Midland Churches: A History of the Congregations on - General ...

foundation. On Friday, 26 February, Miss Stooke, <strong>the</strong> donor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
above-mentioned window, signed <strong>the</strong> contract which made her <strong>the</strong> pur-
chaser <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> house in Shor<strong>the</strong>ath-<strong>the</strong>n called Arden House-which from
that time became <strong>the</strong> property <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> society, to be used as <strong>the</strong> minister's
house. This gift <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Manse was fur<strong>the</strong>r pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> Miss Stooke's love
and devotion to <strong>the</strong> church, recalling, as it does, <strong>the</strong> munificence <strong>of</strong> pious
donors in bygone days, but which differs widely in that that <strong>of</strong> former
times was <strong>the</strong> fruit so largely <strong>of</strong> fear, whilst that <strong>of</strong> to-day is prompted
by love.
Knowing that <strong>the</strong> present minister, Mr. Priestley Evans, has been for
some time at work on <strong>the</strong> full history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> society, and which, it is hoped,
may ere long be published, <strong>the</strong> author refrains from entering as largely
as he might have o<strong>the</strong>rwise done on any details <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ministers who
have served it.
George Osborn, our te?n$orary preacher, oddly enough was "a highly
'orthodox Baptist." His portrait and memoir are given in Urwick's Non-
conformity in Worcester, in which city Osborn laboured as minister <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> Angel Street society from 1791 until his death in 1812.
Robert Gentleman, who was-
brought up under <strong>the</strong> ministry <strong>of</strong> Job Orton (q.v.), who encouraged him in
his studies. . . . was a popular preacher, arianising in his <strong>the</strong>ology,
but <strong>of</strong> evangelical sentiment. . . . Orton, who died at Kidderminster,
in 1783, made Gentleman his literary executor, and this circumstance probably
recommended him to <strong>the</strong> Kidderminster seceders, who chose him as <strong>the</strong>ir
first minister in 1784. His ministry was very successf~il.*
Severn, who was a native <strong>of</strong> Nottingham, became, at <strong>the</strong> age <strong>of</strong> 16,
.'(a convert to <strong>the</strong> doctrines and disciplines <strong>of</strong> Methodism ; a circumstance
which, since he arrived at years <strong>of</strong> maturity, he never ceased to deplore.
On <strong>the</strong> declaration <strong>of</strong> his determination to follow Mr. Wesley, he was
,expelled from his fa<strong>the</strong>r's house and obliged to take refuge with Mr.
Warwick, fa<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> Doctor Warwick, <strong>of</strong> Ro<strong>the</strong>rhain [Thomas Oliver War-
wick, M.D., min. Ro<strong>the</strong>rham, 1795-1816, d. 18 March, 18521, and under
his protection, became, not only one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most popular preachers, but
a friend and confidential companion <strong>of</strong> Mr. Wesley himself. For two years
he was <strong>the</strong> travelling associate <strong>of</strong> that extraordinary person, who appears,
*Die. Nat. Biog,
from letters to Mr. Severn, to have greatly admired his talents, zeal and
intrepidity. Of <strong>the</strong> period when Mr. Severn began to waver in his attach-
ment to his pr<strong>of</strong>ession as a teacher <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> doctrines <strong>of</strong> Methodism, no
satisfactory information can be obtained, but, from a short journal now
in existence <strong>of</strong> his daily labors, during part <strong>of</strong> his twentieth year,. it is
manifest, in every fresh memorandum, that his mind was <strong>the</strong>n very little
at ease, and that <strong>the</strong>re was a something in his situation which rendered
it very irksome. . . . This journal is continued only for a few months,
but it is ascertained that soon after that period he went to Edinburgh to
study divinity. . . . It must have been during his residence at Hinckley
that his Unitarian propensities took a decided tone, for from <strong>the</strong>nce he
was invited to a congregation at Norwich under that denomination."*
At Norwich Severn succeeded Belljamin Hart (who afterwards became
a Chancery pleader) as minister <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> short-lived society-a secession
from <strong>the</strong> Qld Meeting (Congregational)-which built a meeting-house in
Bridge Street, "but <strong>the</strong> cause did not flourish long and <strong>the</strong> building was
pulled down." Several <strong>of</strong> its members, "who had for some time doubted
<strong>the</strong> truth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Calvinistic system," joined <strong>the</strong> Octagon congregation.
Parker, <strong>of</strong> Coseley (q.v.) succeeded Severn in this Bridge Street ministry
for a brief peri0d.t Icidderminster had <strong>the</strong> benefit <strong>of</strong> his ministerial ser-
vices some years before his translation to Hull, where he lived between
five or six years.
Of Joseph Smith (or John Smith as it has sometimes been given) <strong>the</strong>
author has no particulqrs, and in <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> any documentary evidence
he is not inclined to identify him as <strong>the</strong> same man as John B-- Smith,
poet, composei <strong>of</strong> Seaton Bench, and minister at Reading, 1819 ; Maidstone,
182 1-1822 ; and Colyton, 1830-1832 ; who did not leave <strong>the</strong> Independent
body until 1816 or 1817. Specimens <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> poet Smith's writing and
signature are given in CoZytonia, 1898, p. 31 ; if <strong>the</strong> Kidderminster Smith's
handwriting could be recovered and a comparison made, <strong>the</strong> solution <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> matter might be arrived at.
*In <strong>the</strong> treasurer's book <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> New Meeting, Kidderminster, October, 1796, is <strong>the</strong>
entry :-A~Y. Sever~z's ~xpetzses to nnd from Norzuich, &ro 10s. od.
'pc$ M.R., 1809, p. 239; Browne, p. 271.
ZM.R., 1813, p. 550.