Registration and Early References

In 1672 Charles II issued a Declaration of Toleration for Protestants dissenting from the Church of England; this had the effect of some dissenting meeting houses registering with the Secretary of State. The Toleration Act of 1689 enshrined the right of protestants to dissent from the Church of England and, once again, encouraged meeting houses to register voluntarily with local quarter sessions and Anglican church. Registration provided protection against persecution, laying a duty of protection upon magistrates and so was popular with nonconformists. Most registrations were made with quarter sessions until the middle of the 18th century, presumably due to the mutual antagonism of nonconformists and established Church. However, from that point registration with the Church, via the local archdeaconry began to become the favoured method, because the archdeaconry Registrar would issue a licence at any time rather than during the days each quarter when the quarter sessions met.

Visitations by the Bishop of Lincoln to Bedfordshire in the early 18th century give some idea as to the number of nonconformists in each parish from returns made by the vicar or rector. Former County Archivist Patricia Bell has compiled returns from 1706 to 1720 for the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society (Volume 81, published 2002); information for Langford includes the following:

• 1706: “Has 52 families in it. Of these 7 are of Independents, 9 of Quakers. No Papists or reputed Papists live in this parish.
• 1709: “Families 60. Souls 220, of which 14 Independents, 23 Quakers”
• 1712: “Families 70. In these 10 of Quakers, 8 of Independents. The Vicar does not reside.
• 1717: “Fourscore families, twenty five Dissenters, eight Quakers and the rest Independents. One licenced Meeting House, Quakers. They meet every 3^rd Sunday”.
• 1720: “Threescore and seventeen families, 30 of which are Dissenters, 10 Quakers, 20 Independents. One Meeting House of Quakers”.

Bedfordshire Archives has a reasonable number of registrations of nonconformist meeting houses in both the Quarter Sessions and Archdeaconry of Bedford archives. Registration continued through the 19th century even though persecution faded away - this was because registered buildings were allowed to claim exemption from parish poor rates, were exempt from control by the Charity Commission and were allowed to be licensed to carry out marriages. These things meant that registration became almost compulsory in practice for well established nonconformist meetings. This is fortunate for the local historian because sometimes the only surviving references to a nonconformist meeting occur as registrations. One drawback with the registrations are that they do not usually inform the reader of the particular type of denomination involved, though sometimes it is possible to infer it from other evidence.

Edwin Welch researched the history of registrations in Bedfordshire for Bedfordshire Historical Records Society Volume 75 Bedfordshire Chapels and Meeting Houses [published in 1996] and found the following for Langford:

• On 27th March 1780 the house of Thomas Roberson was registered for occasional worship by William Tansley and Robert Douglass [ref: ABN1/1 and ABN2/50].
• On 17th September 1788 the house of Thomas Robinson was registered by Henry Finch, Anthony Thody and Thomas Robinson [ref: ABN1/2 and ABN2/59].
• Between the 13th and 15th January a farm house and barn in occupation of Henry Bean was registered for occasional public worship by himself, E. Ell and William Lyles
• On 2nd June 1807 the house of William West was registered [ref: ABN1/1].
• Between the 7th-8th May 1822 the building on premises of William Edwards was registered by Thomas Spencer, John Pryor and William Edwards [ref: ABN1/2, ABN2/191, ABN3/3 and ABN3/38].
• Between the 24th November and 1st December 1827 a building of John Foster was registered to be used as a chapel by himself, William Kent, Calebn Evans, Blyth Foster and Thomas Middleditch [ref: ABN1/2, ABN2/233, ABN3/3 and ABN3/83].
• Between 28th May and 17th June 1838 the house of Hugh Kilby was registered by Joseph Bailey, Edmund Thody and John Street [ref: ABN1/2 and ABN2/328].
• On 7th November 1840 the house of William Timpson was registered by himself, John Searl and William Searl [ref: ABN1/2 and ABN2/350].
• On the 9th February 1854 a Wesleyan Chapel was registered by Robert Maxwell, a minister of Biggleswade. This was cancelled in 1866.
• On 5th October 1861 a Wesleyan Chapel was registered by Henry Wilkinson Williams, a minister of Biggleswade.
• On 26th November 1887 the Salvation Army Barracks were registered by Henry Coote of Langford.