Gentlemen,
The Clerk of the Quackery establishment, with his usual “quickness of perception, honest purpose, and independence of character,” has thought proper at this particular season to address you on “the essential qualities and practical knowledge of the Public Health!” IT NOW BEHOVES YOU CAREFULLY TO CONSIDER “what class of Quackery you ought to support, so that YOUR MONEY MAY BE SPENT AS CAREFULLY AS IF IT WERE YOUR OWN.” Recollect, THAT MEN WHO HAVE SOMETHING TANGIBLE TO LOSE are the men most likely to be careful of the same.
£25,000 will have to come out of your pockets shortly (so says the Clerk), for “the judicious improvements of the Town,” and fifteen conscientious and determined Commissioners must be chosen.
Beware, then, of self-interested partisans,—political turncoats, and troublesome quacks—“past experience in Dudley teaches the necessity of this caution to Ratepayers.”
“O that estates, degrees, and offices,
Were not derived corruptly;—that clear honour
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer.”
A LOOKER-ON.
Dudley, 16th June 1853.
The Unitarian Chapel, 1853. This Chapel is situated in a retired arched gateway, in Wolverhampton Street, adjoining the old Post Office. It was originally built in 1701; but that structure unhappily shared the fate of many other Nonconformist Chapels, destroyed under Dr. Sacheverell’s fanaticism against Dissenters, for in 1714, it was burnt down by a lawless mob, but was shortly afterwards re-built by a Parliamentary Grant of £500. This comfortable and commodious chapel has been much improved and ornamented since that period, and it now seats 450 worshippers. There is also an excellent school attached to this denomination, known as Daniel Parsons’ Foundation School, having 150 children therein, under the able tuition of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. The life of Dr. Sacheverell reveals the impression that he was a learned madman, whose craze was to preach “the Church in Danger,” and that dissent ought to be stamped out by fire and persecution. He was appointed preacher at St. Saviour’s Church, Southwark, London, in 1705, where he preached his violent crusade against Dissenters, which commanded much attention at the time. For his intemperate language, both in and out of the pulpit, he got impeached by the House of Commons, and was suspended preaching for three years, but through some powerful Court influence, he eventually managed to get appointed to the valuable Rectory of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, London, where he died in 1724. During this period of our history, the Rev. John Palmer, B.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, was appointed on February 18th, 1833, the minister of this highly intelligent and wealthy congregation. Mr. Palmer was a gentleman of great mental power, and was a good and pleasant preacher, and during the nineteen years he held this appointment he secured the esteem and regard of all good citizens. Mr. Palmer, like many of his countrymen, was a very energetic politician, and his often expressed Radical opinions at times shocked the nervous sensibility of his friends. However, after 19 years of great zeal and energy in the sacred cause he had undertaken to uphold and propagate, we find him suddenly transformed into an officer of the Crown, for in 1853, he was appointed Crown Treasurer in the Island of Dominica, whither he departed, being succeeded after a time by the Rev. Richard Shaen, M.A., who only remained a few years as minister. Some of our “oldest inhabitants” are in possession of relics and curiosities of the old burnt chapel, in the form of oaken stands and curious boxes made from the ponderous oak timbers, which were not entirely consumed in the conflagration of the chapel. The Rev. Mr. Gibson is the present genial and courteous minister. The Election for the first Local Board of Health took place on June 23rd, 1853, with the following results: