Hungerford Virtual Museum

Website produced and maintained for the Hungerford Historical Association
by Hugh Pihlens

[Home] [Artefacts] [Events] [People] [Places] [Themes] [Timeline] [Archives] [Search]

You are in [Themes] [Nonconformity in Hungerford]

Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.

One thousand years of Catholicism: The established Church in England had been the Roman Catholic church for almost one thousand years from the time Augustine of Canterbury brought Benedictine monasticism to England in 597.

Religious turmoil during the Tudor period: Under King Henry VIII, a series of legislative acts between 1533 and 1536 resulted in the separation of the church in England from the broader Catholic Church, and a new ecclesiastical entity, the Church of England, was created with Henry as its 'supreme governor'. Under his son, Edward VI, the Church of England became more influenced by the European Protestant movement.

During the reign of Queen Mary in 1555 it rejoined the Catholic Church.

However, shortly after Mary's sister Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, she re-established the Church of England's independence from Rome in a 1559 settlement and reformulated its teaching and practice in the Act of Uniformity. Elizabeth was finally excommunicated in 1570.

The Catholic Church (along with other non-established churches) continued in England, although it was at times subject to various forms of persecution, with most recusant members (except those of the aristocracy) going underground for all practical purposes until 1832 when the Catholic Emancipation Act came into force.

The development of noncomformity in the 17th century: Following the execution of King Charles I in January 1649, and the widespread disruption of the Civil War, a large number of small groups developed, often with particular religious views. Cromwell, with his Puritanical views, managed to suppress them for a while, but the tide of nonconformity and dissent gradually spread through England.

When Charles II was restored to the monarchy in 1660, he set about the task of trying to organise the church into a standard countrywide form. The Act of Uniformity (1662) prescribed the form of public prayers, administration of sacraments, and other rites of the Established Church of England, following all the rites and ceremonies in the Book of Common Prayer. It also required episcopal ordination for all ministers, which was reintroduced after the Puritans had abolished many features of the Church during the Civil War.

After the Act of Uniformity (1662), a Nonconformist was an English subject belonging to a non-Christian religion or any non-Anglican church. A person who also advocated religious liberty may also be more narrowly considered as such. English Dissenters (such as Puritans and Presbyterians) who violated the Act of Uniformity (1559) may be considered Nonconformists, typically by practising or advocating radical, sometimes separatist, dissent with respect to the Established Church.

Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers (founded in 1648), and those less organised, were considered Nonconformists at the time of the 1662 Act of Uniformity. Later, as other groups formed, they were also considered Nonconformists. These included Methodists, Unitarians, and members of the Salvation Army.

The religious census of 1851 revealed that total Nonconformist attendance was very close to that of Anglicans.

Nowadays, churches independent of the Anglican Church of England or the Presbyterian Church of Scotland are often called Free Churches. In Scotland, the Anglican Scottish Episcopal Church is considered nonconformist (despite its English counterpart's status) and in England, the Presbyterian United Reformed Church is in a similar position.

The term "dissenter" came into use, particularly after the Act of Toleration (1689), which exempted Nonconformists who had taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy from penalties for non-attendance at the services of the Church of England.

English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell. King James I of England, VI of Scotland had said "no bishop, no king"; Cromwell capitalised on that phrase, abolishing both upon founding the Commonwealth of England. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the episcopacy was reinstalled and the rights of the Dissenters were limited: the Act of Uniformity 1662 required Anglican ordination for all clergy, and many instead withdrew from the state church. These ministers and their followers came to be known as Nonconformists, though originally this term referred to refusal to use certain vestments and ceremonies of the Church of England, rather than separation from it.

Dissenters opposed state interference in religious matters, and founded their own churches, educational establishments, and communities; some emigrated to the New World.

In the eighteenth century, one group of Dissenters became known as "Rational Dissenters". In many respects they were closer to the Anglicanism of their day than other Dissenting sects; however, they believed that state religions impinged on the freedom of conscience. They were fiercely opposed to the hierarchical structure of the Established Church and the financial ties between it and the government. Like moderate Anglicans, they desired an educated ministry and an orderly church, but they based their opinions on reason and the Bible rather than on appeals to tradition and authority. They rejected doctrines such as the Trinity and original sin, arguing that they were irrational. Rational Dissenters believed that Christianity and faith could be dissected and evaluated using the newly emerging discipline of science, and that a stronger belief in God would be the result.

The historical Dissenting groups in existence during the English Interregnum (1649–1660) included Adamites, Anabaptists, Barrowists, Behmenists, Brownists, Early Congregationalists, Diggers, Enthusiasts, Familists, Fifth Monarchists, Grindletonians, Muggletonians, Puritans, Philadelphians, Ranters, Sabbatarians, Seekers, Socinians.

Present-day Dissenting groups include Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Quakers and Unitarians.

In England, Nonconformists were restricted from many spheres of public life and were ineligible for many forms of public educational and social benefits, until the repeal in 1828 of the Test and Corporation Acts in the nineteenth century and associated toleration. For example, attendance at an English university had required conformity to the Church of England before University College London (UCL) was founded, compelling Nonconformists to fund their own Dissenting Academies privately. UCL was founded in 1826, and was the first university institution to be founded in London, the first university institution in the United Kingdom to be established on an entirely secular basis and admit students regardless of their religion, and the first to admit women on equal terms with men.

Nonconformity in Hungerford:

Hungerford appears to have been a significant centre for nonconformity. On 30th March 1851 the only "Census of Religious Worship" was held. Returns were sent in from almost all places of worship, including Anglican, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant dissenting congregations. It is thought that the purpose of this census was to quantify the decline in church attendance, especially the Established Church. The overall data shows that about 57% of the population attended Anglican Churches, 43.6% Methodist (including Congregational, Baptist and Quakers). This census of 1851 shows the highest Methodist (nonconformist) attendance in Berkshire.

The following comes from an article in The Newbury Weekly News of 6th Jan 1870:

The History of Independancy in Hungerford:

A paper on the rise and progress of Independency in Hungerford was read at a recent entertainment in the Independent School-room, by Mr G Skinner, who stated, by way of preface, that for much of the information within his reach he had to thank the Rev Theophillus Davies, who, when he was pastor here, went to a great deal of trouble in gathering information on the subject.

Nonconformity in Hungerford is supposed to date from the year 1662, August 24th, when 2000 ministers were ejected from the established Church, the Rev John Clarke, rector of Hungerford, being among the number. He, it is generally believed, formed an Independent Church soon after, but there is no authentic record of a Church of Protestant dissenters until thirty-one years later.

Dr Calamy, speaking of Mr Clarke and his ejectment, describes him as a grave, serious, and zealous preacher, of a solid understanding, peaceable spirit, and blameless life, as a sworn enemy both to error and profaneness, dearly beloved among his people.

The following extract from the "London Christian Instructor" gives the earliest authentic information on Nonconformity in this town. "There appears (says the writer in this work) to have been, in the year 1593, a congregation of Protestant dissenters in this place, of which the Rev Benjamin Robinson was invited to become the pastor. He removed from his former residence, Findern, in Derbyshire, for that purpose. Mr Robinson exercised his ministry with great acceptance for seven years, and instituted, in the year 1696, a private academy". This measure, says Dr Toulman, awakened enmity against him with the eminent prelate, Bishop Burnet, who sent for him as he passed through Hungerford in the progress of his visitation; to whom he gave such satisfaction, both as to his understanding and his own Nonconformity, as paved the way for a kind intimacy ever afterwards.

Mr Edward Godwin, who had been educated under the learned Samuel Jones, of Tewkesbury, became assistant to Mr Robinson, in his double charge of pastor and tutor, about a year or two before Mr Robinson removed to London in 1700.

On Mr Robinson's removal the academy was dissolved, but Mr Godwin continued pastor of his church until 1722, when he again became co-pastor with Mr Robinson, then at Little St Helens. Dr Doddridge is said to have submitted the manuscript of his Family Expositor to the judgement of Mr Godwin, who made several alterations and improvements, and assisted the Doctor to carry it through the press.

Hungerford was also the birthplace of the celebrated Dr Chandler, who was born there in 1693.

Where these Protestant dissenters worshipped, or what is become of the building in which they usually assembled, there appears to be now no means of ascertaining. The only information throwing any light upon the subject which can now be gathered is "that in the memory of old men now living there used to be some old houses standing where Mr May's garden and lawn now is, in front of the Tannery and opposite to the Bear Hotel, and at the back of these houses there was a place called Chapel Barn." Whether it was in this place the Independents worshipped, or whether the barn was so named from a chapel which formerly stood in its vicinity cannot now be ascertained. [Chapel Barn was related to the medieval Priory of St John, and probably nothing to do with Nonconformist worship - HLP]

From 1722, the time of Mr Godwin's departure from Hungerford, there is a gap in the Nonconformist history of the place of seventy-eight years – that is, from 1722 to 1800, when the history of the present church commences. The late J H Hopkins, who died in 1859, at the age of 75, was the first stationed minister.

In 1801 or 1802, a workshop, where the school-room now stands, was taken and fitted up as a chapel. The pulpit was supplied for a considerable time by ministers from Newbury, and the necessary expenses were chiefly defrayed by Newbury friends. Application having been made to Hoxton Academy for a student to come and occupy the pulpit, the Rev J H Hopkins was sent down. After a pastorate of four of five years, Mr Hopkins resigned his charge, feeling discouraged by the apparent want of results from his ministry. It was afterwards found, however, that his labours had been productive of good to the souls of some of his hearers. For three months after his departure the pulpit was supplied by Mr Barnes, Mr Brooks, and Mr Spurgeon.

In 1805 the Rev Wm Laxon accepted an invitation to become the settled pastor. A Sunday school was commenced the same year, and the Church was formed on the 25th December, 1806. The following is the record of the event given in the Church book, viz: - "Record of the Formation and Proceedings of the Church of Christ of the Independent denomination at Hungerford: The friends of the gospel at Newbury, knowing the wretched state of the inhabitants of Hungerford, were moved with compassion, and obtained a place for preaching; and a Christian Church was at length formed on the 25th day of December, 1806." The names of the parties signing the Church covenant were – Sophie Faulkner, Caroline Newman, Sarah Cadman, Jane Wright, Sarah Chidwick, Sarah Palmer, Frances Bailey, Hannah Sheppard, Sarah Farmer, and Edward farmer. How long Mr Laxon ministered to the church there is no record to show, as there is no further record in the church book until 1813. Sophia Faulkner was the maternal grandmother of Messrs John and Joseph Dredge, the latter of whom married the daughter of the Rev Theo Davies, and is still connected with the cause here. Mrs Faulkner died in 1844. Her husband came here from Newbury, was successful in business, and formerly gave out the hymns in public worship. In the names of Sheppard and Cadman we have still among us representatives of the original founders of this church.

The Rev Richard Brackstone commenced his pastorate in 1813, and remained about three years.

In 1817 the little chapel was altered and enlarged.

The next minister was the Rev Richard Frost, who was ordained here in August, 1818. He now became very popular, and was much followed. The chapel became crowded to overflowing.

The old chapel having become too small, it was resolved to take down the house in front and erect a new chapel on the site. This was carried out in 1840, on the 25th of May, in which year the corner stone was laid by Mr Frost. The Rev Dr Leifchild preached at the opening. By the spirited liberality of the people, the whole debt incurred was soon paid off.

Mr Frost, having sustained the pastorate for thirty-two years, died on the 15th December, 1850; and was succeeded by the Rev J Alsop, a man of extraordinary preaching talent, when resigned his charge December 27th, 1852.

The Rev G Wallis of Foxbury, assumed the pastorate in August, 1853; but unable to come to live among his people, and finding it inconvenient to come and return so great a distance, he resigned in December, 1853.

The Rev J Moreland succeeded Mr Wallis, and became the minister on the 7th of January, 1855. Having received a call from the church at Faringdon, he accepted it, and closed his ministry here on the last Sunday in 1856.

The next minister was the Rev Theophillus Davies, who terminated his pastorate in June, 1865, having completed his eighth year among his people.

We then come to the settlement of the Rev G T Wallace, formerly of Aspatria, and who commenced his pastorate the first Sunday in October, 1865. After a pastorate of four years, he resigned his charge on the first Sabbath of October, 1869, and left for Stokesley, in Yorkshire.

From account we find that Independency had its birth here more than two centuries ago; it still lives, and we have faith that it will live and flourish. The principles of Voluntaryism have made rapid stride of late, and we believe the time is not far distant when all religious bodies will be placed on an equal footing. Then there will be no reason for petty jealousy one with the other, but each will in its own strive to the utmost to advance the kingdom of Christ, and hasten that happy time when His reign shall be universal throughout the entire world."

Much further information can be found in the Virtual Museum under the sections covering each church, as listed below.

Updated: 26.11.2010