The Act had long been demanded by the Nonconformist community in Wales, which composed the majority of the population and which resented paying taxes to the Church of England.

After 1886 the sentiment of Cymru Fydd developed, with more politicians moving in view towards a Welsh home rule similar to Ireland's, including T. E. Ellis, who also supported disestablishment as a return of religion in Wales to the native order.

The campaign was motivated by a desire for freedom of religious expression as well as legal and civil equality for Welsh nonconformity.

The Welsh Church Commissioners were set up by the Act to identify affected assets and oversee their transfer.

[9] English author G. K. Chesterton, an Anglican who would be received into the Catholic Church in 1922, ridiculed the passion that was generated by the Bill in his 1915 poem Antichrist, or the Reunion of Christendom: An Ode, repeatedly addressing F. E. Smith, one of the chief opponents of the Act.