One of the principal events in the religious life of the town at the end of last century was the division of the congregation of Independents at the Old Meeting.
The origin of the New Meeting, as it was called, was a very small one, and does not look at first like a very serious split in the old congregation. An old paper, still in existence, written apparently and read at the opening of the New Meeting, states that "in the year 1791 a few of us met at a friend's house a few weeks for prayer and the reading of the Word of God; our numbers soon increased and then we met in a barn for a considerable time. We went on till the year 1792, and our numbers still increasing we erected this meeting." At this time the Rev. Mr. Atkinson was the minister. It is evident, however, that the new movement grew apace, and some interest began to be taken in it in the town, for on 24th February, 1791, we find J. Butler laying J. Beldam a bottle of wine "that the New Meeting House will be begun in six months at Royston." Evidently Mr. Butler won his bottle of wine, for on the 2nd of May, in the same year, the contract for the new building, to be afterwards known as the "New Meeting" (Kneesworth Street) was signed.
It is interesting to note the plain, inexpensive kind of building which suited persons assembling for public worship compared with to-day, for the amount of the contract for erecting the building "in a workman-like manner" was only L320. This contract was between John Stamford, carpenter and builder, on the one part, and on the other part the following gentlemen who were the first trustees:—Samuel Luke, of Royston, Cambs., maltster; William Stamford, Royston, Herts., maltster; George Fordham, the elder, and George Fordham, the younger, both of Kelshall, gentlemen; Robert Hankin, Royston, Cambs., draper; Thomas Wells, Royston, Herts., grocer; Thomas Trigg, Bassingbourn, yeoman; Samuel Walbey, Royston, Cambs., maltster; William Coxall, Bassingbourn, gentleman; John Abbott, Royston, Herts., breeches-maker; Abraham Luke, Royston, Cambs., yeoman; and John Goode, Royston, Herts., carpenter.
It was for a lath and plaster structure without galleries, and was opened apparently in 1792.
The Old and New Independents continued to work side by side, the new overtaking the old, till 1841, when a serious fire happening on the premises of Mr. Warren, builder, near the site of the present John Street Chapel, advantage was taken of the opening thus made, and the site was purchased for a new Chapel from Mr. John Phillips, who, at the same time, by pulling down part of the premises facing High Street, threw open the present thoroughfare, which henceforth obtained the name of John Street, after Mr. Phillips. The new Chapel, erected on the north side, was built by Mr. Warren, at a cost of between three and four thousand pounds, and re-placed the old chapel in Kneesworth Street, which afterwards became converted into dwelling-houses (Mr. Higgins' shop and houses adjoining). The new Chapel, opened in 1843 by the Rev. Dr. Binney, as preacher on the first Sunday, and Edward Miall, who afterwards became the Liberationist M.P., on the next, has an imposing front elevation which it may be of interest to state is taken from the celebrated Ionic Temple on the south bank of the Ilissus at Athens.
The last meeting house of the Society of Friends in Royston was in Royston, Cambs., on the East side of Kneesworth Street, the burial ground of which still remains, with tombstones to the memory of Quaker families of former days. The old meeting house stood back from the street, reached by a narrow passage between the cottages, with the small burial ground and a row of lime trees in front.
During the first quarter of the century a house in the yard behind Mr. Hinkins' shop was registered "for preaching in the Calvinistic persuasion of Dissenters in Royston, Hertfordshire"; for so runs the written application to the magistrates for the place to be registered as a preaching place.
Something of the old Puritanic feeling still prevailed in the town among the Dissenters against amusements as late as the end of the first quarter of the present century. Whether it was from the recollection of what popular amusements had been, or against worldliness in general, I know not, but there is a curious instance on record, where, in 1825, a townsman named Johnson, had his membership at the New Meeting called in question for having joined a cricket club in the town! The offending member defended himself from what he considered the injustice of expulsion, by stating that he saw no evil in cricket, and that the members of the club were "moral men," and that ministers and others had been known to join cricket clubs. The general body of members in meeting assembled, however, refused to relax their view of it, and decided upon his expulsion, but afterwards relented so far as to allow Brother Johnson to resign, which he did.
Political meetings belonged more to large centres than they do now—chiefly to the county town—but lest there should be any doubt about what was the prevailing political bias in the town during the first quarter of the century, it has been placed on record that Royston was called "Radical Royston." This soubriquet was probably earned by the large amount of "reforming" spirit which we have seen was thrown into the discussion of abstract questions by Roystonians of the time. They probably earned it by their protests rather than by their policy. Politics in public meeting were in fact in a bad way at the end of the reign of George III., when it was made unlawful for anyone to call a public meeting exceeding fifty persons, for the purpose of deliberating upon any public question excepting such meetings were called by the Lord Lieutenant, Sheriff, Mayor, or other officials responsible for good order.