Milton Ernest 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 Milton Ernest includes the following:

• 1706: "[The parish] is of a small extent and has 40 families in it. Among these there is but one Dissenter, an Independent … No Papists or reputed Papists in it".
• 1709: "Families 39; Souls 215. 2 Women dissenters, Independents".
• 1717: "Fourty five families, two Dissenters, Independents … No Meeting house or Meeting at all".
• 1720: "36 families, 3 dissenters only. Independents … No meeting-House at all".

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service 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 Milton Ernest:

• 13th January 1798: the house of William Barnett was licensed for worship [ABN1/1];
• 26th June 1800: the house of Samuel White was licensed [ABN1/1];
• 4th July 1806: the house of James Odell was licensed [ABN1/1];
• 5th August 1807: the house of Ruth Hart was licensed [ABN1/1];
• 11th September 1819: a chapel was licensed by Richard Gower [ABN1/2, ABN3/3,15];
• April 1838: a building of James Lamb, to be used as a chapel, was licensed by John Turner and John Banks.