RECORDS OF THE GENERA& EAPTIST MEETING HOUSE (now ~nitaxian) HORSHAM, SUSSEX VOLUME I MONUITENTAL INSCRIPTIONS 'Prmscribed, compiled & published privately by Leonard J Maguire from The Unitarian & Free Christian Church Worthing Road Horsham West Sussex RH1 2 1SL March 1981 iii Bfx%hs hg%s%er.- begun 1724 . - .I - . ii -.. h. .' . ... ..*.C, '. 4. '-0. IN'rRODUCTION TWs volume seeks to present a composite register of Births, Deaths and Monumental Inscriptions of past generations associated with the Horsham Baptist Meeting House as disclosed . by their records which have come down to us, It is hoped it will prove of some help to students of this and future generations who may be studying the history of the religious novement which gave rise to the meeting house and to those who CONTENTS may be studying the genealogy of their families, some of whose names may appear in these records, To those who may use this book a word of caution is necessary, Though the records have been transcribed with reasom3le care, some errors are likely to remain, Thus the serious student would be wise to consult the originals, albeit using this E'rontispiece ii register and its index as a guide, v to xii Introduction More can be learnt of a number of peopla whose names appear in Births Register 1 to 22 this book by consultation of other sources, p=ticularly Wills and Marriwe Licences etc to be found in various Record Offices. Deaths Register 23 to 44 The compiler has been much indebted to the researches of others it1 that area, But no attempt has been made to incorporate any Monumental Inscriptions 45 to 76 such additional information here other than in the index where the year of birth or death might not have been othewise known. Plans of the Wial This has been done only as an aid to identify people, particalmly Grounds those with identical names. Cross References BIRTHS REGISTrn Index Acknowledgements The original register covers the period 1724 to 1837 but with some earlier retrospective entries, It is now to be found amongst the Non-Parochial Registers in the hblic Record Office under reference RG4 2729, The origin of the register is explained on the first page of the folio volume and is reproduced as the frontispiece of the present work, It reads: Agreed at a Chmch Meeting of Baptists held at Horsham in Sussex July It1724 That forasmuch as the Ministers of the Church of England refuse to Register our Children, it was thought convenient & necessasy for us to do it amongst our Selves; and accordingly it was concluded that John Tasker have the Chazge of the same; and that he receive, znd enter Regularly into this Book all such Births as &all be requested, and desired, of any Mends middle of book reads !W account of the . '? in the the belonging to our Society .And that public Notice be given pepell that are beared febury the 3 'there mah Messllr hereof, that so, any Persons who have not for Time past. , was buried 1722 may henceforward have the Oppertunity to have Registered *. as well those which have been Born some Time past (upon I I The last entry in the book is in 1769 by which time Stephen certain Ebidence) as those wch shall hereafter be Born. I was perhaps becoming a little old for grave digging. The And fiirther we think it necessary; that the Person Deputed book is also in the Public Record Cffice under reference G4 to Register and keep the Book have Reasonable 2062 as is also a description of it given in Wly lhcouragement for the Orderly doing the same. Kensett's History. ., 1, L- I htthew Caffyn 'A ~lecondregister was begun in 1771 and kept in the same i - John Jeffery . Ministers folio volume as the births. It carried on till 1837 when 1 =A . llhomas Southon Senr Thos Sturt it was sent off to the General Registration Office under Jno Geere Henry Southon the provisions of the Act 3 & 4 Vict cap 92 which set up . John Dendy Jacob Caffyn the General Registration of Births, Mazriages and haths. Rich: Holland John Bheridg Rich Dendy ' Jno Snatt No subsequent register of deaths or burials kept by -the Daniel Rowland Thomas Souten . meeting house has been traced by the compiler. Wm Agate Rich Dendy Sen Gfillm Linfield Wm. Constable Ciles Browne John Broomham M0NUMEXTA.L INSCRIPTIONS In making the transcription all the significant information Under this heading are given the inscriptions on all the has been included but the format has been simplified and tombstones where known or the names of the wave occupa~~ts serial nwnbers added for ease of reference. where no stone appears to have been erected. PJsc included a are the graves mentioned in one or other of the original In her Eiistory of the fiee Christian Chmh Horsham of 1921 sources but the precise location of wh9ch can not now be Wly Kensett gives a delightful description of the register established.\ to which the interested reader is recommended to refer. At sonie time round about 1900, hold Ridley BaBA mule careful ~otesof the inscriptions of most of the then existing tombstones in the burial grounds. %fiese cotes were entered into a bound volume which was eventually The original registration of deaths or burials had s less deposited in the Library of the Sussex Archaeological formal beginning than diiL %he,-births. The meeting house Society of which he was a member from 1891 till his death was erected in 1721 upon gramcl acquired in 1719. Stephen at the age of 74 in 1918. Ridley Bax was a R=Lster of Rowland (1710-1789) appears to have been responsible fop Middle Temple but evidently devote6 mch of his time to grave dicging for some considerable time and to have received antiqumian permits, particulmly the recording of payment for the same. He kept a record in a curiaus book tombstone inscriptions. Whether he wzs related in any way in which he entered details of payments received and other to the family of Eax whose name appears in this register odd items of information. The earliest entry is to be found is not recorded. in the middle of the book suggesting that the book itself was a rebinding including some older sheets. The first The work of Ridley Bax has been invaluable. It is the main page of the book bears the inscription 'Step. Rowland - source of the detailed inscriptions here given ar,d which December 12 1748 - his book' whilst the earliest entry are taken verbatim from his notes. vii The second source has been the Index to the Plan of the Burial Ground prepared by Gordon N Slyfield in 1955. A copy of this was deposited in the Sussex Archaeological Sooiaty' Library from which the necessary information was taken.h PLANS OF THE BURIAL GROUNDS Cordon Slyfield was a man of many interests. He was a The Slyfield Plan covers the whole of the burial @;rounds surveyor, ornithologist, meterologist and archaeologist. and identifies each grave known to exist in 1955. The He lived and worked in Horsham and at the time of his death plan has clearly been prepared with considerable care. It in 1965 at the age of 52 he was best known for his articles is drawn on a single sheet but for ease of printing it has on local weather in the West Sussex County Times. He was been copied and reproduced in sections by the compiler. descended from the ancient family of Slyfield Manor, Great Bookham but whether any of his other ancestors were buried The second plan, the 1908 Plan, so called for the sake of - in the grounds of the meeting house is not clear. brevity, covers only the south burial ground, It appears to have been quite old when Ireland revised it in I lkank The Slyfield Index with its own numbering system came to 1908. It bears the imprint of many hands and may well go light late in the researches of the compiler and after he back almost to 1816 when that piece of ground was acquired had committed himself to a numbering system based upon the under-% 1000 year lease at a peppercorn rent. The plan Ridley Bax records. But for this the much clearer system -- now hangs inside the meeting house. of Slyfield would have been adopted. Cross-reference tables have thus had to be resorted to. I THE GENFXAL BAPTISTS The post 1955 Monumental Inscriptions have been kindly provided by Thomas Holt, one of the present Wustees. For those unfamiliar with the history of the Baptist movement or for those who may now wonder why some of their A considerable number of tombstones at the frmt of the ancestors should have adhered to such a movement to the meeting house were removed some years ago. More recently peril of themselves and their families, this brief outline virtually the whole of the stones in the south burial of the story of the movement is offered. padwere removed and either used as paving stones or piled behind the meeting house. Once Christianity was adopted as the official religion of Rome the politics of church and state became inseparable. Katters of dispute within the church were determined * Ihe ant1,quaria.n will naturally regret the removal of the stones. The custom of burial around ones church or chapel largely by the civil power to suit the pressures of the is fast vanishing. F\rture generations will treasure such times. Theological speculation combined with political expediency .led to the enforcement of complex creeds churchyards as do survive intact.