The Church Commissioners for England have existed as such since 1 April 1948, at which date the amalgamation of the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy (founded 1704 - see below) and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England (founded 1836) took effect under the provisions of the Church Commissioners Measure, 1947. In 1856 the Church Building Commissioners, constituted in 1818, had been dissolved and their remaining powers and duties transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
Queen Anne's Bounty was established in 1704 by assigning the first fruits and tenths from benefices worth over £50 per annum (previously diverted from the church to the Crown by an Act of 26 Henry VIII [1534-1535]) in order to form a fund to be used to augment poor ecclesiastical livings by providing matching grants of capital, not income, or by loans through mortgages for repairs to parsonage houses. Under the Dilapidations Acts of 1870 and 1871 Queen Anne's Bounty also took on responsibility for dilapidations and insuring parsonage houses.
The chief duty of the Church Commissioners and before them the Ecclesiastical Commissioners has always been to administer the secular estates and revenues of the Church of England in order to maximise financial support for the clergy. They also play a role in making provision for pastoral reorganisation and dealing with parsonage houses and new and redundant churches.
From the guide to the Church Commission Deposit of Parsonage Houses, Benefice and Chapelry Income Papers, 1809-1940, (Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections)
