm centered around the Church of England.

In 1843, August Frederick died.

In 1845, Newman, one of the leading lights of the Oxford Movement, converted to Roman Catholicism. This shocked the nation and wounded the 'new' religious credibility of the monarch. The branch of the Oxford Movement which opposed this conversion and tried to maintain credibility in the eyes of the public changed its name to the Sussex Movement, after Sussex College, Cambridge, where it made its headquarters. The fragile state of Catholic emancipation that had existed since 1829 began to deteriorate rapidly. The split between the reconverted Catholics and the Sussex Movement contributed to the anti-Catholic sentiment among the British during the mid to late 19th century.

The legacy of August Frederick on the Church's involvement in fixing social ills is retained in the teachings and doctrines of Sussex Movement up until today, serves as the basis of Social Anglicanism that influenced liberal, social democratic and socialist movements in Great Britain.