The Union of Benefices Act was a necessary piece of legislation to reduce the number of parish churches in the City of London as the residential population declined in the second half of the 19th century.
Churches affected were
| Church | Fate | Year | United with |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Hallows Bread Street | Demolished | 1876 | St Mary-le-Bow |
| All-Hallows-the-Great | Tower demolished first; then main body | 1876/1894 | St Michael Paternoster Royal |
| All Hallows Lombard Street | Demolished | 1938 | St Edmund the King and Martyr |
| All Hallows Staining | Demolished | 1870 | St Olave Hart Street |
| Holy Trinity Gough Square | Demolished | 1906 | St Bride, Fleet Street |
| Holy Trinity, Minories | Closed(destroyed 1940) | 1899 | St Botolph's Aldgate |
| St Alphage London Wall | Demolished | 1924 | St Mary Aldermanbury |
| St Antholin, Budge Row | Demolished | 1875 | St Mary Aldermary |
| St Benet Gracechurch | Demolished | 1867 | All Hallows Lombard Street |
| St Dionis Backchurch | Demolished | 1878 | All Hallows Lombard Street |
| St George Botolph Lane | Demolished | 1901-04 | St Mary-at-Hill |
| St James Duke's Place | Demolished | 1874 | St Katherine Cree |
| St Katherine Coleman | Demolished | 1926 | St Olave Hart Street |
| St Martin Outwich | Demolished | 1874 | St Helen's Bishopsgate |
| St Mary Somerset | Demolished | 1872 | St Nicholas Cole Abbey |
| St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street | Caught fire, subsequently pulled down | 1887 | St Martin Ludgate |
| St Matthew Friday Street | Demolished | 1885 | St Vedast alias Foster |
| St Michael Bassishaw | Demolished | 1900 | St Lawrence Jewry |
| St Michael Queenhithe | Demolished | 1875 | St James Garlickhythe |
| St Michael Wood Street | Demolished | 1895 | St Alban, Wood Street |
| St Mildred, Poultry | Demolished | 1872 | St Olave Jewry |
| St Olave Jewry | Demolished | 1888-91 | St Margaret Lothbury |
| St Peter Le Poer | Demolished | 1907 | St Michael, Cornhill |
As churchyards were emptied for construction projects, such as the new railway stations, many remains were exhumed and re-interred in the City of London Cemetery.
This Act was amended by the Union of Benefices Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict c 23).
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“Those graceful acts,
Those thousand decencies, that daily flow
From all her words and actions, mixed with love
And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
Union of mind, or in us both one soul.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
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—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“To speak or do anything that shall concern mankind, one must speak and act as if well, or from that grain of health which he has left.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)