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In Warwickshire Record Office is to be found the first of the Minute Books of Studley Particular Baptist Church. The title page announces " The Church Book, Belonging to the Particular Baptist Church, Studley, 1848". It contains the Rules and Regulations adopted by the Church, formed on January 2nd of that year, and which originally was known as the Cookhill and Studley Baptist Church.
The opening lines proclaimed its belief in one God the Father of all, and in Jesus Christ His Son and our Saviour, and in the Holy Ghost the comforter and guide of the church, three persons in one God, etc.,after which followed its Rules
Of great interest to us today, is a list of names of its Trustees, for some of them are still represented in Studley in our own time:
| Thomas Boulton,of Studley, Donor, deceased; | Thomas Elworthy Lane, ofStudley; |
| JohnBlore, of Cookhill; | John Freeman, of Salford, deceased; |
| John Hughes, of Alcester Park, TheHeath; | Rowland Hill, of Ipsley; |
| John Edkins, of Studley; | Alfred Hill, of Studley, who died on 2nd July, 1876; |
| John Daniel, of Inkberrow; | Joseph Butler Smith, of Feckenham, deceased; |
| James Bomford, of Ipsley, Alcester and Henley; | James Smith, of Feckenham, Doebank, Astwood Bank; |
| Felix Hubbard, of Studley, and Walsall in Staffs; | John Crow, of Alcester. |
Founded by John Smythe, an English refugee from Amsterdam, the Baptist sect advocated that only adult believers should be baptised, and the first Baptist Church to be founded in England was in London's Newgate Street in 1612.The General Baptists believed that the salvation of his soul was the responsibility of the individual, but the Particular, or strict Baptists, who were formed in 1633, followed Calvin and believed in predestination and redemption only for particular believers. Until the 'Toleration Act' of 1689, all non-conformist sects were persecuted for holding such beliefs. Closer co-operation between the various sects was promoted by the Act of Union of 1813, and in 1891 the Particular Baptists and the New Connection merged to form the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland.
Examples of the 'strictness' of Studley's church are to be found in the Minute Book: a list of members contains the revealing details of the conduct of some of those expelled, and' a few will serve to illustrate that some were of a quite surprising nature. Indeed, they must have been thought really shocking at the time. We are, perhaps, more tolerant today, although it must have needed real courage to "apostatise from God"- abandon one's religion - and "turn Roman Catholic", as Ann Jane Soper did in June, 1849: and this some four years before Studley's St. Mary's was built to a design by Hansom, of 'taxi-cab' fame.
In June, 1852, Ann and Immanuel Hans Sheriff were excluded for inconsistent conduct in the word and in the churche March, 1847, saw Thomas Elworthy Lane excluded for drunkenness; Sarah Cotterill withdrew and went over to the parish church in 1848; and Elizabeth Cook went the same way in 1850, "loving filthy lucre"! Excluded for "schism in the church" were Sarah and John Edkins, in 1848. Eleanor and John Shrimpton were excluded in the same year, and for the same reason. They had been Admitted by letter from the church at Long Crendon.
These examples are more than balanced by entries of a more encouraging naturee Alfred Sheriff, in contrast to his kinsmen, departed this life in 1845, "happy in God"e In 1873, Eliza Cook, who had been Admitted in 1846, by letter from the church in Henley-in-Arden, died, looking unto Jesus". She was the last to become a member during "the labours of the Rev. John Blore's.Others "died in the Lord", "died in penitence and faith", "fell asleep in Jesus", and so on.
The labours of the Rev. J E Sargent ended in 1848, the year in which Harriett Maizey was received by baptism. She was the wife of the Rev. William Maizey and is interred with her husband in the burial ground behind the church. Her epitaph reads "All was well"
The entries bring to life the people of the time: not so far away as to be remote from our time, but tantalisingly, just out of reach. If we can spare the time, there is much that can be gleaned from that Minute Book.
© A.Daniels 1992