Nonconformist beginnings
East Anglia and the East Midlands took to the Reformation and the new
ideas of religion very easily; perhaps their proximity to the printing
presses of The Hague and the rest of Northern Europe was a contributing
factor. By the beginning of the seventeenth century the Puritan faction
was well established in the area. Unease with the established church of
Charles I and his Archbishop Laud expressed itself quite early in the
king’s reign.
In 1635 some Olney families emigrated to New England in search of
religious freedom; they left in April on board the Hopewell of London,
arriving in Boston in June. From Olney itself went John Cooper, Edmund
ffarington, William Parryer and their families and from the neighbouring
villages of Lavendon and Sherington, George Griggs and his family
and two brothers, Philip Kyrtland aged 21 and Nathaniel Kyrtland 19.
The oldest emigrant was 49 and the youngest 18 months. Another early
migrant to America was the Vicar of Olney, William Worcester, who
left in 1639. He was a Puritan and was disenchanted with Archbishop
Laud and the way the Church of England was becoming increasingly
High Church. He became the first minister of Salisbury, Massachusetts,
remaining in that post until his death in 1662.
Many families in the neighbourhood are of Huguenot descent and
one of the reasons that they settled there was because of its Puritan
sympathies. They migrated in three main waves between 1572 and
1685. Since they came from the Continental lacemaking centres of
Mechlin, Brussels, Lille, Arras, Chantilly and Alencon to a flax-growing
area, they reinforced and expanded the existing lacemaking skills of the
countryside. Huguenot names such as Minnard, Raban, Mole are still to
be found locally today. A 1637 letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
possibly from the Bishop of Lincoln, states that ‘this corner of the
diocese being most distant is much suspected of Puritanism’.
The Civil War and Restoration
Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, like the rest of
the eastern counties, were predominately Puritan in outlook and therefore
mainly supported Parliament. The road from Oxford to Cambridge
passed through Olney, and a skirmish took place at Olney Bridge on
4 November 1643. Colonel Harvey and his Parliamentary troops, who
were stationed at Olney, came upon Prince Rupert and his cavalry. The
result could be said to be a draw, with Colonel Harvey standing off and
Prince Rupert withdrawing towards Oxford, which was held by the
King.
The curate of Olney from 1616 to 1683 was one Ralph Josselin and
he was ‘a staunch Parliamentarian and worshipper of Cromwell’. John
Bunyan, who was born at Elstow just outside Bedford, was stationed with
the Newport Pagnell garrison during the Civil War, five miles south of
Olney. Following the Restoration, conflict grew between the Dissenters
and the government, which compelled preachers to be licensed. Bunyan
refused to give an undertaking to the magistrates that he would not
preach without a licence. He was committed to Bedford Gaol until he
was prepared to give such an undertaking but remained there for 18
years, during which time he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress.
The 1672 Declaration of Indulgence granted 27 licences to preach and
hold meetings in the area, but such toleration did not last. John Kent’s
barn was raided in 1684 and 40 people were arraigned and fined. Henry
Elliot, Vicar of Olney from 1700 to 1720, declared that 40 per cent of the
parish were Dissenters, that is Congregationalists, Baptists or Quakers.
George Whitefield came to Olney in 1739 and preached in a field to
two thousand people. John Wesley followed him some years later. When
John Newton arrived in 1764 the figure for non-Anglicans had dropped
to 25 per cent. His fellow preachers in the town were John Drake, the
Independent Minister, and the Baptist ministers William Walker and
from 1775 John Sutcliffe.
John Newton’s arrival in Olney
The observation that ‘In the eighteenth century the parish was ruled by
Squire and Parson’ does not apply to Olney. There was a lack of control
by the diocese, Lincoln being too far away. The local resident aristocracy,
the Throckmortons and Digbys, were Catholic and had little influence in
this hotbed of Nonconformity. The principal landowner and Lord of the
Manor of Olney was the Earl of Dartmouth. He had attended Westminster
School with William Cowper. Lord Dartmouth was a politician and spent
most of his time in London. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies
before the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin judged him ‘A truly
good man and wishes sincerely a good understanding with the colonies
but does not seem to have strength equal to his wishes’. Dartmouth was,
through a meeting with Lady Huntingdon, of evangelical persuasion and
had been greatly impressed by Newton’s Authentic Narrative. It was
thanks to his patronage that Newton was finally ordained by the Bishop
of Lincoln. Dartmouth then offered the curacy of Olney to Newton, who
began his ministry at Olney in 1764 aged 39.
Within a year a gallery had to be built in the parish church for the
growing congregation of about two thousand. Newton believed in short
sermons: ‘It is better to feed our people like chickens, a little & often,
than cram them like turkeys.’ Many people travelled from a considerable
distance to hear Newton preach. John Thornton, a rich Nottingham
merchant, became Newton’s patron and gave him £200 a year to cover
entertainment and distribution to the deserving poor. Newton kept open
house on Sunday for anyone who had travelled a distance greater than
six miles; sometimes there were 70 people for dinner. What Mrs Newton
thought of this is not recorded!
The background to Newton’s ministry
Olney had since the Middle Ages been a market town full of poor but
independent artisans and tradespeople. In the eighteenth century 337
men represented 50 occupations in the town. There was only one other
house in the town apart from Newton’s and Cowper’s not linked with
trade. In the eighteenth century the population was about two thousand.
According to Newton, ‘The people here are mostly poor – the country
low and dirty.’ Cowper remarked that ‘Olney is a populous place
inhabited chiefly by the half starved and the ragged of the earth’ and
that there were ‘near 1200 lace makers in this beggarly town’. Newton
was full of plans to help ‘the poor ignorant lace makers’. It was mostly
women who were employed in the lace trade, which gave them a degree
of economic independence. Because the women worked at the lace for
12 hours a day gangs of children roamed around the countryside getting
into all kinds of mischief. Fifteen years before Robert Raikes instituted
Sunday Schools, Newton had begun weekly meetings for children in
The Great House. Upwards of 200 children came at first but the number
settled down to around 70. A Bible and five shillings were given to the
best boy and the best girl annually at Easter.
Another meeting was held mainly for lacemakers on Sundays
at 6 o’clock in the morning. This group often held meetings in each
other’s homes. Sometimes they were without Newton, other times he
would drop in to pray with them. Between 1765 and 1767 Newton
held Ecumenical Meetings in the Great House for up to 130 people.
Visiting Nonconformist Ministers would give sermons and lead prayers.
Foremost among them were the Rev. William Bull, Independent Minister
of Newport Pagnell, and Sam Brewer, an Independent Minister from
London. Brewer preached for Newton at the Parish Church on Tuesday,
on Wednesday for Drake and on Thursday for Walker at the Baptist
Chapel. The four ministers dined at the Vicarage on Thursday evening
before Brewer returned to London.
These monthly meetings of six or seven clergymen eventually evolved
into the Bedfordshire Union of Christians, a forerunner of evangelical
ecumenism. The Anglican clergy would exchange Church services.
Newton, however, had his critics, for although Newton was an Anglican,
the other Church of England clergy were, at first, at odds with him. He
was regarded as a Methodist, his ‘enthusiasm’ was preached against. It
would be 150 years before his ecumenical attitude became acceptable
in the Church of England as a whole. Nevertheless his influence in an
area between Northampton and Bedford was considerable, Dissenters
being the most sympathetic to him. Most of his teaching was, therefore,
‘parlour preaching’. However, despite himself, Newton could not resist
gloating when a long standing Baptist joined the Church of England: she
‘chose to walk with us entirely’.
When Newton first arrived in Olney and moved into the Vicarage,
newly refurbished by Lord Dartmouth, he had painted onto the bare
plaster of his study the following words:
Since thou wast precious in my sight thou has been honourable
Isa. 43 v 4
But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondsman in the land of Egypt
And the Lord thy God redeemed thee Deut. 15 v 15
Both quotations were a personal reminder of his previous life as an
unbeliever and his involvement in the ‘triangular trade’, that is, the slave
trade.
Friendship and ministry of John Newton and William Cowper
Newton’s correspondence greatly increased after the publication of his
autobiography, the Authentic Narrative. He started to go on preaching
tours and continued to do so for the remainder of his life. He was usually
accompanied by his wife Mary, or ‘Polly’, as he called her.
In 1767 some mutual friends suggested that Newton call upon the
Rev. Morley Unwin whose lodger was a cousin of Martin Madan,
an evangelical who had co-written ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’.
This lodger was none other than William Cowper. Newton arrived in
Huntingdon a few days after Rev. Unwin died as a result of a riding
accident. It was at Newton’s suggestion that his widow, her daughter
Susanna, her household and William Cowper moved to Olney to be
under Newton’s pastorship. This they did in 1768.
Cowper was impressed with the spirit of co-operation between those
of different denominations in Olney. In a letter to his aunt, Judith Madan,
dated 18 June 1768, he wrote of his visit to the Northamptonshire Baptist
Association, which William Walker helped to host. Newton had been
invited to preach to the Baptists on the evening of 16 June. Cowper
wrote in 1769, ‘The Dissenters here, most of them at least who are
serious forget that our Meeting House has a steeple to it and we that
theirs has none.’
The Newtons, Cowper and Mrs Unwin became great friends, meeting
every day. They were of equal social standing in a town composed of
artisans and the lower classes. Both ladies were deeply religious and
the four had a keen sense of humour, although Cowper’s wit was dry
and ironical. Polly Newton and Cowper shared a common interest in
gardening. Cowper helped Newton distribute Thornton’s largesse to the
poor of Olney. Cowper had a great interest in the evangelical movement
prior to meeting Newton, and started parlour meetings on Monday
evenings at Orchard Side. Their great collaborative work, however, was
the Olney Hymns. Published in 1779, this volume consisted of some 300
hymns, 80 being written by Cowper, and the remainder by Newton.
Cowper’s mental health was poor. He suffered what is known today as
bi-polar disorder, but his condition at the time was diagnosed as ‘religious
melancholia’. He was, like so many creative people, a manic-depressive.
He had his first major attack at 22 but was 32 when he made the first suicide
attempt he admitted to. He was placed in Dr Nathaniel Cotton’s care in St
Albans. Thanks to Dr Cotton’s humane treatment and the support of his
brother John and his Methodist cousin Martin Madan he recovered. It was
here that Cowper wrote his first hymns. He dated his religious conversion
to this period with Dr Cotton, when in 1764, he opened his Bible by chance
at Romans 3:25, which speaks of Christ,
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God.
His third major attack occurred when he was 42. It was triggered by
the Easter Cattle Fair in Olney. Cowper couldn’t face the noise and
bustle associated with the fair so he removed himself to the Vicarage
as Newton’s guest. Six months later he was still there when Newton
and his wife were absent on a preaching tour. During this time Cowper
again attempted suicide. Newton returned and used the electro-static
machine in an attempt to alleviate Cowper’s condition. The results were
inconclusive: ‘Prevailed on him to let me make experiment of it today.
But could not observe any sensible effect.’
Cowper’s depression was not helped by gossips who put pressure on
him to marry Mrs Unwin. Her daughter had left Olney – she had married
the Rev. Matthew Powley – and therefore the couple had been living
unchaperoned at Orchard Side. Tongues wagged furiously in the town.
Cowper remained at the Vicarage from 12 April 1773 to 28 May 1774.
Polly Newton is the unsung heroine in all of this, equally with Mary
Unwin who remained to nurse him day and night although he was under
the delusion that she had poisoned his food. It is said that when Cowper
recovered he wrote his great hymn ‘God moves in a mysterious way /
His wonders to perform’.
The end of John Newton’s ministry in Olney
In 1775 John Sutcliff became Baptist Minister at Olney. John Newton
actually went to hear his inaugural address in the Baptist Chapel, much
to his wife’s distress. Polly had a lively mind and a deep faith and she
had no qualms about hearing John Wesley preach but she drew the line
at Baptists. By 1779 Newton was leader of the evangelical clergy. Apart
from Cowper his great friend was the Independent Minister of Newport
Pagnell, the Rev. William Bull. John Thornton gave financial support to
Bull and the Newport Pagnell Academy. This was a Dissenting Academy
for the professional education of Dissenting ministers. When Newton
left Olney in the winter of 1779/1780 Bull became the spiritual support
of Cowper.
The American Revolutionary War had some impact in Olney. As
a result of war taxation the mob attacked a flour cart. Newton was
sympathetic but lectured his congregation from the pulpit against taking
direct action. He also sympathised with the colonists but thought they
should not have taken up arms. He had some connections with America,
although rather tenuous. His father had been Governor of Fort York,
Hudson’s Bay and his stepbrother, Harry, was in the Royal Navy
stationed at Boston. Lord Dartmouth had interests in Georgia, and in
1765 proposed that ‘Mr Whitefield’s orphan-house is to be converted
into a seminary, college or university; and Mr. N. is to be desired to be
the president thereof, with the annexed living of Savannah, the chief
town.’ Newton declined the offer because of his affection for Olney and
his wife’s hatred of travelling by water.
For many people the war was a civil war. Newton wrote to Thornton:
‘Our disunion from America is an event of such importance that it seems
to me like a dream and I can hardly persuade myself it is true.’
By 1779 Newton’s congregation was falling off and his influence in
the town was waning. He had fostered a popular religious culture to
the detriment of ecclesiastical and parochial order. This had bolstered
the local tradition of Calvinist nonconformity in an independent artisan
population. They no longer needed him.
There had always been a lawless element in Olney. In 1773 he had
preached a series of sermons against the sins of the town – whoredom,
adultery, profanity and drunkenness. With over one hundred alehouses
in the town that was not a difficult condition to be in! Poverty and
alcoholism were widespread, nor were suicide and attempted suicide
uncommon. The crunch came when Newton had preached against the
bonfires and excesses of Guy Fawkes Night, partly because of the danger
from fires in the town. A mob of about fifty went around smashing
windows. Newton lost his nerve and sent the mob leader a shilling to
avoid his house, an act of which he was afterwards ashamed.
Bull commented, ‘Mr. Newton trod a path, which no man but himself
could have used so long as he did, and he wore it out long before he
went from Olney. Too much familiarity and condescension cost him
the estimation of his people. He thought he should ensure their love,
to which he had the best possible title, and by those very means he lost
it.’ Ultimately John Thornton offered him the Rectorship of St Mary
Woolnoth Church in the City of London. Newton accepted and preached
his last sermon in Olney Parish Church in January 1780.
This was not the end of the Evangelical tradition in Olney in the
eighteenth century. The Rev. Thomas Scott (1746-1821) was the curate at
Olney from 1781 to 1784. When he had been curate of Stoke Goldington
and Weston Underwood he had encouraged and lent books to a young
William Carey. Later famous for his Commentary, Scott while Vicar
of Buckden had tutored students preparing to work for the Church
Missionary Society.
William Carey (1761-1834) became a Baptist when he was eighteen
and straightway started to preach. From 1785 Carey became involved
with the Baptist Church at Olney. He was one of the students trained
by Sutcliffe at his home, 20 The High Street, Olney. Both men were
involved in the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society. Carey
later took his preaching further afield. In 1793 he went to India, studied
Bengali and translated the Gospels. He remained for the rest of his life in
India. The Evangelical tradition continued to flourish in the nineteenth
century, but that is another story.
Bibliography
Haykin, Michael A.G., One Heart and One Soul, Evangelical Press, 1984.
Hindmarsh, Bruce, John Newton and the Evangelical Tradition, Clarendon Press,
Oxford 1996.
King, James and Ryskamp, Charles (eds.), The Letters and Prose Writings of
William Cowper, 5 vols, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979-86.
Rouse, Marylynn (ed.), Richard Cecil’s Life of John Newton, Christian Focus,
2000.
Various documents, papers, information in the Cowper and Newton Museum
Library including ‘Extracts from the manuscript diaries of the Rev. Joshua
Symonds, Pastor of Bunyan Meeting’, Bedford, 1766-1788.
