The Founding Of Stowmarket Baptist Church
The
beginnings of the Baptist faith in the Stowmarket area can be found
in Wetherden where John Gooch,
A farmer registered the house of Abraham
Dew,
labourer on 22 June 1790 for worship, then on 10 February 1791 he
registered "the chamber over the dairy adjoining and belonging
to his Dwelling in Wetherden" he also registered places of
worship in Debenham, Old Newton and elsewhere.
The
founding of the Baptist church in Stowmarket was a result of the
work of Charles
Farmery.
Farmery was born about 1764, had joined the Baptist Church at
Worstead in Norfolk in 1785 and from there had gone on to preach
throughout Norfolk and Suffolk including at Wetherden. Travelling
through Diss once he noted the absence of a Baptist church so in 1790
he started services there. From Diss he founded the congregations of
Stowmarket in 1797 and Horham in 1799 and baptised 287 people.
Among
Charles Farmery`s most enthusiastic followers was William
Rust.
Rust, who had been a Deacon at Needham Market Independent Church had
quarrelled with his family and moved to Stowmarket in 1790 where he
started in business and married. In 1791 he began to travel to Diss
to hear Farmery, finally being baptised and becoming a member in
1794. In December 1795 Farmery and 9 members who had been baptised at
Diss founded a branch of the Diss church in Stowmarket, They were:
David
Bull, John
Gooch
and Mary
Chapman (later Jackaman)
from Wetherden. Robert
Tydeman, Robert
Chapman
and Edmund
Gaymer
from Stonham. William
Took, Robert
Cunnold,
and Willam
Rust
from Stowmarket. Rust soon taking over as minister.
On
Rust’s property in the town stood a large warehouse built for
government stores and unused for a long time, he agreed to sell the
building for use of the congregation for £100 and a Robert
Elliott,
an architect living in Stowmarket undertook the conversion.
At
the opening of the building William
Rust
preached twice to the crowd. At this time he must have been already
ill and preaching these sermons may have exhausted him for he died
the following Saturday on 6 Feb 1797. As he died in testate leaving a
wife and two daughters the meeting house was claimed by the trustees
of the estate. In July 1797 the Stowmarket Branch became a church in it's
own right with 66 members.
Baptisms
at first took place at a pond on the farm of Isaac
Stebbings
near Battisford Tye until a baptistery was built at the church in
1799. William
Rust
was followed as minister by Jabez
Browne,
previously pastor at Great Yarmouth being ordained on 4th July 1797.
A
new building on land given by Robert
Elliott
was constructed and opened on 14th January 1814. Jabez
Browne
was well loved by his congregation and stayed at Stowmarket until his
death in 1819. Towards the end of his life Mr. Browne was assisted in
the ministry by John
Philips
who came from Shropshire. On his death Jabez
Browne
proved to be a hard act to follow, John
Philips
was not retained and after a series of ministers there was a period
of division within the church only ending at the end of the century.
The
Register book of
the church, deposited at Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich is a book of
printed forms of the type provided for nonconformist congregations.
The dates given are dates of birth between 1793 and 1837. Of the 458
entries 135 give the birthplace as Stowmarket.
SOURCES
"The
Story of the Suffolk Baptists".
by Ashley J. Klaiber
"Reminiscences
of the First Four Baptist Churches in Suffolk".
by Octoginta (C. T. Rust, a nephew of William Rust)
"History
of the Baptist Church in Stowmarket."
by J. Duncan (Typescript at
Record Office, Bury St. Edmunds)
"Two
Hundred Years Of Baptist Ministry In Stowmarket"
by Dr. David Allen.
STOWMARKET
HISTORY AND HERITAGE
2007
email neil@stowman.plus.com