The Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country, From 1800 to 1860 / Also an Account of the Trials and Sufferings of Dud Dudley, with His Mettallum Martis: Etc.

by C. F. G. Clark

Signed, J. Brewer, Birmingham,

J. Moody, Warwick,

Obh. Bennett,

Wm. Williams, Birmingham,

Jno. Hudson, West Bromwich,

Thos. Chipperfield, Stretton,

S. Hanwell,

B. Eaton.”

Such then was the form of Ordination of a Minister in the Independent Society of Christian worshippers in those remote days, whether such is the authority now in use I am unable to assert.

Some jarring and hasty remarks have lately been floated in our local Press, hurling serious charges against the religious belief and good manners of the people of Dudley in our own days. Past experience, and actual facts, loudly rebut such insane assertions, for we have only to take a survey of this important Borough now to witness the religious and scholastic zeal exhibited in the erection of Churches, Chapels, and Sunday Schools to the Glory of God and the spiritual good of the people; which its inhabitants have long placed in broad day-light, shewing their Christian benevolence and charity. Comparisons sometimes become odious; and a perusal of the following extract from the memoranda of the late Revd. James Dawson, may assuage some disappointed feelings, and remove recent and unpleasant impressions. “When the revival of religion took place in England, through the instrumentality of Whitfield and Westley, Dudley with the rest of the Kingdom partook of the advantages. Previous to this revival, the town, with the surrounding neighbourhood, was in an awful state of moral darkness. The congregation assembling in the Wolverhampton Street Chapel had forsaken the truth, and God had forsaken them. All was gloom and desolation in the Church; for the Gospel had not been preached in it since the time of Richard Baxter, who officiated in St. Thomas’s Church nine months, and taught the Grammar School. The Countess of Huntingdon’s Students and Ministers brought the Gospel to Dudley, and laboured for a considerable time in a dwelling house in King Street, and to their labours must be traced the erection of a new Calvinistic Chapel in this town. It was erected in the year 1788, in what is called her Ladyship’s Connexion. Owing to a variety of causes, but chiefly to the inefficiency of the supplies, and a heavy debt upon the Chapel, the cause did not prosper. Difficulties pressed upon the few people who attended, and it was feared the place must be sold to liquidate the debt, and at length it was deemed necessary to turn the Chapel over to the hands of Trustees, and transform it into a Congregational Church. This change was effected in the year 1792. After this period it was supplied chiefly by occasional Ministers from Birmingham and other neighbouring places. In the year 1800, application was made to Thomas Wilson, Esq., of London, Treasurer to the Dissenting College at Hoxton, for a Student to come amongst them with a view to a settlement. Their prayers were heard, and Mr. James Dawson was appointed to visit them, who, ultimately, took upon him the charge of the Church, and was ordained to the Pastoral Office on June 1st, 1803. In the year 1809, the front gallery was erected at a cost of £100, raised entirely by the Congregation. It was found necessary in 1815 to erect side galleries, the seats of which were soon occupied. More seats were soon required, and by a removal of the Sunday Scholars from under the front gallery into different parts of the Chapel, and by a further addition of seats in 1819, the increasing congregation was accommodated. In the year 1824, it was thought necessary to enlarge the Chapel still further. A meeting of a few friends was held to consult upon the best method of accomplishing the object, when subscriptions were entered into, and the enlargement was commenced and finished the same year. The seats were soon occupied, and the place became again too small to accommodate all who were desirous of attending, and after much deliberation it was determined to erect a New Chapel upon a scale sufficiently large for all who were willing to hear the Gospel, and especially to afford room for the poor. The Foundation Stone was laid the 21st day of May, 1839. May the blessing of God rest upon it, and render it a blessing to thousands of the fallen sons of Adam. Gloria sit Deo. James Dawson, Scripsit, 1839.”