My Blog – Miscellenea Edintone

Was Olaudah Equiano a nonconformist?

Oct 162017

Olaudahn Equiano

In life Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797) was known as Gustavus Vassa. Equiano has an unexplained link with the village of Soham in Cambridgeshire, England where he married an English lady, Susannah Cullen in 1792. It was from Soham in 1782 that the Baptist, Andrew Fuller originated before becoming the pastor of Kettering Baptist Church.

Olaudah Equiano together with William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson are celebrated by the Church of England on 30th July each year for their efforts in social reform and anti-slavery campaigning.

Until the recently the final resting place of Equiano has been unknown^[1]. What we do know is that he lived in London, at 13 Tottenham Street, London, in 1788; in 1789 he moved to what was then 10 Union Street and is now 73 Riding House Street. One of his last addresses appears to have been Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London, where he drew up his will on 28 May 1796. He moved to John Street, Tottenham Court Road, close to Whitefield’s Methodist chapel. (It was rebuilt in in 1957 following war-time damage by a V2 rocket, for use by Congregationalists, now the site of the American International Church.) Lastly, he lived in Paddington Street, Middlesex, where he died.

Recent research has revealed that following Equiano’s death on 31 March 1797 he was buried at Whitefield’s Methodist chapel on 6 April 1797.^[2]

The entry reads “6 [April 1797] Gustus Vasa, 52 years, St Mary Le bone”

We might conclude that Equiano found the Calvinistic message of Whitefield’s chapel to his liking. At the time the chapel was pastored by Rev. Torial Joss, George Whitefield having died in 1770. Joss himself died a few days after Equiano and was buried on 22 April 1797 in the chapel.

Olaudah Equiano burial

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaudah_Equiano#Last_days_and_will

[2] London Metropolitan Archives; Clerkenwell, London, England; Whitefield’s Memorial Church [Formerly Tottenham Court Road Chapel], Tottenham Court Road, Saint Pancras, Register of burials; Reference Code: LMA/4472/A/01/004

Philip Doddridge’s last resting place

General No Responses »

Aug 262016

Philip Doddridge never enjoyed the best of health. In life he had the appearance of a “bag of bones” and was always running from this place to that in the Lord’s work. When it became clear that his life was close to its end friends and supporters contributed to pay for the cost of him travelling to Lisbon, Portugal for a “change of air”. Sadly he was met by no better weather than he left in England and that journey was to be his last. He died there of tuberculosis on 26 October 1751. He was buried in a cemetery attached to the British Factory in Lisbon.

Philip Doddridge’s grave at the British Cemetery Lisbon

Pictures kindly supplied by Ed Hanson via http://www.findagrave.com/

Northamptonshire FHS – Footprints

General No Responses »

Aug 062015

The August 2015 edition of Footprints includes an update on Nonconformists in Northamptonshire.

Sources for researching Nonconformists in Northamptonshire

by Graham Ward

The Northamptonshire Family History Society have published a booklet written by myself as a guide to the multitude of resources available when researching nonconformist history and family connections. Details are available here, together with a summary of the web sites referred to in the booklet.

Available from the Northamptonshire Family History Society bookstall for £2.50 plus postage (UK 45p, airmail £1.40) ISBN 1904460275, First published November 2004, revised 2007.

The 1851 Religious Census of Northamptonshire

by Graham Ward

One of the main features of Victorian local history was the balance between the religious denominations, which varied from place to place. The one and only time a religious census was taken in this country was in 1851. This exercise was undertaken alongside the regular census, taken every ten years from 1801. This volume gives a synopsis of the returns of each place of religious worship in every place in the county, and Graham Ward, the editor, explains the problems inherent in the way the census was designed and looks at issues raised by this one and only attempt to measure religious allegiance with statistical precision.

This is a Victor Hatley Memorial volume available from the Northamptonshire Record Society Wotton Hall Park, Northampton, UK, NN4 8BQ Telephone: 01604 762297. ISBN 0 901275 65 4, 266 pages, Published 2007. The cost is £9.50 (plus p & p) .

Vorley family of Market Harborough

Genealogy No Responses »

Dec 142014

Longcase clock of Thomas Vorley of Market Harborough

Thomas Vorley of Market Harborough (1803-1847) was the son of Samuel Vorley (1766-1821). Samuel was born in Great Addington, Northamptonshire, and was a clockmaker. Samuel Vorley’s burial in 1821 at Great Addington records him as a weaver and clockmaker. I have not found any information to indicate when Samuel became a clockmaker or if he was apprenticed.

Thomas appears in trade directories at Market Harborough at two addresses, Church Street in 1831 and High Street 1835. After Thomas’ death in 1847 his last wife Mary died shortly after in 1849. In her will she leaves the property in Great Addington that Thomas owned and was occupied by his mother, since re-married, to his mother and the business and property in Market Harborough was left to the Thomas’s surviving brothers and sisters and daughters of his brother Henry, Elizabeth Fryer Vorley and Louisa Fryer Vorley.

Longcase clock of Henry Vorley of Thrapston, Market Harborough and Ipswich

Henry Vorley (1813-1872), another son of Samuel and therefore Thomas’s brother, appears in Pigot’s directory for 1841 already in business in Thrapston as a watchmaker. Henry’s first wife Charlotte died in Market Harborough in 1855. The trade directory of 1855 confirms that Henry had moved his business to Market Harborough after his brother’s death in 1847. Some time later Henry moved to Colchester as he married Jane Huxtable in Colchester at a Eld Lane Baptist Chapel in 1856. Here he is described as a jeweller living at Butt Road, Colchester. I have found no clue as to what prompted the move to Colchester or whether it was a family or business opportunity. Two of his daughters Elizabeth Fryer Vorley and Louisa Fryer Vorley, married in Ipswich in 1860 and 1861. Checking the trade directories of Colchester and Ipswich has not indicated that Henry was trading on his own account but it is possible that he was working in a watchmaking business in Colchester as it was a significant industry in the town. Henry was buried back in Great Addington in 1872 when he was still described as a watchmaker.

There was a third brother, Samuel John Vorley (1821-1858) Samuel John’s career and movements can be put together from his two marriages, census and trade directories. In 1839 his marriage to Mary Ann Tomlin gives his residence as Rothwell and describes him as a watchmaker. Pigot’s 1841 directory lists a John Vorley, watchmaker at Corby, which as it is only six miles from Rothwell is probably the same Samuel John. At his second marriage in 1844 in Irthlingborough he is living at Higham Ferrers and is again described as a watchmaker. In 1851 he is living at Church Street, Crowland, Lincolnshire. The births of his children indicate that he probably moved from Crowland to Leicester between 1854 and 1855. In 1857 his daughter Mary Louisa Vorley was born in Leicester and Samuel John is described as a watchmaker (master).

Graham Ward

(This article originally appeared in Clocks Magazine, July 2007)

Nonconformist record transcriptions

Nonconformists, Northamptonshire No Responses »

Nov 282014

If you are looking for transcriptions of non-conformist records in Northamptonshire the Eureka Partnership have started a series of booklets containing many records they have located and transcribed. Details of their Northamptonshire collection is here.

Also remember that nonconformists often travelled some distance to attend the chapel of their choice, so it is often wise to look for chapels across the county boundary. Some of the other counties that have been transcribed are Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.

Currently the following records have been published for Northamptonshire:

Title	Description	Denomination	Eureka reference
Buckingham and Brackley Methodist Circuit - Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire Baptisms 1804-1903	This booklet contains a transcription of the baptisms relating to persons from Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire contained in the registers of the Buckingham and Brackley Methodist Circuit held at the Northamptonshire Record Office. Also included is a register of marriages 1870-1885 and a register of burials, 1846-1894, in the Wesleyan Chapel Ground at Brackley. Northamptonshire chapels in the Circuit at various times were situated at Brackley, Croughton, Evenley, Greatworth, Syresham and Whitfield and those from Oxfordshire were situated at Arncott, Bicester, Caulcott, Clifton, Deddington, Fritwell, Hethe, Lower and Upper Heyford, Launton, North Aston, Piddington and Weston on the Green.	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR062
Towcester Methodist Circuit - Baptisms 1811-1919	The Towcester Methodist Circuit included chapels at Alderton, Ashton, Astcote in the parish of Pattishall, Blakesley, Grafton Regis, Greens Norton, Hartwell, Maidford, Paulerspury, Shutlanger, Silverstone, Slapton, Stoke Bruerne, Towcester, Wappenham and Whittlebury [all Northamptonshire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR116
Banbury Wesleyan Methodist Circuit - Historic Roll 1899-1904	The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll contains the names and addresses of members who donated a guinea each to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund between the years 1899 and 1904. Also listed are those loved ones who had either died or moved away and for whom members made additional donations 'In Memoriam'. This booklet contains a trancription of the pages within the Historic Roll relating to the Banbury Circuit, which included places of worship at Adderbury, Banbury, Bloxham, Cropredy, Hanwell, Horley, Shutford, Wardington and Wroxton [all Oxfordshire], Chacombe, Chipping Warden, Eydon, Greatworth, Grimsbury, Hinton, Lower Boddington, Middleton Cheney, Sulgrave and Upper Boddington [all Northamptonshire] and Shotteswell and Warmington [both Warwickshire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR181
Buckingham and Brackley, Thame and Watlington Wesleyan Methodist Circuits - Historic Roll 1899-1904	This booklet contains a transcription of the pages within the Historic Roll relating to the Buckingham and Brackley, Thame and Watlington Circuits. Buckingham and Brackley Circuit included places of worship at Adstock, Akeley, Buckingham, Padbury and Thornborough [all Buckinghamshire], Bicester, Clifton, Hethe and Somerton [all Oxfordshire], and Brackley and Croughton [both Northamptonshire]. The Thame Circuit included places of worship at Bledlow, Brill, Cuddington, Haddenham and Ludgershall [all Buckinghamshire] and Thame [Oxfordshire]. Watlington Circuit included places of worship at Britwell Salome, Chalgrove, Christmas Common, Drayton, Ewelme, Great Milton, Little Milton, Warborough and Watlington [all Oxfordshire] and Wallingford [Berkshire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR243
Rugby and Daventry Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Volume One - Daventry District Baptisms 1802-1837	Within the Rugby and Daventry Circuit separate baptismal registers existed for chapels in the Daventry area and for chapels in the Rugby area. This arrangement continued up to and beyond 1860 when Rugby Wesleyan Circuit and Daventry Wesleyan Circuit were established as separate entities. This booklet contains a transcription of the baptisms recorded in the registers for the Daventry area, which included places of worship at Braunston, Daventry, Hellidon, Kilsby, Long Buckby, Weedon and West Haddon [all Northamptonshire] and at Priors Marston [Warwickshire] between 1802 and 1837 inclusive.	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR268
Towcester and Wolverton Wesleyan Methodist Circuits - Historic Roll 1899-1904	The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll contains the names and addresses of members who donated a guinea each to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund between the years 1899 and 1904. Also listed are those loved ones who had either died or moved away and for whom members made additional donations 'In Memoriam'. This booklet contains a transcription of the pages within the Historic Roll relating to the Towcester and Wolverton Circuits, which included places of worship at Towcester and Whittlebury [Northamptonshire], Bletchley, Bow Brickhill, Castlethorpe, Fenny Stratford, Hanslope, Newport Pagnell, Old Bradwell, Sherington, Simpson, Stony Stratford, Woburn Sands and Wolverton [all Buckinghamshire] and Aspley Guise, Cranfield and Woburn [all Bedfordshire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR291
Northampton and Daventry Wesleyan Methodist Circuits - Historic Roll 1899-1904.	The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll contains the names and addresses of members who donated a guinea each to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund between the years 1899 and 1904. Also listed are those loved ones who had either died or moved away and for whom members made additional donations 'In Memoriam'. This booklet cotains a transcription of the pages within the Historic Roll relating to the Northampton (Gold Street), Northampton (Queens Road) and Daventry Circuits which included places of worship at Braunston, Brixworth, Charwelton, Daventry, Holcot, Northampton, Roade, Weedon and West Haddon [all Northamptonshire] and at Priors Marston and Willoughby [both Warwickshire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR326
Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers and Raunds Wesleyan Methodist Circuits - Historic Roll 1899-1904.	The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll contains the names and addresses of members who donated a guinea each to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund between the years 1899 and 1904. Also listed are those loved ones who had either died or moved away and for whom members made additional donations 'In Memoriam'. This booklet contains a transcription of the pages within the Historic Roll relating to the Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers and Raunds Circuits, which included places of worship at Bozeat, Denford, Earls Barton, Finedon, Hargrave, Harrowden, Higham Ferrers, Irchester, Irthlingborough, Little Addington, Mears Ashby, Raunds, Ringstead, Rushden, Stanwick, Thrapston, Titchmarsh, Wellingborough, Wilby, Wollaston and Woodford [all Northamptonshire], at Dean, Knotting Green, Riseley, Souldrop, Swineshead and Yielden [all Bedfordshire] and at Catworth [Huntingdonshire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR334
Middleton Cheney Baptist Church - Births 1785-1837; Burials 1789-1793; Members 1781-1841	The Baptist Church at Middleton Cheney is believed to date from about 1740 when members met at the house of Mr. Merrivale in Main Road, now the New Inn. The present chapel was built in 1806 and replaced an earlier, smaller, building thought to be located in Queen Street. The church is now known as Middleton Cheney Baptist Centre. This volume contains a transcription of the church birth, burial and membership records deposited at Northamptonshire Record Office. Members of the church resided at Chacombe, Kings Sutton, Marston St. Lawrence, Middleton Cheney, Moreton Pinkney, Sulgrave, Thenford and Thorpe Mandeville [all Northamptonshire] and in Adderbury, Banbury, Cropredy and Great Bourton [all Oxfordshire].	Baptist	EUR338
Roade Baptist Church - Births 1816-1837 and Members 1730-1912.	The Baptist Church at Roade is said to have been founded in 1688 by John Gibbs of Newport Pagnell, who also founded the church at Olney, Bucks. The earliest surviving records date from 1730 when Richard Leaper, also from Olney, became minister. The present chapel, which is now a private residence, was built in 1802 and replaced an earlier building erected in 1737. This volume contains a transcription of the church birth and membership records together with extracts from the minutes. Members of the Church resided at Ashton, Blisworth, Courteenhall, Milton Malsor, Quinton, Roade and Stoke Bruerne [all Northamptonshire] and in Gayhurst, Hanslope and Loughton [all Buckinghamshire].	Baptist	EUR346
Wellingborough Wesleyan Methodist Circuit - Volume One - Baptisms 1809-1857.	The Wellingborough Wesleyan Methodist Circuit had places of worship at Bozeat, Burton Latimer, Earls Barton, Finedon, Grendon, Hannington, Harrowden, Irchester, Isham, Mears Ashby, Orlingbury, Wellingborough, Wilby and Wollaston [all Northamptonshire]. This volume contains a transcription of the baptismal entries found in the circuit registers for the period 1809 to 1857 inclusive.	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR359
Wellingborough Wesleyan Methodist Circuit - Volume Two - Baptisms 1858-1913.	The Wellingborough Wesleyan Methodist Circuit had places of worship at Bozeat, Burton Latimer, Earls Barton, Finedon, Grendon, Hannington, Harrowden, Irchester, Isham, Mears Ashby, Orlingbury, Wellingborough, Wilby and Wollaston [all Northamptonshire]. This volume contains a transcription of the baptismal entries found in the circuit registers for the period 1858 to 1913 inclusive.	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR360
Kettering & Market Harborough Wesleyan Methodist Circuits - Historic Roll 1899-1904	The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll contains the names and addresses of members who donated a guinea each to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund between the years 1899 and 1904. Also listed are those loved ones who had either died or moved away and for whom members made additional donations 'In Memoriam'. This booklet contains a transcription of the pages within the Historic Roll relating to the Kettering and Market Harborough Circuits, including members residing in Broughton, Cottingham, Desborough, Great Oakley, Kettering, Little Oakley, Middleton, Naseby, Pipewell, Pytchley and Rothwell [all Northamptonshire], and at Foxton, Great Bowden, Great Easton, Husbands Bosworth, Kibworth Beauchamp, Little Bowden and Market Harborough [all Leicestershire].	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR364
Northampton Wesleyan Methodist Circuit - Volume One - Baptisms 1808-1862; Burials 1820-1837	The Northampton Wesleyan Circuit was formed from the Bedford Circuit in 1808. The 1866-67 Circuit Plan shows places of worship at Billing, Boughton, Brixworth, Collingtree, Duston, Ecton, Far Cotton, Hardingstone, Harpole, Holcot, Houghton, Kislingbury, Moulton, Northampton Gold Street, Northampton Grafton Street, Northampton Scarletwell Street, Pitsford, Quinton, Roade and Weston Favell [all Northamptonshire]. This booklet contains a transcription of those baptismal entries dated between 1808 and 1862 inclusive to be found in the circuit registers deposited at Northamptonshire Record Office. The burials at Gold Street, Northampton Chapel are also included	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR367
Northampton Wesleyan Methodist Circuit - Volume Two - Baptisms 1863-1913	The Northampton Wesleyan Circuit was formed from the Bedford Circuit in 1808. The 1866-67 Circuit Plan shows places of worship at Billing, Boughton, Brixworth, Collingtree, Duston, Ecton, Far Cotton, Hardingstone, Harpole, Holcot, Houghton, Kislingbury, Moulton, Northampton Gold Street, Northampton Grafton Street, Northampton Scarletwell Street, Pitsford, Quinton, Roade and Weston Favell [all Northamptonshire]. This booklet contains a transcription of those baptismal entries dated between 1863 and 1913 inclusive to be found in the circuit registers deposited at Northamptonshire Record Office.	Wesleyan Methodist	EUR368

1851 Religious Census returns

Archives & Libraries, Genealogy, Nonconformists No Responses »

Jun 232012

The orginal returns are now available for free, by download from the National Archives DocumentsOnline service. Some knowledge of the geographical and administrative boundaries in1851 is helpful to locate these records. There are 623 bundles of records organised by Registration districts within Counties. The process of accessing them is a little convoluted the first time, but stick with it.

Start here http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/browse/C8993?v=h from which point there are links to 57 county pages. Within each county page will be found the Registration district bundles.

Select one of these bundles which will have number like HO129/xxx. Click “Add to basket”. Then move to the basket (top right of the screen, then “View basket”). Add your email address and “Checkout”. After you submit your order you will receive a download link to the file. The files will be large (100MB) and contain a zip file with one Adobe pdf file. This file is a collection of the images of the actual census return forms. This is where some local knowledge will be helpful in locating the form for a specific place of worship.

The Dissenting Academies Project

Archives & Libraries, Nonconformists No Responses »

Nov 252011

Dr Williams’s Centre for Dissenting Studies in conjunction with Queen Mary College has launched the Dissenting Academies Project. It provides databases of academies in the 17th-19th centuries, principals, tutors, students and a “virtual” composite academies library from this period.

http://www.english.qmul.ac.uk/drwilliams/portal.html

It is a huge resource of information on this topic and period but also provides a starting point for future research.

The earliest dissenting academies were established after the Restoration as a result of the 1662 Act of Uniformity, and were intended to provide Protestant students dissenting from the Church of England with a higher education similar to that at Oxford and Cambridge, from which they were largely excluded. Their main purpose was to prepare candidates for the ministry, but many educated lay students as well. They played a crucial role in ministerial and lay education: the tutors and the students they educated contributed in fundamental ways to the development of ideas, notably in the fields of theology, philosophy, literature, and science. In the nineteenth century the academies’ original purpose to provide a higher education was largely superseded by the founding of London and the provincial universities, which were open to dissenters, and by the eventual reform of Oxford and Cambridge.

Medieval Tax Assessments for Northamptonshire

Genealogy No Responses »

Jun 272009

I wrote an article for the Northamptonshire FHS called Serendipity some time ago – those pleasant chance discoveries we make in family history from time to time.

Does your family tree go back to the 14^th century? You might find www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk a surprise as it contains transcripts of tax assessments for Northamptonshire http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/subsidies/index.shtml from 1301 and 1524. What surprised me was that I soon found some of my family names in these records, and many others in parishes that interest me that were still there 600 years later. Sadly a lot to fill in between, but quite an encouragement.

Surman Index of Congregational ministers online

Archives & Libraries, Nonconformists No Responses »

May 282009

Charles Surman’s biographical card index of Congregational ministers includes the names of about 32,000 individuals, and, where known, their dates, details of their education, ministries or other employment, together with the sources used. It covers the period from the mid-seventeenth century to 1972, and though it focuses on England and Wales, it includes Congregational ministers serving abroad provided they trained or served as ministers in Britain. Although intended as an index of Congregational ministers, it also gives details of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Presbyterians and some Baptists.

The index is available at http://surman.english.qmul.ac.uk.

The church meeting in heaven

Baptists No Responses »

May 272009

By the late REV. J. RYLAND

“What singing! what shouting! what heavenly greeting!
Shall there be, at that general, triumphant church-meeting.
Nor illness, nor business, nor length of the way,
Shall keep from that meeting one brother away.
Temptations, and trials, no more shall be known;
Nor Satan, nor sin, shall e’er cause us to groan.
Each shall tell his sweet story, nor need it be short,
It will never be night, there’ll be time enough for’t.
Each strange dispensation will be then understood,
And we shall see clearly, all wrought for our good.
May the foresight of glory constrain you and me,
To consider what persons we ought now to be!
To pray for your brother, my dear friend, fail not,
For, alas! you can’t think what a heart I have got!
So stubborn! so stupid! so carnal! so cold!
One half of its wickedness, cannot be told.
But, Lord! thou dost know it; thou only canst bend it
Oh, search it! and break it! and wash it! and mend it!”

Baptist Magazine, June, 1812.

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