1775b

On Tuesday June 13 Nathanael Rawlings (1733-1809) preached in Bourton from Luke 15:2. John Reynolds (1730-1792) had arrived from London. Beddome was, may be, not around then but he certainly was at the end of the week when he again received his old tutor from Bristol, Hugh Evans (1712-1781), who preached on the Sunday. Snooke stood in as clerk (or precentor) once again. Beddome and Evans joined the Snookes for pease and bacon and filet of veal followed by gooseberry pie. On the Monday, the Beddomes took tea (presumably in the afternoon) with the Reynolds. The next day Evans went to Coate (c 30 miles) with Thomas Dunscombe (1748-1811), the minister there. He had come to Beddome's on the Monday night. On the Thursday, Beddome headed off somewhere too. It is not clear from Snooke exactly where he went but we know from the diary of John Newton (1725-1807)  that Beddome preached in Olney on Tuesday, June 27. (He would be in Olney again a year later for Sutcliff's ordination). He may well have gone to Chipping Norton too as, at their request, he had recommended Thomas Purdy (d 1802?) to them and it was on August 1 that they formed as a church being made up of 15 baptised at Hook Norton and three others. H Wheeler Robinson and E A Payne (British Baptists, 67) say that it was Beddome who drew up their covenant for them. Reynolds preached for Beddome on Sunday 5 and Dunscombe on July 2. It rained hard all that day but Dunscombe rode both ways, having hospitality from the Snookes (salmon and veal). Beddome was back for tea with Snooke the next day. (Presumably Beddome had been preaching in Coate as well as elsewhere). The Beddomes had tea with Mrs Palmer, Monday July 10. On the 16th “Jasper Bailey's maid” had gone home from the meeting and died of “a putrid fever” ie typhus. (Bailey himself is probably the clerk who himself died July 4, 1782). We know that Beddome's gout was in respite at this point.

Tuesday, August 1 was the double lecture at Bourton and the day before Daniel Turner (1710-1798) of Abingdon arrived with his wife (probably Anne Fanch his first wife but could be Mrs Lucas his second) in the post-chaise and two hours later Benjamin Francis (1734-1799) from Horsley on horseback. Both stayed at the Snookes. All the ministers (including Biggs, T Dunscombe, Turner, Francis and Beddome) dined with Snooke on the day. Beddome was at Snooke's for tea the day after as was Mrs B and Betsy and Snooke himself on August 16 at Mrs Boswell's. On August 27 Beddome again preached in Coate and Mr Dawson (Dore?) deputised for him. Both travelled to their destinations the night before.

On September 5 there was terrible thunder and on September 8, about 10.30, another earthquake. This is the one of which Richard Hall apparently wrote in his diary “after 10 o’clock at Night when at Bourton a Shock of Earthquake was felt. Mr Beddome felt the bed rise up three times. Felt at Oxford, Bath, Salisbury etc.” (John Newton wrote a hymn in response to this, beginning “Although on massy pillars built”).

On September 12 the Halls, who had been staying for just over three weeks with the Snookes, returned to London and Snooke and Beddome headed again for Bengeworth, arriving between 1 and 2 in the afternoon. Snooke says that Beddome preached the next day (1 Corinthians 15:1) and that John Ash (1724-1779) of Pershore, Thomas Skinner (1753-1795) of Towcester and Mr [John] Haydon (1714-1782) then of Tewkesbury were present. That evening, around 3 or 4 pm, they all left, Snooke and Beddome reaching Bourton around 8 pm. Ash and (Lawrence) Butterworth (1740-1828) went on to Chipping Norton, where Thomas Purdy (not to be confused with Thomas Purdy of Rye, Kent) was to be ordained the next day. [See above on the church. Purdy was there about two years before ordination]. Beddome went on Thursday, September 14 to the ordination and did not return until the following Monday, September 18. The preacher in Bourton on September 17 was 22 year old William Wilkins (1753-1812) from Cirencester, later to be very much part of the Beddome story. On September 27, Beddome preached at the double lecture in Abingdon with Biggar (ie James Biggs of Wantage fl 1740-1830). On September 29 Beddome joined with Snooke to celebrate the latter's forty-fifth birthday. They and others ate salmon, calf's head, partridges and boiled plum pudding. On September 30 Beddome was at his father-in-law's with Snooke and others.

On the first day of October Beddome preached in the morning and John Reynolds again in the afternoon. Mrs (Anne?) Beale (d Aug 11, 1811; wife of  James, gentleman, d Feb 5, 1813) gave birth to a son that day. The Beddomes were at Mrs Palmer's on October 5. That day John Twinning's child died and was buried the next Sunday evening when Beddome again preached on 1 Corinthians 15:11 at both services, going to Stow in the afternoon. Snooke organised a harvest home supper on October 9 with over 80 present. On October 11 "Mr Dear of Cirencester" preached in Bourton (ie William Dore, d 1791, older brother of London minister James Dore).

Beddome had been in London that week and returned on October 14. He dined with the Snookes between meetings the next day, a Sunday. At this time there seems to have been a fever in Bourton and whooping cough and several died, including, on October 17, Joseph Beddome, probably the boy born in 1768. He is said to have died from “a Fever, Hooping Cough and cutting teeth”. He died around midnight and Beddome went the next day to Bristol, returning on the 19th. That day John Ryland (1723-1792) arrived home to Bourton. He preached on the Sunday taking texts that must have been a help to the Beddomes from Daniel 10:19 and 2 Samuel 30:6. Before he left Bourton, Ryland buried Nancy Clifford, probably a child. Snooke and a Mr Freeman accompanied Ryland as far as Stow, when he left the next day. On October 25 the deaths continued with the demise of Honor Charliot of a fever. Beddome spoke on Job 33:14. On October 27, it was Mrs Beale's lying in visit (the baby was born on October 1, a lying in could last up to two months) and the Beddomes and Snookes were there. On the Sunday, John Charliot was out after a long illness. Snooke gave him a gift of half a guinea.

On November 1 the Wednesday night meetings recommenced and Beddome spoke on Genesis 32:24. On the Sunday it was wet so Beddome did not go to Stow. Another child died of fever. It was very rainy the next Sunday too. The Beddomes and others managed to get to the Snookes for tea the next day, the first time in nine weeks. The fever and whooping cough problem continued and on the Sunday Beddome buried the eldest Herbert son, neither parent being present. He spoke from James 4:14 also referring to 1 Pet 4:3 and Rom 13:14.

On Monday November 20 Beddome took an axe intending to chop a block of wood. Sadly, he succeeded only in bruising himself by falling on it. This meant he was not able to be there on the Wednesday and so Snooke read a sermon on Proverbs 13:20. The sermon is said to be by "Dr George" but "Dr Doddridge" is probably intended. Charliot and William Palmer prayed. Beddome was well again by the Sunday and preached but there was no communion. Snooke notes the wedding on November 21 of Miss (Eliza) Lambert and William Hall of Arlington (Bibury). Snooke used "Mr Whitmore's chaise" to attend.

On Sunday December 3 Beddome preached in Bourton and Stow. There were further deaths from fever (Mary Palmer) and whooping cough (daughter of one William Hows). Both were buried on December 6. Yet more deaths followed. On December 5 Snooke noted the marriage of Nanny (Anne) daughter of William Palmer to a butcher from Stow (William Calydon). In Evesham (Bengeworth), 11 miles from Bourton, on December 13, Snooke heard a double lecture from James Butterworth (1755-1794) of Bromsgrove and a Mr Stainer, a drum-major in the Northamptonshire militia. There was “a very crowded Audience.

Back in Bourton, Snooke and the Beddomes drank tea with Boswell on December 16. The next day Beddome preached again from Acts 9:4, 5 but was not well enough to go to Stow or preach in the evening (William Palmer read a sermon instead). Snooke was also ill. Was it something they ate or a cold? Beddome spoke on the Wednesday (Genesis 32:28) but was a listener on the Sunday when Robert Redding (1755-1807), then a student at Bristol, spoke. Redding also spoke the following Sunday, the last day of the year, and preached on the Tuesday at Bourton and Stow. Thomas Dunscombe (1748-1811) of Coate spoke the next evening. Snooke tells us, amusingly, on the 31st, Redding “lost his watch yesterday – where he could not be certain”. And so a long and difficult year in Bourton came to a close.

NB In Beddome's Library is a volume called Christs gratious message from the throne of grace: to all the prisoners of hope or Confession of our faith, according to the order of the Gospel Confession of ovr faith, according to the order of the Gospel Further information: By Timothie Batt, physitian ie Batt, Timothy, 1613-1692. It was published in London in 1644. Bound in blind tooled sheep it is signed by Beddome with the inscription: Benja Beddome ... 1775

1775a

In 1775 we know that in America the American Revolution began. Meanwhile, on this side of the water in the sleepy Cotswolds, we learn from Snooke's diary of some of the things that happened in his life and that of his minister, Benjamin Beddome.

January 1, 1775, was a Sunday and Beddome preached (Mat 22:21; Ex 10:22b, 23). (In the parish church a Mr Simmonds was preaching Mic 8:8). The next day Beddome went with his daughter, though not his wife, to join his father-in-law, the Colletts and the Beales at Mr Snooke's for tea. The next Sunday there was communion. Beddome took the Matthew text again, morning and evening. Beddome was also at Snooke's on his birthday (January 23) when he turned 57. The children were given mince pies. His father-in-law's entertainment was the next day. In the Wednesday midweek meetings Beddome was taking various texts from Genesis throughout January and into February. Sundays in these first two months he was in Matthew, Job, 1 Timothy and Proverbs.

January seems not to have been bad weatherwise but storms came in February. On February 10, a Mr Matthews died, aged 55. Snooke attended the parish church, as he did from time to time, for the funeral service on February 15. That evening Beddome spoke on 2 Samuel 23:15 (as desired “by some unknown person"). He took tea with Snooke twice that month but was unable to come on the final Monday as he was unwell. He was able to complete his Sunday sermon midweek, however, then preached the following Sunday, on 1 John 1:9. The afternoon service began at 2.30 pm (which sounds earlier than usual). Snooke also says that Beddome “forgot the second singing”, which probably either means a second hymn or that he forgot to sing at all in the afternoon.

On March 14 and 21 Snooke visited Beddome for tea. At the midweek meeting on March 22 Thomas Hillier of Tewkesbury (d 1790) spoke on Job 17:15a. (Hillier was the nephew of Philip Jones of Upton. He had sat under Abraham Booth in London before becoming pastor at Tewkesbury. He also succeeded Jones at the seventh day Baptist cause in Natton) Beddome was well for most of March but then fell ill towards the end of it and was unable to attend the funeral of Mary Butler, widow of Joseph, or take the midweek meeting that night.

He continued to be unwell for a little while and the Sunday services on the first two Sundays in April were taken by a Mr Dawson, who may be Henry Dawson, later of Portsmouth or William Dore of Cirencester. By April 16 Beddome was well again and preached from Genesis and John. The next weekend, Hugh Evans (1712-1781) from Bristol was with Beddome and preached on a rainy Sunday morning. This may well have been because Evans was speaking at the special double lecture over in Fairford the previous Thursday. Beddome was with Snooke taking tea at Mr Coles' (One would be tempted to think that this was the father of Thomas [and Robert] but that William Coles died in Thomas's first year) on Thursday April 27. The final day of the month was a Sunday, when there was communion and sermons on John 6:36 and Hosea 7:11.

On Monday May 15 John Sutcliff (1752-1814), 23, preached on Exodus 14:15. Described as “assistant to Mr Turner of Birmingham” (ie James Turner 1724-1780 of Cannon Street) at this point he had just spent six months as an assistant in Shrewsbury following the completion of his studies at Bristol. The following August he would be ordained to the pastorate in Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he remained the rest of his life, a great supporter of William Carey (1761-1834), among other things. Sutcliff, Beddome and Snooke headed for Bengeworth the next day. They left at 6.30 am stopping at a Mrs Wood's for breakfast (perhaps Elizabeth Wood at Folly Farm, Notgrove, four miles to the west) and for something further at Mrs Pearce's (perhaps in Blockley or Chipping Campden a work Beddome was very interested in). Nearer their destination they parted – Snooke for business in Bengeworth, the preachers going to Pershore where they probably preached. The next day Beddome preached in Bengeworth. They appear to have returned that day, Beddome joining Snooke for tea the next day as did his wife and Samuel (19) and Betsy (10). On a rainy Friday, May 19, Snooke describes a young people's trip to Mrs Wood's, Betsy behind Samuel on the “old grey” and his Polly (21) behind Mr John Palmer on their black mare. On May 21 Beddome preached on John 3:14, 15 morning and evening (as on the previous Sabbath morning). Snooke comments on May 21, “Several Strangers at Meeting”.

As we come into June there are more teas for Beddome at the Snookes and the Beales and on June 6 fine rain with thunder “acceptable as the ground was almost parched up”. Nathanael Rawlings (1733-1809) arrived in Bourton on Saturday afternoon, June 10. He was to have preached the next day but instead took the prayers as he knew that a Mr Smith was down from London with his family and expressly wished to hear Beddome, which he did (on Psalm 139:23, 24). (Smith is such a common name it is impossible to know who this was. Contenders include James Smith, a deacon in Little Wild Streeet from 1773, Ebenezer or William Smith of Eagle Street, Holborn or perhaps one of the Smithers of Maze Pond). Rawlings, Smith and the Beddomes all had tea at the Snookes. The Beddomes and Snooke also had tea at Boswell's on the Monday (June 12).

1774

In 1774 we know that there was much unrest in the American colonies as it was the year before the American Revolution. Snooke notes the sudden dissolving of parliament at the end of September.

In Bourton the year began cold and on the first Sunday (January 2) Beddome decided not to venture out to Stow. Snow seems to have come on Friday, January 7. It melted a week later and caused “the greatest flood ever remembered at Bourton”. Snooke observed swans in and out of the Windrush. More snow came again on Tuesday, January 18. Beddome was at Snooke's for tea for the first time in eight weeks on Monday, 17th, coming more often after that. New year entertainments took place at various places including one at the new residence of Beddome's father-in-law Richard Boswell on Monday, January 24, the day after Beddome himself turned 56.

On Friday, February 18, Snooke and Beddome went riding on Bourton Hill. On February 23, Thomas Purdy (d 1802) from Chipping Norton was over. This seems to have been a surprise visit as Beddome intended to look at Psalm 143:10 but held it over to the following Sunday evening. It snowed all day on Friday, February 25. Snooke notes on Wednesday February 23 that the wife of (John) Haydon of Tewkesbury (1714-1782) had died (they had only married in November 1771; Jane Hague was Haydon's second wife.).

On Saturday March 5 Snooke noted from the London Chronicle that John Ash (1724-1779) of Pershore had been given a doctorate by Aberdeen University. (Beddome was granted an MA from Brown University in 1770). The weather was still bad at times and the midweek meeting was cancelled, March 10. On Thursday, March 31 Thomas Collett (1746-1774) from Hook Norton “died suddenly in the field as he was at work”. Under 40, he had been married only four years. The next day former Bourton member Nathanael Rawlings (1733-1809) came over from Broughton, where he was then ministering, and stayed at Snooke's. On the Sunday Beddome preached from Amos 6:3a in light of Collett's death and Rawlings preached (Song of Solomon 3:3) in the afternoon.

By 1774 the Friday Preparation meeting had been superseded by a midweek meeting, which ran January to March and in November, December. Beddome's last sermon in March was on Psalm 143:12a (he had preached verse 11 some time before). Perhaps the changed day of meeting coincided with the introduction of the double lectures, involving Bourton and five other nearby churches, which began the previous year and ran April-September, the location being Bourton in August. This is referred to in Snooke's diary. In July, Beddome appears to have gone the 20 miles or so to Bengeworth for the annual Association, held there for the second time only. The moderator seems to have been James Turner (1724-1780) of Birmingham. The preachers were James Butterworth (d 1794; at Bromsgrove from 1755), John Poynting (1719-1791) of Worcester and John Ash.

On Tuesday April 5 John Hinks/Hanks married Sarah Collett, sister to Anthony. (Sarah must have died after a short while as in 1779 Hanks married the widow of Thomas Collett, Mary). The next day Snooke set off for his annual London visit. In the evening he was in Miles' Lane (near Cannon Street, the church there was Independent, having its origins in 1662 and being of a good Calvinist sort. By this time it was pastored by William Ford, Jun 1736-1783, descended from the Puritans Thomas and Nathanael Vincent. He had trained for the ministry under Dr David Jennings (1691-1762) and came to the church in 1757. In 1781 he retired to Windsor and after a long illness died there). There Snooke heard Beddome preach from 1 Timothy 1:13. The following Sunday, Snooke heard Beddome at the church of a Mr [Samuel?] Watkins on Hebrews 11:28. Rippon preached in the afternoon. (Snooke wanted to hear Caleb Evans at Miles' Lane later but could not get in). On the Lord's Day, April 24, Snooke heard Abraham Booth (1734-1806), a Mr Stewart and Beddome on Isaiah 9:6. (On Lord's Day, May 1 Snooke heard Rippon, [Benjamin] Wallin and (Martin?) Madan [1726-1790]).

On Wednesday, May 4 Snooke returned home and on the Sunday was listening to Beddome back in Bourton. Snooke remarks that Beddome was so lame at this time that he had to sit to preach. The problem was gout. It was so bad that the following Saturday, Snooke took his chaise to Cirencester and collected Mr Field and his wife from Bristol. They stayed with the Snookes, Field preaching for the next three Sundays in Bourton. By the third of these (May 29) Beddome was well enough to travel to Burford and on to Bampton (ie Coate) where no doubt he preached. On Tuesday, May 17 the Independent minister from Warwick, Mr Bowley, preached in Bourton (5.15 pm) on Isaiah 41:10.

On Whit Monday, 23 May, Snooke paid a shilling to the 'Whitsun Fools' from 'Wick' probably a reference to a set of Morris dancers

Beddome returned home June 2 and preached June 5 at Bourton and Stow (where he had not been for two months). On June 12 he preached again and celebrated the Lord's Supper for the first time since March 20. On June 26 he did a pulpit swap with Thomas Davis (c1730-1784) of Fairford, about 15 or 20 miles across country. Davis made the trip there and back in one day but Beddome felt it wiser to travel overnight. (Elsewhere we are told that Richard Collett son of William and Anne was baptised that day).

On the last day of June, Beddome was at Snooke's for tea once again. John Reynolds (1730-1792) arrived the following week. On the Tuesday, Beddome left for Bengeworth where he was to meet with Reynolds. Reynolds preached in Cheltenham the following Sunday and on the 20th took a meeting in Bourton, preaching on Psalm 71:16. That same day, around 8 am, Mrs B gave birth to another son. Snooke says it was her tenth child. This led to Beddome taking the text on the Sunday Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request from his lips (Psalm 21:2). On Saturday 30th, Lawrence Butterworth (1740-1828) of Evesham was in Bourton at Snooke's en route to Cirencester, (he also returned on Monday, August 1) from whence a Mr Dawson (probably a reference to William Dore, brother of James who was in Cirencester 1775-1791) came to preach for Beddome. Meanwhile Beddome was off again to what must be Co(a)te, Oxfordshire. A Farmer Hawks or is that Hanks was broken into during the evening service in Bourton.

On August 10 it was the Bourton double lecture mentioned above at which James Biggs (c 1770-1830) of Wantage and Daniel Turner (1710-1798) of Abingdon preached. Stanwell of Cirencester preached in Bourton and Stow on the 14th, Beddome going to Cirencester. He was back the next day, a rather wet one, to have tea with the Snookes. Mrs Beddome was not out. The Snookes made her a lying in visit on the 22nd and she came to church in the sedan the following Sunday. On September 5 she was well enough to accompany her husband and daughter Betsy to the Snookes for tea.

On Wednesday, September 14 Snooke made a day trip to Evesham to hear Beddome preach there on Acts 11:23. On September 18 Snooke stood in as clerk [or precentor] (for Mr [William] Palmer). (We know from elsewhere that on September 21 Anglican John Jordan esq, born 1713, was buried in Bourton church yard but Snooke makes no mention of it). On September 26, Beddome went to Fairford where a Mr Strand (possibly Isaac Stradling d c 1803 who ministered in Lymington, Hampshire) was to preach. They planned to go on together to Abingdon, where the double lecture was due to be.

Not much happened in October, although a Mr Freeman from Bath preached on the evening of October 23, a Lord's Day. On Wednesday, October 26 Beddome recommenced the midweek meeting, looking at 2 Peter 1:1. The day before was the birth of John Collett's "Betsy" in Upper Slaughter. On Sunday, November 6 numbers were “thin – as it rained all day”. On Monday November 28 Snooke went to Beddome's for tea, the first time in eight weeks (since October 4), although Beddome had been to him a few times. On Friday December 2 a John Dunne died. He was given a funeral sermon from Romans 5:2 in the evening. On Thursday December 8, Beddome was at Snooke's for tea once again, his wife and daughter having been there for a meal. There was lots of snow. After more snow again the next day, it began to thaw and by Sunday there was a little bit of a flood but it was not a problem. On Wednesday December 14 Snooke was at the lecture in Bengeworth when Lawrence Butterworth of Evesham (1741-1828), son of Henry and brother of John and James, preached (Psalm 22:30a). Christmas Day again fell on a Sunday. Beddome preached on Romans 5:2 and 1 Kings 21:3 as on the previous Sunday. A collection on the 25th of 10s 6d was to be used to defray the cost of candles, etc.

Through the year Beddome had preached Sunday by Sunday on diverse texts. He was also receiving his quarterly payment of £2 2s 0d from Snooke.

NB According to BHO there was an enclosure act in 1774 that affected Bourton. This act affected 873 acres of openfield arable, downland and common meadow. Out of this area three allotments were made of c. 200 acres (to the lord of the manor, the rector and Mary Collett, the first two receiving most of their shares to replace tithe), three of c 50 acres and 19 smaller lots. The long-term result may have been to reduce the number and increase the size of farms further. By 1831 there were 11 farmers, of whom only one did not employ labour. The act also changed the type of farming in that more of the higher land was put under the plough, and was used to produce a large quantity of barley and oats by 1801. There was presumably a corresponding decline in sheep-farming. In the same year the rector's share in the tithes of Bourton and Clapton were mostly exchanged for land amounting to 209 acres. Some 12 acres were also set aside for the poor.

Preaching 1775b

Click to enlarge. This is once again from Snooke's Diary. Of the 106 Sunday services, Beddome preached around 84 of them. There seem to have been two sermons every Sunday. Once a sermon was read and on 21 other occasions another preacher preached, namely

Mr Dawson (6), Robert Redding (4), Hugh Evans (3), Thomas Dunscombe (2), William Wilkins (2), John Reynolds (2), J Haydon (1) and John Ryland (1).

Thomas Hiller and Robert Redding led midweek meetings.

Beddome's preaching:

Gen 3:21 (2) 15:17, 28:16, 17, 28:18, 32:9, 10, 45:4 {7}; Ex 5:22, 23, 10:16, 17 (2), 10:22b, 23, 29:20, 30:31 (2) {7} Lev 13:45, 22:21, 26:11, 12 {3}; No 14:7, 22:18 {2}; 1 Sam 30:6b {1}; 2 Sam 14:14 (4); Job 36:23, 24 (2); Ps 4:19, 28:7b (2); 31:3 (2?), 34:19, 39:5a, 139:23, 24 (4) {11}; Prov 28:13 (4); Ecc 1:9, 10 (3) 8:12 {4}; Isa 35:4a, 45:22 {2}, Jer 2:31, 32 (3); Hos 7:11, 12 (3) [53]

Mat 13:11, 12 (6) 22:21 (3) {9}; Mk 10:26, 27 (4); Luke 1:18 (2); Jn 3:14, 15 (3), 6:38, 6:55 (2) {6}; Acts 9:4, 5 (2); 1 Cor 15:11 (3); 2 Cor 1:24, 10:12 (2) {4}; 1 Tim 1 :11 (2); 1 Jn 1:9 (2) [31].

Wednesday night preaching took place January-March and November, December and included messages on Genesis, 2 Samuel, Job and Proverbs.

Double lectures in Snooke

We have mentioned before how Roger Hayden writes about the double lecture established among the Abingdon, Fairford, Wantage, Cirencester, Cote and Bourton churches 1774-1788. In the six summer months (April-September) there would be a double lecture (an older and a younger minister preaching) at each church in turn. In Snooke's diaries for 1774 and 1775 we have references to the August double lectures in Bourton. He notes that

In 1774 the order was

1. Mr Stanwell (Cirencester) prayed

2. Singing

3. [Samuel] Dunscombe (Cheltenham) prayed

4. [James] Biggs (Wantage) preached on Rom 5:3-5

5. [Thomas] Davis (Fairford) prayed

6. Singing

7. [Daniel] Turner (Abingdon) on Mk 9:50

8. Singing

9. Mr Pindy (sic) prayed [probably Thomas Purdy, Chipping Norton]

Snooke had all the ministers back for a meal after and put some up at his home. Some went on to Bengeworth. Stanwell stayed to preach in Bourton on the Sunday and Beddome went to preach for him in Cirencester.

Snooke also noted the double lecture in Abingdon on September 28, where we know Bedome was one of the speakers.

Something similar happened in 1775. This time Snooke notes that the meeting began at 10.45 am and ended at 1.45 pm, a length of 3 hours. The order was

1. Singing

2. Biggs prayed

3. [Thomas] Davis preached on Php 1:21

4. [Samuel's brother Thomas] Dunscombe [Coate] prayed

5. [Daniel] Turner preached on John 14:6

6. Singing

7. [Benjamin] Francis [Horsley] prayed

Turner read all the hymns and went on about 4 pm to preach in Chipping Norton.

Preaching 1775a

Double click to enlarge (Drawn from Snooke's Diary).

Preaching 1774b

Double click to enlarge.

This is again from Snooke's Diary. Of the 105 Sunday services, Beddome preached at at least 80 of them, probably 82. There seem to have been sermons every Sunday. On 14 occasions another preacher preached, namely Mr Field (6) Thomas (not Benjamin as on the chart) Davis (2) Mr Dawson (2) Mr Stanwell of Cirencester (2) Nathanael Rawlings (1) a Mr Symonds and a Mr Freeman from Bath (1)

James Butterworth and John Reynolds led midweek meetings.

There is no record with regard to about 9 services (including Apr 03-May 15).

Beddome's preaching: Gen 6:6 (2) 27:38 (2) {4}; Jos 14:12 (2); 1 Sam 28:16 (1); 2 Chr 24:15, 16 (1) 26:5b (1) 27:6 (1) 31:20 (1) {4}; Job 33:13-15 (3); Psalm 5:3-12 (9) 69:36 (1) 73:27 (2) 86:5 (1) 133 (3) 134:1-3 (3) 143:6b (1) {20}; Pv 15:28 (2); Jonah 2:4 (1) [37]

Matthew 4:20 (1) 25:14-39 (19); Mark 3:27 (1); Luke 12:22 (1); Acts 16:16-22a (7); Galatians 5:16 (1) 5:25 (2); Philip 4:4 (1); Jas 2:12 (4); 1 Jn 5:2-4 (4); Rev 21:6, 7 (4) [45].

Wednesday night preaching included messages on

Exodus, 2 Samuel, Psalms, Proverbs, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew, Romans, 2 Corinthians, James, 2 Peter, 1 John.

Preaching 1774a

Double click to enlarge (Drawn from Snooke's Diary)